By Tiffany Jansen

I used to write for content mills. I know I should be ashamed of myself, but I’m not.

Working for Demand Studios taught me a lot: sticking to a word count, following guidelines, writing on a deadline, working with editors and, most importantly, that I could earn money writing.

After moving to the Netherlands in 2008, I found myself friendless, jobless and confused.

To pass the time and cope with my newfound expat status, I began actively meeting other expats and discovered that many turn to freelance writing. No work permit necessary and you can do it no matter where you are, how many times or how frequently you relocate.

Building relationships with these expats led me to Demand Studios. Once I realized I could make money writing I started searching for other paying gigs.

I had some clips from DS to get started. Now all I needed were connections.

I discover networking

Enter ACCESS, a non-profit expat organization here in the Netherlands. One of their services is a quarterly magazine which I heard about from a fellow expat writer who had done some writing for them. They liked my clips and introduction letter.

Although they don’t pay, they are an amazing networking source. The clincher was the fact that they produce a very professional-looking publication that would give me more serious clips. Through them, I was able to connect with a staff member at XM Magazine (an expat lifestyle publication in the Netherlands).

Through ACCESS I was able to connect with a staff member at XM Magazine (an expat lifestyle publication in the Netherlands), who asked me to pitch a list of article ideas. They chose two event pieces which I covered for more than $280. Quite a jump from $15 per article Demand Studios pays.

One thing leads to another

Unfortunately XM went out of business. But not before the assistant editor told me about the newspaper The Holland Times. This paper reports Dutch news in English for the international community, and I was eager to try my hand at journalism.

The editor responded to my letter of interest, inviting me to the next editorial meeting. I learned so much from hearing what other writers pitched and what the editor was interested in.

I came to the next meeting armed with story ideas and left with my first assignment. I earn $0.36 per word and have been writing steadily for the publication for over a year.

My editor at The Holland Times introduced me to the Amsterdam City Tours blog. Thanks to her recommendation, I was approached by the blog owners to be a regular contributor at more than $70 a post.

Another connection urged me to contact the editor at expat/travel magazine Transitions Abroad. I got a $100 article assignment, and I now contribute regular expat and travel book reviews to the publication.

As much as I love writing for the expat community, there are simply not enough paid opportunities to make a living. I need to branch out.

I get serious about marketing

With this in mind, I tried cold-calling businesses to offer my services. I quickly learned that businesses here don’t need or want English content, or hire a professional translator to take care of that for them.

U.S. and UK companies prefer to work with someone local, or at least living in the same country. Expat entrepreneurs typically don’t have the funds to hire a writer.

So I’ve turned to pitching magazines. Magazines are often keen to publish work by writers from another country for the unique angle those writers bring. Produce interesting, well-written articles by the deadline, and magazine editors won’t care where you’re based.

I’ve only just started querying, so I’m still waiting to hear if my pitches have been accepted.

Whatever happens, I’ll keep plugging away. I’ve seen that good paying markets do exist and I want to write for more of them.

No more content mills for me. My writing’s worth more than $15 per article.

Tiffany Jansen lives in the Netherlands, where she is a freelance writer and owner of the musical theater company Little Broadway. She is the author of two children’s books and a frequent Twitterer.

by Sarah Maurer

In June 2010, I quit my job as a school counselor in Thailand, moved back to the States, and started my own freelance writing business.

Looking back, it was probably a stupid thing to do.

I had no clips and no pro writing credits. I couldn’t really fall back on my education — my degrees were in geology and school counseling. And having lived in Asia for six years, I knew next to no one stateside that I could hit up for writing work.

I came up with the idea to cold call while reading Peter Bowerman’s book, The Well-Fed Writer. For those of you who haven’t had the privilege to read his awesome body of work, Peter built his business through cold calling.

When I talk to successful freelance writers, I find we all have one thing in common.

It’s pretty simple — we have goals. We’re following a game plan for what we want to do with our writing career.

When I take on new writers in my mentoring program, my first questions are:

What is your goal for your freelance writing career? (Or, if you’re a blogger — what’s the goal of your blog?)

I find that lack of goals creates lack of momentum. The big problem with freelance writing is there’s no ‘boss’ standing over you saying, “Get 40 cold calls done this month!”

So you don’t.

Without goals, it’s easy to give in to fears about whether your writing cuts it, and not send that query letter, or make those business calls.

There’s also the chance to dither endlessly about what direction you plan to take. Will you only write for magazines? Write a novel? Target legal businesses? Many writers are overwhelmed by all the options, so they write nothing — or nothing that pays.

The change that happens when you have goals

I find when you start setting goals, there’s a shift in your mentality. You start to view your freelance writing business like a business. Which is what you have to do if you want it to pay your bills.

