Once I started freelance writing full-time about this past year, I didn’t have much of an agenda. I happened to be applying to whatever leads I may find on sites like Elance and Odesk and attempting to build a portfolio which could simply get me more work. Because of this, my focus was scattered: a resume here, a few blog posts there, the ghostwritten eBook that is occasional.

This worked, in a manner of speaking. But I was losing more bids I had was to bid low and bid often than I was landing—and the main weapon. This is bad not just for my own bottom line but for the freelancer community at large and I also knew it. Eventually, though, that I had a background I could draw on that would allow me to specialize as I started to get steady work in a few areas I realized.

Pre-freelance

Prior to going into freelance writing full-time, I spent a number of years as a research biologist. I originally started on that path because brilliant science writers like Stephen Jay Gould and Carl Zimmer had opened within the world of the natural sciences to me with creativity and wit. I had finally found something worth planning to college for. As an undergraduate I fell so in love with Ecology—the branch of biology for creative types—and spent the second years that are few for the reason that world.

After college and a stint in grad school, I quickly realized that there aren’t many jobs for ecologists when you look at the real life, therefore I decided to go to work in some other areas. Read more