Freelance Writing: Simple Tips on Complicated TopicsIs It Possible to Be A Good Freelance Writer, While Being a Lousy Person?! PART 1

Article on Freelance WritingThis question is a bit controversial and might raise some eyebrows, but we still want to address it. Why? Because, over the years of working with freelance writers, we, here at ResearchWritingCenter.com, have discerned something of a psychological portrait of what makes a good one.

We want to share with you what we have observed. Now, you might ask: what does it mean to be a good person? You might wonder how this relates to a freelance writing career. Well, you may be surprised to discover how your character overlaps with your freelancing career.

This past several months offered plenty of inspiration, and there is much to share. For manageability, this article is appearing in two less overwhelming sections. This should help in making it more understandable, and of course, I don’t want to tire you or take time from your research on a writing gig. :)

For the sake of our argument, we want to add that the term “lousy person” in the title refers to personal traits that affect your freelancing experience. This doesn’t mean that, if you possess some of these traits, it makes you a bad person, a bad friend, or a bad family member. However, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that your personal attitudes towards key things affect your work: any kind of work, not just freelance writing.

Therefore, this article is more of an early warning for people who start to notice the patterns of behavior that will be described in this article. Maybe you can change something in the way you do business and/or conduct yourself with people outside work. You also can’t rule out the possibility that there can be a backwards correlation – the habits you acquire during work can actually make you a worse person.

A good example of this is the person who is accustomed to being in control of everything at work. For example, a senior manager might start to try to control people outside of work. Obviously, this can be irritating, and any disobedience might lead to conflicts.

I have personal experience of this because my cousin used to be a CEO before starting his own business. Today, he has learned to moderate his tendency to be so dominant, but a few years ago, his family members could barely stand to be around him.

Further, I’ll identify which freelancing practices could actually affect you negatively. Let’s use some general terms for these behavior patterns for convenience. For example, the first one, evading responsibility for problems by…lying. This type we will call “The Liar”.

The Liar. Deadlines – these are the most difficult challenge for a freelance writer. That’s how it should be, but for some freelance writers, who have worked with our project in the past, the array of problems is much wider. There occur power blackouts, Internet problems, software problems, and so forth. Now, we are not suggesting that the writers describing these obstacles are not being truthful.

We understand that there are variables beyond anyone’s control. However, using these excuses to request an extension over and over again is something a good, professional freelance writer should be able to avoid.

There have been situations wherein freelance writers found themselves tripped up in their lies. Some claimed a whole list of issues at the same time. On one order, a writer wrote that his laptop crashed, and requested an extension. On another concurrent order, the same writer claimed that he had the flu and could not work at that time. Perhaps not surprisingly, these folks eventually burn out.

They waste so much time generating excuses and exchanging messages about them that in the end they could have just finished the order without wasting everyone’s’ time. You can read some pretty obviously lame lateness excuses over here in one of our earlier articles on this topic. You can also see how these people got caught while lying about their work.

How might this affect you freelancing career in the long run? It is simple and stark. You will lose the trust of either or both the company and your potential repeat customers. That is how your career will go downhill.

How might all this affect you personally? Have you ever seen the movie “Liar, Liar”, starring Jim Carey? Nope? Then you should definitely take it in. Lying is one of the most destruction behaviors you can engage in for the people around you, especially for the people who trust you. You need to fight this habit, whether this problem occurs in your work, or your personal life, or both.

PART 1 ends here. Next time I’ll discuss arrogance, a trait that some of the freelance writers tend to display from time to time! Stay tuned! :)

4 Comments

  • Jacob
    May 6th, 2011 at 6:04 am

    Good,I like it when the truth is being told,its bitterness not withstanding.Just hoping that I am not one of the animals called “Cheaters”!!!..lol

    As for me,taking orders that I will have problems submitting in good time is definitely not my habit.But,let me wait and hear about that “Arrogance trait”, it could be my personal weakness,who knows?

    • May 6th, 2011 at 8:48 am

      Jacob, we are pretty sure, that you are a good writer, as we remember you were on the top writers list? Or not? Anyway – as stated in the article, even if you have some of the traits, this doesn’t make you a bad person…people are good by default:) at least we believe in it:)

  • [...] hope that the first part of this article did not offend you personally. You can check it out right here!   This article, as a whole, described exaggerated version of some of the behaviors exhibited [...]

  • [...] our professional and personal lives are deeply interconnected. You can read more on this issue in this article. This is why I am not addressing solely the mental aspect of this problem.   You need [...]

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