This website has already discussed a number of ways that student debt borrowers can earn extra money so that additional cash can be devoted to student loans. While paying off student debt, I worked as a tutor, found ways to earn extra money from my main job, and took other steps to increase my income from side-hustles. After I paid off all of my student loans, I began a career as a blogger and freelance writing. Although it has taken me a few years to earn a respectable amount of money from writing, earning extra money from freelance writing is one way to increase the amount of cash you devote to student debt.
As previously mentioned on this website, it is possible to earn extra money from blogging. Although there are a number of articles online about how you can make insane sums of money by blogging, take it from me, it is difficult to earn money from blogging. In my best months, I only make a few hundred dollars from blogging, and I blog more as a passion than as a vocation.
However, blogging can give you a platform to advertise your writing abilities. Oftentimes, other websites and publishing outlets will review your blog articles and see if you have the potential to write for them. Indeed, this blog opened doors for earning extra money from freelance writing, since other websites took me more seriously because I had blogging experience.
Shortly after founding Student Debt Diaries, I reached out to some other websites to which I could contribute articles. I had connections with one legal news website, and I reached out to the editors of this outlet to see if they could use an additional weekly columnist. I mostly wanted to write for this website at first in order to increase referral traffic to Student Debt Diaries, and earning extra money from freelance writing was not really on my mind.
To my surprise, the editors of this legal news website decided to hire me as a weekly columnist. Amazingly, the website also decided to pay me a modest amount of money per article, which amounted to several thousand dollars a year. However, this was not an insubstantial amount of money, and writing for this website would not only be fun but allow me to put my blog on the map.
For the next few years I continued to write for this website as a weekly columnist. Writing articles for this website was a rewarding experience for me. As a columnist for this legal news website, I routinely corresponded with people from across the country from all walks of life. Some people who emailed me were college and law students, and other individuals were well-known attorneys and judges. I even had some legitimately famous people email me over the years, and I get a real kick out of all of the emails I receive as a columnist for this legal news website.
I enjoyed writing for this website so much that I eventually wanted to increase my involvement. A while ago, I noticed that this website was looking for someone to write a news digest about legal news stories on an almost daily basis. I had always liked reading these news digests, and I thought it would be interesting to assume this role. I submitted an application for this job, and I was eventually picked for this position.
I now spend a solid five to ten hours a week writing for this website, but the role rarely feels like work. To be completely honest, I do not make too much money working for this website, but extra scratch definitely helps. Also, writing for this website on a nearly daily basis has increased the amount of traffic I drive to this website and my law firm website.
My experience shows how earning extra money from freelance writing is possible and can help you pay off student loans. An established freelance writer can sometimes make several hundred dollars an article or more depending on the topic of the piece and the length of the article. In addition, even if you are unable to connect with an established website, it is possible to secure freelance writing jobs from gig websites that have already been discussed on Student Debt Diaries.
There are a few things people should keep in mind when earning extra money from freelance writing. Firstly, bloggers shouldn’t be afraid to accept little or no money at first to write for more established websites. It is important to establish a portfolio in the beginning, and more money can be earned later. Also, it is important to keep freelance activities from your employer or make sure they’re onboard with your writing. Even though my articles were read by tens of thousands of readers every week, I’m not sure my bosses at law firms knew I was writing, and this saved me from being told by a manager that I had to stop. Furthermore, make sure that you devote your utmost attention to every piece because trust me, you never know which articles will go viral and be shared all over the internet.
Although it may be difficult, earning extra money from freelance writing is possible for many people. And if you work a primary job while you freelance that covers your living expenses, any cash that you earn from freelance writing can be used to pay down your student loans.