I’m continuing the F.I.T.S. (Freelancer In The Spotlight) Series on Wording Well, and the “Freelancer In The Spotlight” today is Brian Morris, who is also an author!

Now please welcome Brian Morris to center stage. 😉

Take it away, Brian!

Focus On the Noose

“Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight,” Samuel Johnson once said, “it concentrates his mind wonderfully.”

But frequently, we don’t get that much warning.

A couple of years ago, I worked for a local utility company.  One day, I was called into a meeting with the regional head of HR who told me what a terrific employee I was, what great knowledge I brought to the job and hoped that I could find another job where I could use 11 years worth of crazy mad office skills.

With the gallows looming (loss of income, loss of house, loss of a reason to put on my trousers every weekday), I knew it was time to go from part-time writing dilettante to full-time freelancing.

I liked the idea of a direct link between my efforts and my rewards and of being my own boss.  The idea of not having to put on trousers or shave ever day was appealing too, but that’s another issue.  Also, if I wrote some books, the books would sell online while I slept.  The idea of a passive income stream was VERY appealing.

A couple of years later, I’ve now got a couple of books out, writing two more, waiting on one to be formatted and published, and working towards publishing another written by a friend.  I also have a Facebook page where I encourage my friends to take up writing seriously and share information.  Of course I do this with my copious amounts of spare time because at the time I’m writing this, I’m also moving into another time zone and trying to rectify everything I’ve neglected to take care of in the old home.

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This week, the “Freelancer In The Spotlight” today is Harleena Singh.

First, a few words from me… about Harleena

Harleena Singh is a freelance writer and blogger. She loves to write on a diversity of topics on her multi-niche life blog, Aha!NOW, which focuses on self-development and self-help with an aim to help you bring happiness into your life.

But she’s so much more than that. She’s also a mom, a teacher, and a truly awesome person!

Harleena Singh is a qualified teacher and started her career as a classroom teacher in private schools. She has a graduate degree in Commerce, postgraduate degree in English, and a professional degree in Education.

Harleena has also served as an administrator of a small private school, where she polished her management and organizational skills. It was after her stint as a full-time working teacher and manager that she decided to stay at home and start freelance writing, with the aim to be there for her growing kids.

~ excerpt taken from Harleena Singh, The Commenting Superstar & Proficient Writer!

Take it away, Harleena!

Thank you, Lorraine, for this wonderful opportunity to share my story with your readers, and although it’s nothing much, but perhaps it might help someone. 🙂

*Her modesty is one of the things I love about Harleena. 😉

My story, background, and how I got into freelancing

For me, it was routine to teach English to primary and elementary school children. I enjoyed imparting knowledge to the young ones, which was not limited to the grammar and literature of the foreign language.

My brief tenure as a teacher was one of my best life experiences. Though teaching came naturally to me, as part of professional teaching, I had to plan my lessons, execute them effectively, and look after the all-round development of the children.

However, I could not carry on teaching in schools for a long time. I had previously acted as the administrator of a small school, which was interesting and enjoyable too, but unfortunately, I had to leave that job because it demanded too much of my time. More so, I wanted to spend quality time with my growing kids and be there for them.

I did not want them to compromise in any way with their studies, so I decided to stay at home and look for some challenging job that interested me, something that didn’t require me to step out of my house.

It was then that my sister informed me about freelance writing that she was doing, and asked if I wanted to join as well. My sister is a good writer and unlike me, always scribbles lines of poetry or short stories, and has, ever since she was in school. In fact, I believe, we both inherited the writing genes from our mother, who also loved writing and had a flair for it. Now, even my Dad writes, though mainly for papers and journals – so it runs in our family! 🙂

I initially hesitated and doubted if I could at all write, not having written for years. I mean the writing I used to do in school and college was completely different from that required by the clients. You can call it the “commercial” writing. Nevertheless, I went ahead and started with freelance writing, though initially, I kept my rates quite low.

I gradually learned the art of researching and writing articles on topics given to me by the clients, which also included keyword research.

Not surprisingly, I loved freelance writing and had fun completing my assignments, which my clients appreciated a lot. That was a few years down the lane. Since then, I worked day and night on my writing assignments and improved my writing skills. Most of my clients were American so perhaps that helped me further.

My clients asked for SEO and keyword-rich articles. So, first I had to find out what these terms were and I “Googled” about them to reach to the right resource sites. Google has been my best friend and guide in doing research for all the articles and even the blog posts that I write.

4 Main Lessons Learned

The lessons I learned during my initial days of freelance writing helped me become proficient in my work and make a name for myself in the freelancing world. I will enumerate a few of them hoping they will help the newbie freelancers.

1: Planning is platinum

It is very important to chalk out or plan your workday and the assignments to meet the deadlines. No matter what, writers and even bloggers need to respect deadlines. You need to remember that your clients or readers will not pay heed to your reasons, which will merely be excuses for them. Planning is precious.

2: Research is golden

Pour yourself wholly into the research of your topic and drench yourself fully with the knowledge such that every word you write drips off information, and make it worthy to read. A well-researched article will even eclipse an article written by a literary expert when it comes to commercial writing. Read More