Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
Today, I have received my biggest payout yet using Textbroker. As I have put far more time into my writing career, I have found myself developing a good schedule that has been working for me. I still only get about five hours or so of writing in per day Monday through Friday, by I brought in $308 today.
In my defense, I was sick last Friday so I didn’t get much work done.
I broke every one of my records this last pay period except one. My orders completed in a week was shy by four. If I would have been able to work last Friday, I could have broken that record too.
Ever since I decided to schedule my day like a regular workday, I have been far more successful with freelance writing. The money is getting better and my use of time is starting to be more focused.
My overall performance since I quit the school district has been a bit lacking, however. While I have brought in more money per week than I did before, I should be bringing in far more than I have. However, I have been faced with all kinds of challenges since I quit.
One week, my children were sick and I had to tend to them. In another week, I was sick and couldn’t concentrate on what I was writing. In a separate week, I had a lot of housework that needed to be done and had to move a storage unit of stuff around town. This week was amazingly productive for me, luckily.
Although my time usage is getting better, it is still something I need to improve on. Sometimes when I am researching content, I get sidetracked with other things. I like to learn and reading about specific content gets me sucked in and I wind up reading more about the material.
While this is good for me as I am learning something new, it is bad for my writing. I need to practice more focus on my day and keep to my scheduled times.
If I could increase my workload by an hour per day for five days per week, I could add another $76 to my weekly payout. My best average time spent writing is only 3.9 hours per day in a 5 day work week. I tend to do a bit of housecleaning and such while I’m home throughout the day.
This week, my goal is to surpass my previous records. I have four aspects of my writing that I monitor on a spreadsheet. I need to surpass words, orders, pay, and time. Breaking down down each one of these by what I need to do per day in order to reach my goals, I have set a clear goal.
For instance, I have 3,820 words to go in order to reach my daily goal to break my previous words per week record. This should take me 3.6 hours of writing to do. If I completed this goal, my average pay should be close to $55.37. Since I have made more than $80 per day before, I know it is completely feasible to surpass this amount.
What I need to do is focus my efforts more. This week, I was able to break my record even while I was missing a day of work because I was writing around 5,000 words each day.
My biggest concern is summer break is just around the corner. Soon, my children will be home all day which is usually a huge distraction for me. I have plans to move my writing office into my bedroom, but children can still be exceptionally loud. I’ll have to come up with a plan before the summer or my writing may suffer.
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1/23/2020 – Ah, the Memories…
Originally, WriterSanctuary.com was more of a journal to help me grow as a freelance writer. The above was a few months after quitting the school district and trying to write fulltime. As you can tell, I had a lot of hurdles to overcome.
Still, looking back at my progress, I think I did a fairly decent job getting everything together.
When working from home, you really don’t consider all of the pitfalls of life that can distract from making money. Sick kids and other family-oriented distractions are going to happen. You have to do what you can to keep focused.
Just remember, as a freelance writer, every moment you’re not typing out content for a client is one where you’re not making money. But sometimes, life gets in the way and you need to deal with those situations.
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