Setting goals creates deadlines — something freelance writers understand. Start making your own deadlines your top priority, over any current deadlines you have for others. In the long run, they’re even more important.

Setting goals doesn’t mean carving anything in stone. I’m always on the lookout for new opportunities that crop up, that might change my direction. If you’ve been trying one approach a long time and nothing’s happening, it may be time to try a new angle.

Stay flexible — but have a game plan to start.

The most important goals

Here are the three questions I like to ask writers about goals:

Where would you like to see your freelance-writing business five years from now?

One year from now?

Next month?

You need a big picture and a near-term picture. Then it’s time to break it down into a to-do list for this month. What, specifically, do you think you could realistically get accomplished in the next 30 days that would move your writing career forward?

I find the one-month span allows you to avoid overwhelm — after all, it’s only 30 days, so you can only do so much. It frees you to find small steps you can take to try a new marketing angle, get a writing project finished, send a query.

Ultimately, that’s the most important step to take — break down your freelance-writing dream into some actionable, simple steps you can accomplish right away. Then next month, do that again.

Keep doing it until you’re earning what you want.

If you have trouble sticking to it, find a writer’s group, a friend, or a mentor who will hold you accountable for meeting your goals.

You know what’s coming next:

What’s your goal for this month for your freelance writing business? Leave a comment and let us know.

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By James Patterson

After nine months of being a freelance writer, I’ve decided that marketing my business is like doing the dishes; I absolutely can’t stand doing it, but I feel so much better when it’s done.

I jumped into freelancing head first back in February, leaving my stifling full-time job to see if I could cut it on my own as a health and wellness writer.

I set up a Web site, found some steady writing work and had a few decent months, replacing my former Corporate America salary. Things were great for quite a few months, but I fell into a trap of complacency and a bit of neglect at marketing my business due to a busy summer schedule.

When I started to notice my revenue dipping in the fall, I decided it was time to start marketing myself again. I tried the age-old methods of pitching magazines and scouring the job boards, but with zero results.

Thanks to some great advice from Carol, who I hired as my freelancing mentor back in the early summer, I decided to finally take a different approach. I set a goal to try two new freelancing tactics and see if they would work.

Boy, did they ever.

Tactic #1: My existing LinkedIn network. Carol challenged me to contact my LinkedIn connections, whether or not they were an editor or potential client, and pitch myself. If nothing else, it’s good practice, she said. So when I sent out 20 or so LinkedIn messages one day, I didn’t think anything would really come of it.

About a month after my LinkedIn blitz, I got a phone call from a former friend and colleague who’s in sales, now with a different company than when we worked together. Turns out he was in a staff meeting when someone mentioned needing a health writer.

He told me later over the phone his ears perked up because of my LinkedIn message, which I had sent him just a few weeks before. He spoke up, said he had someone he could talk to and BAM, a few weeks later I’m getting steady work from a new client who meets almost every one of Carol’s criteria for lucrative writing clients. I’m about to close the books on my best month of freelancing ever.

Tactic #2: Cold calling. After months of pitching organizations and editors with zero results, I was fed up. I told Carol of my pitching woes, expecting to get at least a measure of sympathy. Instead, Carol gave me a virtual slap upside the head and said, “Email isn’t working. So what? You have a phone, don’t you?”

Reluctantly, I made another goal: To make 20 cold calls to hospitals in my region asking a simple question: “Could you use a freelance writer?”

A funny thing happened. My first phone call was a no. My second phone call was a no. My third phone call was a no.

I was about to give up. For some reason, seeing ‘no’ on a computer screen is much more palatable for me than hearing it over the phone.

But I decided to give it one more try. I picked up the phone and dialed the next number.

That call resulted in a referral to the marketing director for a large Intermountain west hospital chain. As I type this, we’re hammering out details for me to come on board and help lighten the load of their current freelance writer.

Good things happen when you try new approaches. Sometimes, you just have to roll up your sleeves and do the dishes.

It may not be fun for you to get on the phone and hear a few people tell you “no.” It may feel like a waste of time to contact former friends and colleagues. But you really never know under which rock your next client is lurking. Why not turn over every one?

How have you found new clients this year? Leave a comment and describe what’s working for you.

When he’s not obsessing over college basketball, James Patterson is a freelance health writer and public relations consultant at OnPoint Writing and Communications. His past clients include the National Institutes of Health, the President’s Cancer Panel and the National Diabetes Education Program.

Photo via Flickr user zieak

The two methods James used to find new clients are included in the 40 Ways to Market Your Writing Webinar. Get your marketing questions answered live on Dec. 7. Only 150 can participate. Seats are filling. Sign up here.