Facing fears is something I advocate wholeheartedly, though it never seems to get easier. I still get sweaty palms and a dry mouth every time I have to do something outside of my comfort zone, but, more often than not, I’m rewarded with a huge sense of accomplishment.
This happened earlier this week when I somehow managed to film, edit, and upload my very first YouTube video in just a couple of hours.
For so long I’ve been wanting to branch out into video and use the visual medium as a build-on from my writing. And, just last week, I finally figured out how I could make it work.
Each week I receive tonnes of questions from you guys about travel, freelancing, and writing. I always, always reply to them as best I can, but I thought it would be a good idea to put the answers out in the open so that others with similar worries or queries can have access to them, too.
And so my new (and very first ever) YouTube series was born.
Each week, I hope to discuss one of the many questions I receive about travel, freelancing, and writing, in a quick video. So, with that in mind, please feel free to comment with any questions you have, or shoot me an email, a tweet, or an FB message!
Quick Tip #1: 5 Things to do Before You Go Freelance
It’s always a good idea to start at the very beginning, right? So, for the first episode in the series, I touched on a few things you should consider before taking the plunge into the freelance world.
Please excuse my wandering eyes and the term “tax people”!
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Just incase you don’t have time to watch it or can’t bear to look at my face for longer than ten seconds, here are the points I make:
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#1: Have some savings
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#2: Figure out legal bits and bobs
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#3: Figure out your long-term goals
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#4: Set up a cracking portfolio or blog
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#5: Line up a client or two
I’d love, love, LOVE to hear your thoughts on the video (good and bad!). Is this the kind of series you could get along with? Or am I completely out of my depth (er – of course I am!)?
[disclaim]Don’t forget to check out the new resources page I put together over the weekend, which features a wealth of tools, job boards, blogs, and books for all you freelance writers out there! [/disclaim]
YES! I think this video is a great idea! What kind of change did you see after you started your portfolio site? I’m honestly not sure what to do with it once I do start it… or how to find clients to pitch. I’ve started up on UpWorthy and Elance but have nothing yet.
I do have some writing experience online and for very small publications, as well as some guest posts for other bloggers… but certainly nothing super noteworthy. How did you make those smaller jobs work for you at the beginning?
Neysha recently posted…The Father-Daughter Road Trip of the Year
Hey Neysha! As of yet I’ve only had a one or two clients reach out to me through my portfolio site, but I find it’s good when pitching to refer to a professional site with all my clippings and services on. I’m currently planning a strategy for getting that site out there, which I’ll document here on the blog 🙂
I’m definitely going to make a video about starting out and how you can leverage the smaller jobs – thanks for the great idea!