Story of my Freelance Writing by Stefan Medovarski: How I Started
Image Credit: Lea Latumahina
For a student like me, finding a job that gives you enough time to go to classes and study, as well as a good paycheck, is difficult. It’s so difficult in fact that I have almost given up a few times. You know, you search for a job, but you never seem to find something that fits your agenda. I tried and tried, but it didn’t work. My dad tried to intervene and find me a job himself, but not even he succeeded. Unfortunately, the whole idea was starting to crumble.
A few months later I get a call from my friend. He said that he went to this website that offers jobs to freelancers. Naturally, I asked him a few questions so that I could be sure that it was all legit and real. It sounded too good to be true – You work when you want, how much you want, and earn a nice paycheck. Of course, all you had to do was make quality content and submit that content until the deadline. I decided to give it a shot.
After months of searching, I managed to find a different website than the one he was working on, but it seemed completely fine. I created an account, linked my credit card, did everything that was necessary actually to start working aaaand… Nothing happened. I applied for a multitude of jobs, but I got no response. Then I realised – Why would anyone give an inexperienced, new user a shot? I mean, it’s obvious that they’re going to choose someone who’s experienced enough, right? Well, that’s partly true. You see, most jobs are way out of your reach at the beginning. You can apply for 30 of them, get an interview for 2 and end up with nothing. All hope seemed lost yet again.
Then, to my shock, I receive an invitation to an interview. The job was nothing out of the ordinary – just some articles that needed to be written. But there was a catch: The budget was around $4 per article per 1000 words. “Wow, that’s fairly low…” I thought to myself. However, after some thinking and calculating, I figured that I could write that article in around an hour or two. Further calculating gave me a result of $4 per 2 hours or $2 per hour. You see, working 8-hour shifts at minimum wage in my country gets you around eh, a measly 8-10 euros. And these are very physical jobs, like working at a construction site or bartending. So what did I do? I chose to work of course! I didn’t want to pass up an opportunity to earn some money and gain some experience.
So I contact the client, and we talk about what needs to be done. A trial article – okay, great, seems like a good idea so he gets a certain view of how I write. I finish it and hit send. A few hours pass and the client says he’s happy with it and he even agrees to pay me a small sum for the work. I think to myself: “This guy is really nice! Can’t find people like him here”, which is 100% true.
To cut the story short, I’ve been working for the same guy for almost a year now. We have excellent communication, and the pay is good. Of course, if you want a full-time job, it might not be enough if you’re not a student. But if you still don’t have a place of your own and are looking to start somewhere – this is the place!
From what I’ve learned, these people, the ones that give out jobs, actually care about their workers. I’ve never been mistreated since I started working for my client, yet I’ve been abused and called names while I worked at a construction site in my country. It’s basically a dream job! The pay is constant with almost no delays. My client is very understanding of my school needs, and we have a great human-human relationship.
You might not find someone as courteous as I did, you might not find someone who’s as understanding as my client, you may find a job that pays more; it’s all relevant here. What’s important is that you give it a shot and try. No one started from the top – everyone had to start from the bottom and work their way up. I couldn’t be happier, and I’m steadily climbing. Who knows what the future brings?