By Joe Dyton
Hello! I’m Joe Dyton and this is my new blog, “Dyton’s Words.” This blog’s goal is to help freelance writers get from “here” to “there.” I left my full-time job in 2016 and have built a freelance writing business that has allowed me more flexibility in terms of earning money and time since then. I learned a lot on my journey from “there” to “here” and thought I might be able to help others that want to the same.
What the Dyton’s Words blog will cover
My first plan for this blog was to share what was going on in my day-to-day as a full-time freelance writer. Whenever a former co-worker, friend or family member would ask me how my business was going, my response was something along the lines of “good”, “busy” or “it’s coming along.” I kept my responses short because I didn’t think anyone was really interested in what I was dealing with or working on. I thought this blog would be a good place to share that information with anyone who was interested.
At some point however I realized a “Dear Diary” type of blog about my freelance writing adventures would not be interesting or helpful to a lot of people. So I changed the direction to sharing tips about becoming a freelance writer and building a business. I’ll still share my personal stories, but only if I can use them to educate people. Instead I’ll be sharing tips on where and how to find writing clients, how to market your services, finding your writing specialty and more. I appreciate anyone who wants to read this blog and want to make sure it is worth their time.
My freelance writing journey
I know I just spent two paragraphs explaining how this blog would not be all about my personal freelance writing business, but I’m making an exception in this first post. I thought it might be valuable to share my story so people can see that a freelance life is possible—believe me if I can do it, anyone can.
Early origins
Freelance writing intrigued my during the summer of 2002. I came across Bill Simmons’ “Totally Wired for Madden ’03” game review when he wrote for ESPN.com’s Page 2. The article’s topic drew me in, but I liked Simmons’ writing style and started to read more of his stuff. When I discovered he wrote his column remotely, I began to ponder what it would be like to work from the comfort of my own home.
My desire to write from home increased when I watched an episode of “The OC.” The Sandy character (Peter Gallagher) was a public defender at the time and surfing in the morning because he had cases later in the day. I remember thinking to myself how cool it would be to have that kind of flexibility in the schedule. I was working a traditional 9 to 5 job at a magazine at the time and every Monday through Friday, I would wake up, work out, eat breakfast and be out the door around 8:30 to get to office by 9:00—rinse, lather, repeat.
The long road begins
If you’re thinking, “Wait. Joe, you first thought about becoming a freelance writer in 2002, but didn’t leave your 9 to 5 until 2016?” I do not blame you. I dragged my feet for way too long turning my dreams into reality. Why? Well, I did not know what I was doing to be honest. I did not know where to begin to become a freelance writer. Outside of applying for a remote (full-time) job a couple of times, I made no headway towards building a freelance writing career. It stayed in the “dream” column until I moved from New Jersey to Maryland and landed a copywriter position a couple years later.
A few years in a truly corporate environment (my previous magazine gig was a mom and pop organization with a 12-person staff) reignited my desire for a freelance writing career. I still had no idea what I was doing, but decided to get started anyway. I did some searches for freelance writing jobs and ended up writing for what are known as content mills that paid $15 per article. I knew I was never going to be a full-time freelancer at this rate and had to make some changes.
Time to get educated
I’ve learned a lot on journey towards becoming a full-time freelance writer. One lesson I still follow is to learn from those who have it done it before. That was probably one of the biggest mistakes I made early on—making it up as I went along. I had no plan—I was sending resumes and applying to places that were looking for freelance writers with no regard for what they did, how I could help them, the rate, etc. It’s probably why I ended up with those $15 per article clients at first—I didn’t realize there were better opportunities out there. I also didn’t know where to find those opportunities.
Why it took me so long for me to discover the vast amount of resources that exist for aspiring freelance writers is beyond me. I finally took a look around and started to read books by Bob Bly, one of the foremost figures in the freelance writing world. His books helped me discover where to pitch my freelance writing services as well as how to pitch.
I continued to educate myself with resources other freelance writers created. I read Shawndra Russell’s “How to Become a Freelance Writer in 30 Days” book, enrolled in the Horkey Handbook Course, “30 Days or Less to Freelance Writing Success” and had to privilege to speak with Carol Tice, creator of “Make a Living Writing”, who offered me invaluable information on how to move forward in my pursuit of a freelance writing career.
Leaning on others’ expertise helped me build some momentum. I began to use my experience to my advantage: I was a sports writer early in my career and of course worked for B2B magazine I mentioned. That experience helped me get steady work with a local newspaper as a sports writer and with a B2B magazine publisher writing feature articles. More work started to come my way as I became more comfortable/better at pitching my services. I felt if I could land a few more steady clients and catch a break or two, I’d be on my way to achieving the dream I had in 2002.
It was time to make a choice
By 2014, I felt like I had a handle on the freelance writing thing. I had given up my sports writing gig because I started to find more work that I could do from home as opposed to going to games after an eight-hour work day. The B2B client work was still steady, and I was doing ad hoc work for other clients as they needed me.
That was the good news. The bad news was I was making enough money for freelancing to be a good side hustle, but not enough to give up my steady paycheck. If that was my main goal was to freelance to supplement my full-time income, I would have been content. It’s not what I wanted though—I wanted to earn what I was earning at my day job (and then some) as a freelance writer.
Unfortunately, I felt like I was caught in between. I could keep doing what I was doing—work full-time and build my business on the side, but never feel like I was going to make enough to feel comfortable quitting my job. Or I could leave my job and hope I could quickly replace my lost income once I was on my own.
I knew earning my full-time salary as a freelancer would be next to impossible—I’d be basically working two full-time jobs. I was already working on my freelance stuff during my lunch breaks, after work and on weekends. It got to a point where my full-time job inquired about how much time I was putting in on the side. I assured my superiors that they’d never have to worry about my work suffering.
I lived up to that promise—perhaps to my own detriment. I had landed two steady freelance clients that paid pretty well. The only problem was the work demanded more time and attention than I could give it. My full-time job had my primary focus, those clients were secondary and it showed in my work. Both clients eventually cut me loose. That was a shame because I liked the work I was doing and they would have made great anchor clients whenever I decided to make the leap.
It was then I realized I could not work full-time anymore if I wanted to build a freelance writing business. As much as it would hurt to lose my paycheck before I was “ready” to, I knew the eight hours (10 if you count my commute) I’d gain after resigning would grant me the time I needed to find clients and write for the ones I had. The way I’d be going, I had to my lunch break, evenings after work and weekends to pitch and write. I was exhausted and something had to give. So, I bet on myself and gave my notice in August 2016.
September 23, 2016 was my last day as full-time employee.
This post is longer than I planned! Please check out Part Two to read about the rest of my freelance writing journey.
Thanks for reading.
–Joe
Joe Dyton (@JoeDyton) is the President and Founder of Dyton Writing and Editing, and a freelance insurance, real estate and personal freelance writer. He’s written for Connected Real Estate Magazine, GEICO and Student Loan Planner. He can be reached at joe@dytonswords.com.