What Do You Do? How to Explain Your Freelance Writing Career

Working as a freelance writer can make the question “What do you do?” a complex one to answer. But—depending on who’s asking—it may be a very important question that you want to have a solid answer prepared for. Of course, you could always say “I’m a writer,” and move on, but that short answer is likely to inspire questions of its own, and it won’t do much to build your personal brand as a freelance writer.

When you build a career as a freelance writer, you never know when you might meet your next client, so the way you present your career matters. However, as a freelance writer, your day-to-day schedule may vary dramatically with each different project you work on, so it might be harder to pin down the essentials of what you do for a living.

Fielding Common Questions as a Freelancer

Most people have jobs with standard schedules and job descriptions that are easy to boil down to a few words. Freelance writers may work odd hours, work on a variety of written works for an array of different clients, and spend lots of time on professional development building up other skills that help to attract new clients. For example, many freelance writers also pick up some basic design skills or focus on web marketing analytics to provide more potential services to new and existing clients. These factors make it more difficult to characterize freelance work, especially in a casual conversation. To help, here’s a look at some common questions you might hear when you tell people what you do for a living.

What exactly is your job?

Freelance writers fill in the need for writers in professional settings. They often serve as consultants and contractors who produce content for websites, assist in marketing campaigns, produce educational materials, write news and magazine articles, or produce internal written materials for a company’s operations and training. So, your job as a freelancer is to find clients in need of writers and produce the content they’re looking for.

Who’s your boss?

As a freelance writer, you are primarily your own boss. You may take assignments from individual clients or work with various businesses and organizations on a contract basis, but you decide your schedule and determine your pay rates, and ultimately design your career from the ground up.

How do you make a living that way?

Freelance writing isn’t easy, and you may have to take some odd jobs to make it work sometimes. However, writing is an in-demand skill, so it is not only possible, but common to see freelance writers thriving in their chosen careers.

Presenting Your Elevator Speech

Once you’ve thought about the answers to the above questions, you can start thinking about your elevator speech. This is a 30-second speech that you might give to someone you meet at a networking event, trade show, or other professional event. It should include some notable projects you’ve been a part of or some areas of specialization that you focus on as a writer. And, although it will be a prepared speech, it should sound natural and interesting, so that you can drum up more interest in what you do.

If freelance writing is your dream career, Writers Work can help you get a few steps closer to this goal. We provide training, convenient job search tools, and organizational resources for aspiring freelance writers and experienced writers alike, so you can build your career the way you want.