Comments on: Your Start in Freelancing

By: Anne Wayman

Anne Wayman — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 19:46:23 +0000

Geeze… I think my first sale was a booklet to Hazelden… maybe.

By: Lori

Lori — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 19:36:52 +0000

:) Where would life be without that V8, EP?

By: EP

EP — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 19:03:20 +0000

Good stuff. Makes me want to read more – and drink some of that V8 of life!

By: Lori

Lori — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 17:28:49 +0000

Devon, I remember working for the local papers, too! It was hilarious to see council people getting all comfortable with my being at meetings. That's when they'd shoot off their mouths and end up at the top of the local news page. One supervisor was pissed at me for years (probably still is) because I wrote what he'd said. He referred to hiring a female police officer as "We need one of those." Made her sound like a medicine one has to take. :)

Cathy, that's funny! It's an ominous beginning to have to send a follow-up to your first invoice. :)

Jake, thanks for the inspiration. And to give a virus to them and they still paid you? Must have been pretty good clients.

See, Paula? Even you made more money on your first contest than I did! :)

By: Paula

Paula — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 17:02:37 +0000

You must have had fun writing that, Lori!

I was going to leave a comment on Jake's blog the other day, but realized I don't remember what my first paid freelance job was. They all sort of happened around the same time, straight out of college: writing an annual report for a nun; selling my first local newspaper article; and selling my first magazine article to a custom publisher.

I won an essay contest when I was in high school. It was sponsored by a local bank and the prize was a $100 savings account. The topic was the importance of small businesses. I wish I still had a copy - I'd probably cringe. I knew nothing about small businesses at the time and relied solely on common sense to write the essay. When I found out I won, I assumed I was the only person who entered.

By: Jake Poinier

Jake Poinier — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 16:43:01 +0000

LW, you've made my day! And I do believe you have a Harlequin romance in your writing future.

I won't retell my "first," since it's at my blog, but I also vividly remember my second: I did some catalog writing for a local ad agency...and gave them a virus via the 5" floppy disk with my content on it. Trashed their system, but they still paid me, which in retrospect was very kind.

Thanks for the link love in addition to sharing your epic "auto-erotic" tale.

By: Cathy Miller

Cathy Miller — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 13:04:23 +0000

Lori, I think it shows your wonderful creativity!

As I shared at Jake's blog, my 1st paycheck was from my former employer. It actually was a consulting fee and a written analysis for an online portal for my former employer's (now client's) customers.

I went on to write copy for about 8 webpages for the portal.

A funny aside, I looked at my 1st invoice and saw where I had to send a Past Due follow-up. LOL! If that isn't a wake-up call to freelancing, I don't know what is. :-)

By: Devon Ellington

Devon Ellington — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 12:53:42 +0000

I started writing articles for the local newspaper about the high school's music department when I was part of said department. I stopped writing for quite a few years — well, stopped submitting –when I focused on production work. I started submitting again in the mid-90s, when I sold some short stories.