Skeletons in Your Freelance Writing Closet

Everyone has a past. If an event happened before now, it’s relegated to the past. As freelance writers, we can’t rest on our laurels, nor can we spend time worrying about what someone will think about who we worked for previously or how much we were paid.

Do you have some skeletons in your freelance writing closet? I’m willing to bet you do. There may be some gigs you may not be proud to admit that you took on, either because of the subject matter or what you were paid.

I believe that we learn from all of our writing experiences, whether they paid well or turned out to be a good fit or not. The lower paying gigs paved the way for better opportunities. The gigs that turned out not to be such a good fit – no matter how well they paid – helped us to figure out what kinds of gigs we should be pursuing.

If a particular gig from your past is something that you would rather not mention to a prospective client, you don’t have to include it on your resume. In the unlikely event that someone finds one of your writing skeletons online and asks about it, you can turn the conversation around by saying that it is an example of your previous work and ask if the prospective client would like to see some more recent samples or if he or she would like to talk about what you can do for them right now?

Most clients care more about what you can do for them now than what you used to write about or for whom. The other ones may not be people you want to work with anyway.


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2 responses
  1. allena Avatar

    I wrote for Hubpages years ago (cheapy content mill) but I tell you what, I love getting that little Google check every couple of months like a nice little passive income surprise.

  2. Jodee Avatar

    @ Allena: I get the same feeling when I get paid by Suite 101. 🙂
    .-= Jodee´s last blog ..Should Freelance Writers Use a Pen Name? =-.

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