Reviews, Views and Adventures in Content Creation

Thursday, January 18, 2018

Gig Economy, Global Freelancing...it just WORKS

A funny thing happened with my "test dive" into the so-called "gig economy."

It's becoming a fantastic success.

The first few months were spotty, as I began to establish myself on two of the better-known sites serving "global freelancing." I got small jobs on a fairly regular basis, but the volume of work didn't grow for a while.

Then, the whole thing changed.
Another reason I like Global Freelancing: Positive Feedback!

At the end of the year, I began to accumulate a series of jobs on Upwork.com that not only were interesting and well-paying, but will result in a dramatic increase in income for the month of January. Already, my income in this month alone exceeds the first 3.5 months I've been on the site, put together. As I've developed a track record on the site, and learned how to improve my proposals for available jobs, opportunities have been multiplying.

Better yet, all of the work is writing related. Here are a few of my recent projects:

  • I've been creating chat stories for a variety of clients and websites. Several specialized apps now offer stories told entirely in the form of chat messages (in other words, dialogue). Developers are doing what they can to make sure they have quality stories to offer their young adult audience. Though some are user-created, many are created by hired writers like myself.
  • I've created proposals and treatments for documentary filmmakers across the country.
  • I've written short stories for a number of clients—some as part of a larger project (for example, an anecdote to illustrate a point), or for reasons unknown. 
  • I'm conducting and recording writing seminars. 
I hadn't the slightest idea when I started this experiment that writing short fiction for hire would be part of the game. I had hopes that some of my online work would be writing-related; as the moment, it's 100%.

The challenge now? Keep up and increase the momentum. I'll share some concrete steps I'm taking to make this experiment in global freelancing (a better term, I think) a full-time venture.