March has been a roller coaster ride of a month for us. The numbers we’re posting, while not as large as last month’s, are still pretty great. Yet, Lorna and are facing a pretty empty month for April, and it’s making us a little nervous.
Couple this with a client we fear will go bankrupt before meeting all their outstanding invoices, the loss one of our biggest regular clients, and general paranoia about the economy, and you’ll get an idea about how we’re feeling.
Here’s the breakdown:
Monthly Income: $5,381.44
Percentage of Income Paid Out to Our Writers: 4.9%
SEO Articles – $1,999.00
Web Content – $1,529.54
Blogs – $80.00
Ebooks/Reports – $1,200.00
Newsletters – $222.80
Print – $0
Product Descriptions – $100.10
Press Releases – $250.00
So what’s going on out in the freelancing world? Is this part of the regular famine that we all experience, or are other freelancers facing a downturn and starting to feel the belt closing in?
Also, go enter our contest. 
FREE 21-Page Internet Business Idea Guide
Enter your name and email below and we’ll send you our unique 21-page guide chock full of Internet business ideas – for free! Your information will be kept private, of course.
Christina Lemmey is the mother of two school-aged girls, a wife, and the owner of 
I feel the same way because these past 2 months have been great but in April-May many of my big contracts will be ending. I feel a little nervous but I know that some marketing (which I haven’t even had time for) will score me some new clients. I try to think about that so I don’t stress.
I think a lot of freelancers are dealing with a similar situation. One thing I’ve noticed is the ones who make a point of marketing consistently are still quite busy. In fact, I started noticing a slow down a couple of weeks ago and started marketing again (I shouldn’t have stopped in the first lace…). I have two new clients and another “maybe.”
I’ve only bee freelancing full-time for about a year and a half, so I’m also interested in knowing if the freelancing landscape is making some sort of permanent change, or if this too shall pass.
March was a killer for me . . . virtually no work. I was really starting to stress out, but at the very end of the month, due to some major marketing efforts and a new website, things started picking up. I`m booked comfortably for the next two weeks, with more work coming in on a regular basis, so hopefully that will continue!
I think there is a lot more competition for jobs at the moment, which is causing some issues with freelancers since newbies are charging less. Being creative and contacting companies that may need writers but haven`t advertised seems to be a good way to pick up new clients, at least for me.
Genesiss last blog post..Where Is At Home Mom Going?
Everyone seems to think that marketing is the most important thing, and I agree. (It’s just my least favorite part of freelancing…)
Genesis – I’ve had a suspicion that new, cheaper freelancers have been a big contributing factor to the sudden decrease in jobs. Here’s hoping that quality and experience will win out in the end!
I was somehow lucky to be very busy in March, but that meant that I neglected to send out queries and applications for new work. So I, too, and worried about a slow April…and May…
Jennifers last blog post..How to talk to your small child about death
I think there is a lot of competition out there!
I have been lucky these past few years with great repeat/consistent clients but just got slammed with my largest client deciding to bring it all in-house. In their mind with the economy they believe an on staff person will save them money. SInce so many are loosing their jobs they believe they can get a full time person to do what I have been doing for them at a fraction of the cost. And they are probably right. Sadly as a freelancer we don’t get unemployment. With so many cutting back, and the full timers now also going freelance to subsidize their unemployment income, the freelance market is getting thinner. A job a year ago I would have gotten paid $1000 for, clients want for $250. I feel it is both a younger crowd coming in willing to work for whatever and those recently unemployed. I have been freelancing for more than 15 years and have not seen it this bad. For those freelancers who do undercharge it does come back to bite all of us in the end and devalues the work.
I think its not only new freelancers charging less for work than they should, but also companies seeking out a cheaper, lower quality product in order to publish something “good enough” vice articles of higher quality.
Javanx3ds last blog post..Work at Home – Creating Freelance Writing Samples