My Experience with Greatcontent

If you are a freelance writer who is just starting up, you might be wondering where to start. Content mills can give you the experience and the basic training, but they will not pay the bills, Indeed, working for less than $10 per hour is not how you build  a profitable business.

In the past few years, I have done a few projects for Greatcontent, and they were OK, but nothing special. You will not need to be  a Pulitzer winner to create product descriptions all day. You, however, will have to be creative. Just try to write something interesting about a white T-shirt that has a designer label on and costs $150.

The Pay on Greatcontent

You will get paid around a penny per word, which will certainly not make you rich, The salary on each project depends on your rating and writing level, as well as customers' ratings of your work. The fewer revisions and low ratings you have the better jobs you can take on. However, don't expect to have more than a few jobs assigned to you, unless you are on the top level so it will take you a long time to earn the payout minimum of £25.

The Workflow 

The reliability of the workflow is not the best, either. You will have to look out for the next project, and there are more writers than jobs. If the type of work you apply for is new to you, there is a limit on how many content pieces you can write initially. You will have to wait for customers to approve your articles, which will take weeks to take on more of the same batch, but by this time other writers will have picked up all the work. 

Revision Rates

I only had one revision after completing hundreds of projects, so that is not bad. Sometimes customers upload a template you can work with, but usually, you get a sample, so that is not bad. Some writers have complained about revision rates, but I had no issues so far.

Payment Schedule of Greatcontent

Unfortunately, you will not get paid immediately, or each week, and that means you cannot use this source as a regular source of income. The website states that after your work is approved by customers, you will get paid within two weeks, and the company makes a Paypal transfer every two weeks.  

The Good and Bad About GreatContent

Pros:

• Somewhat fair policies
• Bi-weekly payment
• Clear client instructions
• Low revision rates

Cons:

• Low paid
• Irregular work
• Lack of support
• Slow approval rates
• Hard to reach the payout level

Should You Work for GreatContent?

If you are just starting up as a freelance writer, and you don't want to spend hours on Freelancer or other sites bidding on projects, you should give it a go. Don't expect making a  living off the site, though, and be prepared for slow approval rates and irregular campaigns.

Challenging Yourself As a SEO Freelance Writer

I love challenges. They make me feel alive. In my career, I have always been looking for new challenges. And that is the reason why I was never happy with my job. I used to live in a dorm between the age of 14 and 18. The school was ran by the nuns. There were two dorms: one with the "noisy" people and one with the "quiet ones". I kept on moving from one to the other. I wanted challenge, new inspirations.

When I had a J.O. B. - Before I became a Writer

I had this job in the bank. It was receiving calls from customers who wanted a loan. I had to sell the loan and upsell to hit my target. I loved it first. Then it went really quiet. I was offered a role to help out another department: complaints. I went. I needed new challenges. When this ended, I was happy to move back to my original role, until I found a new challenge. Activating dormant accounts. I did it for three months. Next, I wanted to try another department. I completed the training for record management in three months. It took others usually 18. I was still bored, so I moved back to my original role. And so on....

Self-Employment Challenges You

Becoming a self-employed writer, I had to face many challenges. The market was overcrowded. There were millions of Asian writers offering 1000 word articles for 3 dollars. I had to learn the skills. I had to adapt to clients' style. I had to understand the market. Being a freelance writer is still a challenge. But it is full of opportunities to learn new skills. That is worth more than a million dollar paycheck.

Today's Challenge

Those who know me might be aware that my immune system is almost dead. Literally. I have asthma, wheat intolerance, hayfever, Vitiligo, and so on... But I can live with it. As I cannot do much cardio with my asthma, I do yoga. Today, I came across Sadie Nardini's new "badass" yoga practice. I started it. I ran out of breath in the first 30 seconds. But I did not give up. I refused to take my inhaler,ass well. I drank some water and told myself: "come on, you lazy lungs, I can make you work". I completed the whole 15 minutes of training. And now I feel good. I am a bit sweaty, but feel accomplished. Ready for new writing challenges.

Today's takeaway: Growth is painful. If you challenge yourself, you grow. Yes, it will hurt, but you will develop skills that are making you stand out from the rest of the people in your industry. Be ready to learn and grow. 

Why I am a Freelance Writer and Have Left the Corporate World

This is a personal story, maybe very familiar to many of you. Recession cost national economies a great deal of jobs. Back in 2011, I was offered to to to work 40 miles away or 15 miles away to the same company, or to take the redundancy money. I trusted myself enough to take the money, learn copywriting and - even though often struggling to make ends met - go out on my own. My reasons for the decision were simple:

1. I didn't want to depend on others any more. During the last few months I had four different teams and managers. It was horrible. I left with my heads up high, and to be honest, I couldn't wait. I left as a team second.
2. I saw loads of stress ahead. I saw more changes, didn't want to commute hours to work. Not that I was afraid of change: I was afraid of other people's decisions. I wanted to do more. 
3. I trusted myself and my abilities to be able to do the job better than corporate leaders do. I wanted to make my own decision. 
4. I wanted freedom. Nobody likes asking for a holiday 18 months prior to the date just to be told one month before the holiday that "things changed". 
5. I wanted to spend more time with my kids. I wanted to be able to see school plays, basketball matches, and drama performances. 

Three years later, I see that I made the right decision to become a self-employed copywriter. 

• I can see my kids play, have conversations with them every day and be there for them when they need me. 
  
• I have taken more than ten holidays in the past three years, among them, I visited India. That journey could never have happened if I were still in the corporate world. 
   
   
  
• I might not be a millionaire (yet), but I feel good about working hard for every penny I earn. And now I have time to spend on meaningful things.
• I took on yoga, completed a yoga teacher training, and managed to improve my health.
• I can volunteer at a local business charity, and recently started volunteering for the local police as well.
• I am no longer limiting myself, but empowering my future.

Today, I read this article. It made me think.Another office closure affecting 645 people How much stress and frustration my ex-colleagues went through during the past three years just to "keep their job". In August, 645 people will lose their job again, facing redundancy. They lived in a false sense of security. Or they were living in fear. None of the options is better.

This article made me want to continue on my path, carry on building my business, even if it is hard. Among the people leaving this year, there are many who are talented, clever, and - to be honest - wasted in the corporate world. Going out on your own is scary. Being a freelance writer and starting up with no reputation, background or name is even harder. But for me, it is the only option. I would never look back. I don't think I will ever go back to be a number, statistical figure again. Or to be just one of the 645 people losing their jobs. Instead, I work on my own copywriting business.

The message for today is: believe in your abilities and check if what you trust to be secure is really providing you safety. Look at what you would like to change and work on it. Don't let yourself be carried by the tide. 

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