The other day, I received an email from one of my freelance writing course students that made me pause.

With her permission, I’m sharing a portion of what the email said:

“I've been busy with work these days so my writing has taken a back seat. I am a lab analyst and it tires me out because I'm on my feet all day plus the odd shifts.
I feel I'm losing out on so much, such as time with family. I've recently registered on Upwork but I'm not trying enough, also I was overwhelmed about the whole thing.” (Emphasis is mine)

As soon as I read her email, I knew I had to write a blog post about this topic. I deeply resonate with the feeling that everything is overwhelming and you just aren’t doing enough.

3 steps to get back on track

The internet is full of freelance writing success stories. But what do you do if you’ve fallen off track or quit altogether on your freelance writing goals?

Step 1: Give yourself permission to do nothing

I know, I know. You thought I was going to tell you to hustle more, didn’t you?

Focus on what you want, realize that the temporary sacrifice is worth it, blah, blah, blah.

Here’s the thing -- sometimes that kind of mentality works, and sometimes it doesn’t.

Sometimes we need tough love but other times, we just need a whole lot of grace.

In my experience, if you’re at a low point in your freelance writing business, then telling yourself you should be working harder isn’t useful.

In all likelihood, you’ll just feel bad about yourself which will ultimately cause you to do even less. Or worse, you’ll take action from a place of desperation which won’t give you the kind of results you want.

So if you’re burned out and wondering if you can even continue on the trajectory you’re on, give yourself full permission to just stop altogether.

Just decide to do nothing for the time being until you have more clarity around what you want.

Step 2: Re-evaluate your goals and what you want

While you’re taking a pause, use this time to re-evaluate your goals and what you want.

Why is it that you even want to be a freelance writer?

Are you looking for more creative fullfillment or do you want a way to make money from home? Or is it some combination of the two?

And what do you feel like is holding you back from finding the success you want? For instance, I used to feel very self-conscious about the fact that I never graduated from college.

Once I realized the majority of clients don’t care about that, it was much easier for me to move forward.

And finally, is this something you really want and is it feasible for you at this point in your life?

Let’s say you find a freelance writing client -- when could you do the work for that client?

If the only time you can realistically do work for clients is during the evenings and on weekends, is that sacrifice worth it to you?

I think these are questions everyone has to ask themselves when they’re starting something new and it gets challenging.

Step 3: Make things as easy on yourself as possible

I think it’s crucial not to rush the first two steps. Really take as much time as you need to pause and reflect.

But assuming you reach a point where you realize that freelance writing is important to you and that you do want to move forward, what are your next steps?

My best advice is to take action, but make it as easy on yourself as possible. Again, I know that contradicts what a lot of people will tell you.

But here’s the thing -- your goal should be progress and the best way to make progress is by taking small actions consistently over time.

My recommendation is to start sending three proposals a day. Nothing more, nothing less.

Just commitment to looking for three freelance writing jobs you can apply for and then do it no matter what.

Once you get in the routine, you’ll find that this takes very little time. If you’re not sure where to look for jobs, this blog post might help you:

My final thoughts

My purpose in writing this blog post is really to tell you that it’s 100% okay and completely normal if you’ve fallen off the freelance writing bandwagon.

Success is not a straight line -- there are tons of roadblocks and detours along the way.

There are tons of ups and downs on the path to success.

So if you find yourself in a tough place, know that it’s okay if you can’t always work harder. Give yourself the time you need and when you’re ready, find a way to take some kind of small, daily action.

If you need help with finding work, you should definitely check out my free webinar, How to Use Upwork as a Freelance Writer.

This webinar is not just motivational fluff -- it will teach you the actions you need to take to find clients on and off Upwork.

You can grab your spot here:

Learn more