Freelance Writer Tips for Busy Moms

I know there are a few busy moms like myself that enjoy being a freelance writer. I will admit there is a lot of flexibility when it comes to freelancing. But one thing you do not want to take for granted having your own freelance business is just that a business.

I am currently taking training on making my freelance business more solid. In actuality I am solidifying my multiple income streams as well. What I am going to share with you may not actually be anything new. You may have heard it many times.

But my challenge is have you implemented it? Have you taken action in seriously solidifying your freelance business?Freelance writer plan, vision, S.W.O.T.

The following tips will serve as a reminder and I will add a challenge if you have not yet implemented them.

Freelance Writer Business Plan

Have you done one? If not why not? The fact is when you fail to plan your business truly ends up being more like a hobby. You will not take seriously each action and may end up getting stuck with low end paying jobs.

I just recently did my first business plan draft. I look forward to sharing it with you once I have fined tuned a few sections. But what I enjoyed about doing is a business plan is that I discovered more about who I am and what my desires are in being a freelance writer.

I also discovered the various talents and services I can currently provide and which ones I am aspiring to attain. A business plan can help you figure out additional income streams that can complement you as a writer.

What is Your Vision?

But before you even pen a business plan I highly advise that you develop a personal vision. A vision explains your overall purpose. Whereas your business plan outlines details on a current or future ventures you desire a vision tells you why you would like to pursue financial or personal gain.

I started my vision statement explaining the purpose for having a vision statement and it reads as follows: “This is my vision that encompasses a broad spectrum of who I am personally and what my targeted heart’s desires are. This vision is for the sole purpose of remembering that my plans, goals and daily tasks which follow should be helping to fulfill my overall vision.”

A vision is essentially much bigger than you could actually see now or a driving force that helps keeps you focused down the road when you face the day-to-day grime of running a business. There will be times when circumstances will leave you feeling like, “What is the point?”

Let me give you an example of a vision that is a driving force as one of my mentors shared. His desire is that his own children would not be latch-key kids like he was. He did not want he and his wife to be so busy working that their children would be home alone a good majority of their young life.

His driving force and constant reminder of why he does what he does is to afford him and his wife the flexibility to be home for their children. An additional desire is to have financial stability for the extra things in life such as family vacations.

So what is your vision?

S.W.O.T. Yourself

Here is where you will have to take a really hones look at yourself where you will determine your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. This is more related to you and your business.

I will admit it is not something easy to do. You may have either low self-esteem in order to see your value or there is also the danger to be so high on yourself that you cannot see your own weaknesses or threats. This is where I highly recommend you find an accountability partner to help you develop and effective S.W.O.T.

SWOT analysisI was actually able to do my own S.W.O.T. and was so glad to have my accountability check it. She actually found what looked like an inconsistency. Once I examined it I realized it was more of a miscommunication and I made the necessary correction.

Overall the S.W.O.T. assessment has helped me see my real strengths and helped target my weakness right away. Which I found are mere adjustment that can be helped through proper training as well as gaining motivation through my overall vision of success.

As a freelance writer it is essential that you consider these three simple tips of preparing a business plan, having a vision and a S.W.O.T assessment of yourself in relation to your business.

To your Success, Ann Moore (Mom Internet)

About Ann Moore

Follower of Jesus Christ, wife and Mom of a houseful of kiddos. Ann is co-author of "How To Sell On eBay - Your Step-By-Step Guide To Selling On eBay" In addition to her home management and administration skills, Ann is an entrepreneur at heart who loves to write. Her passionate writing topics include: Christian faith and living, Internet Marketing, Home Business Tips and Ideas, Time Management, Self-improvement and Travel.
Bookmark the permalink.
  • http://JoyHealey.com Joy Healey

    Hi Ann, That’s a useful tip. Silly that I know about SWOT in theory but never got round to applying it in practice! Joy

    • http://mominternet.com/ MomInternet

      I know what what you mean Joy. This is actually my first SWOT I have ever done as a freelance writer and entrepreneur. It was very revealing.

      But now I know what areas I am really good at. I can clearly see where I need improvement. I can also double check my weaknessess to make sure they are not my source of distraction.

      I won’t say it is easy to be honest with yourself but it does pay to put theory into practice ;)

      Thanks for dropping by and have a wonderful weekend,
      ~Ann Moore (Mom Interernet)

  • http://www.carolamato.com/ Carol Amato

    Hi Ann,

    Very thought-provoking post, Ann – well done! I couldn’t agree more with your mention of the importance of having a plan and vision, and to do a SWOT for yourself.

    You did an excellent job on yours, and it’s plain to see you put much thought into it.

    By the way, I love the rewording (clarification) on the discrepancy – excellent! Helped to hone in on the real issue at hand, and although introspection is not always fun, it’s a much needed part of the overall puzzle of success.

    Assessing where we are, what our strengths and weaknesses are, as well as laying out the opportunities and threats before us, is such an essential part of building a successful business. If we don’t know where we’ve been, and where we currently are, then we can have no real vision of where we should be going…

    Excellent article, and will be sharing right now. :-)
    - Carol

    • http://mominternet.com/ MomInternet

      Thanks so much Carol,

      And I learned something today about Disqus. Do not hit control-z it resets the reply to the regular comment and makes the person’s comment dissapear temporarily till the page is refreshed.

      Just thought I’d let you know I left you a reply on your comment but I see is not in the reply section to you.

      Gotta love these little technical issues :)

      Have a great day,
      ~Ann Moore (Mom Internet)

      • http://www.carolamato.com/ Carol Amato

        HI Ann,

        Weird – I just typed something, and hit control Z, and the only thing that happened was it deleted what I typed as an expected “undo.”

        I don’t think what happened is something with Disqus…

        Also, don’t you type your comments in Notepad? I thought you said you did when you commented on my tips to save time when commenting online post.

        Sorry for the trials – it can be so very frustrating to lose a comment.

        I had it happen yesterday, but could easily copy and paste it back in due to the safety net of typing elsewhere first.

        Really liked this post, Ann, and shared on Twitter, which means paper.li will pick it up too. :-)

        Have a blessed day.

        - Carol

        • http://mominternet.com/ MomInternet

          Carol,

          Thanks so much for sharing my post what a blessing and encouragement you are to me :)

          By the way I did use my word doc thankfully, which I then put on notepad then onto my comments. I know it is an additional step but the spell checker are a lifesaver because my brain thinks in two languages.

          So, thankfully I did not lose it all together.

          By the way I test it again and it did as you said remove text.

          So I either pushed a wrong button along with the control-z or it was just a weird techy phenomenon.

          ~Ann Moore (Mom Internet)

  • http://mominternet.com/ MomInternet

    Thanks Carol,

    I like what you said, “If we don’t know where we’ve been, and where we currently are, then we can have no real vision of where we should be going…”

    You are so right. I had been afloat for quite some time in a stagnant pool filled with loads of great ideas. The most I did with these ideas is fill my head with daydreams of the great possibilities I could attain once I found time to get around to applying myself.

    But when rubber hit the road, with no plan then I did not take real meaningful action.

    With a real assessment, which was not easy because before I really got to this point I had to overcome personal fears. Fear of criticism and believe it or not, fear of success because of the responsibilities that involve being successfu.

    This SWOT has been really therapeutic for me and the fact that I make it public is so that I could face my fears head on. I discovered the only real rejection I had faced in the past was my very own.

    Now, it may be that some do in fact reject me, but I can accept the rejection as a means of filtering out those I can have a real impact on.

    Thanks so much for dropping by,
    ~Ann Moore (Mom Internet)