As a freelance writer, the more you can increase your hourly value, the better.
If, for example, it takes you one hour to write a 500 word article and you’re charging $20 for that article, then you’re earning $20/hour. However if you can write that same article in 30 minutes, then you’re earning $40 an hour – a much better hourly rate, right?
This week I have 55 articles and one 10 page report to write. My goal, is to write 17 articles a day. If I can write three articles an hour, that’s an hourly value of $60/hour and a pretty productive and profitable day.
However, it’s pretty challenging to keep an eye on the clock, write a comprehensive and intelligent article and to also avoid distractions.
Therein rests the key to this strategy – a timer.
In this case, I set the timer for 15 minutes and write my heart out. I then reset it for another 15 minutes and move onto the next article. At the end of an hour you’ll have 4 articles written. You can then set the timer for 5 minutes to edit each article, 5 minutes of editing per article, or you can set it for 20 minutes and edit all four.
Or you can do what I do, which is to continue writing until the day’s goals are accomplished and then do the editing later in the day when my creativity has waned. You can then devote an hour or two to editing all of the content for the day.
In this case the 17 articles will be completed in 4 1/4 hours. And then spend an hour and a half on editing later in the day. That’s 17 articles in less than 6 hours or a rate of about $56/hour. Not bad, right?
This also leaves time in your day to plan and market your business, assuming you work an 8 hour day. Or it leaves time to just enjoy the day!
Give it a try. If a trip to the market to get a timer isn’t on your agenda, there are many free options available online. Search for online stopwatch or online timer and save yourself $5. You may find that this simple device doubles your hourly value and turns a slow writing day into the most productive day ever.
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This post was written by Annette Elton on September 22, 2009
