Zulie Rane
- Zulie Rane is a freelance writer who earns six figures a year while working around 20 hours a week.
- The schedule she makes for herself starts before 8:00 a.m and ends with chill time from 6:00 p.m.
- On any given day, she'll start with a to-do list, outline the week's articles, and practice pitching.
I'm a happy, successful freelance writer. I work around 20 hours a week. I love my job, and I love my life.
I want to show an example of a specific day in the life of a freelance writer to give you an idea of how I break up my time. I'll also include a more general description of what I do, so you can get a sense of not just one day but all my days.
At the end of this article, you should have a solid idea of what it's like to be a freelance writer.
6:00 a.m: False alarm
My cat is meowing into my ear. It's 6:00 a.m. I don't want to be awake. "Astrid," I groan as I shove her off the pillow. "Go away." "Mrow," she says. I go back to sleep after successfully dislodging her.
7:00 - 8:00 a.m: Start the day (for real this time)
I start a day in the life of a freelance writer with an alarm. This time I'm ready to get up.
Most of my mornings are relaxed. That's one of the best parts of being a freelance writer — I wake up when I want, and I take my morning easy. (Granted, I did this when I was a W2 employee, too, but I feel more ownership over my low-key mornings now that I'm in total control).
I typically enjoy a cup of coffee or tea with my husband. We haven't always done this, but as we've gotten older and busier, it's become more important to me to carve out time to chat with no agenda.
This morning, we have a guest — Sally, one of my husband's cousins, is visiting from overseas. We sit at our kitchen table enjoying mugs of tea or coffee. My husband and I offer some suggestions to Sally for what she could do around Boston.
My husband heads off for work around 8:30 a.m., and Sally heads off to Salem. At this point, I get my laptop out.
I am, tragically, a RimWorld addict. Some mornings I manage not to get on it, but I sneak in a quick session most mornings, and I did today.
I stick to a hard 9 a.m. cutoff to make sure I do work today.
9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m: Admin and setup
This is usually how I ease into my weeks. My Monday mornings are gentle — no deep work, just admin and prep.
My commute is short: I migrate from the kitchen table to my sunny, windowed office. My cats typically make this journey with me. After all, it's not just a day in the life of a freelance writer — it's a day in the life of a freelance writer and her two cats.
Every Monday morning, I create my weekly to-do list. I usually split up tasks into four categories:
- clients, like the agencies I work for
- platforms, like YouTube
- my income streams that I own, like putting articles on my website or sending emails to my newsletter
- admin, like going to the post office or (lately) trying to get a business-checking account organized
Most Mondays, I start by answering any emails and checking my Discord and Slack groups. Then I usually close all those tabs and apps, or else I constantly check as notifications come in.
Then I start on the freelance writer's version of weekly meal prep. That's usually:
- Getting a handle on my client's writing assignment deadlines
- Outlining the week's articles for clients. This makes it a lot easier and faster to write them later in the week.
- Finishing off last week's tasks, like scheduling videos or newsletters
Today, I draft out my week's to-do list and give myself deadlines for all my client work. I outline an article for each of my data-science clients and send off an article that had been in my queue for editing.
I also do the SEO for a YouTube video and schedule newsletters for Tuesday.
11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m: Stretch work
I found that to keep growing my business, it's important to set time aside to work on growth and acquisition. A day in the life of a freelance writer is most successful when you think about the future, not just the day-to-day.
I'm bad at pitching. It's why I've developed an entire client-acquisition workflow that revolves around clients coming to me, but I want to get better. So most Monday mornings, I force myself to find an outlet or client I'd like to write for, and I pitch them.
Success has varied, but I'm getting better. Recently, I had an article published in Euronews Week, which was awesome. This particular Monday, I apply to a job I've seen on Superpath, a freelance Slack community I love.
I also do a quick search for "open to pitches" on Twitter and find an outlet I think I have a good idea for. I draft a quick pitch and email the editor.
12:00 p.m.— 2:00 p.m: Deep work
A day in the life of a freelance writer is not complete without meaningful work. Once my "get sorted" work is complete, I like to spend my afternoons on a chunkier task where I can get stuck in.
If it's the start of the month, this is usually (yawn) SEO research and content calendar planning. I'll come up with topics that I can use to post on my blog, my Medium blog, or my YouTube channel.
If I'm done with content planning, I'll usually spend this section of time creating this week's multifunctional content.
The same article can:
- Be a YouTube script
- Go onto either of my blogs
- Serve as newsletter inspiration
Later in the week, I'll use my afternoons to tackle client assignments. But on Mondays, I like to use my brainpower and energy for my own stuff.
This particular Monday, I'm working on a review of a content job platform called Contena.
This will become an email to my newsletter subscribers, a YouTube video, and an article I can post on both my blog and my Medium profile.
2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m: Movement and 'lifemin'
At this point, I'm dying to move around a bit, and there are things around the house that need to get done.
I change into my running clothes and head off for a short run. If I'm not feeling a run, I'll pick up the phone to call a friend or family member while I walk around the neighborhood.
When I'm back, I can do some of the life admin (I shorten this to lifemin because I can never say no to a good portmanteau). Sometimes I do lifemin when I'm procrastinating other work. Then, I can't lose: I either get a clean sink and dishes put away, or I make progress on a chunky assignment.
Lately, this has been:
- Chasing up wedding stuff
- Trying to figure out how to get an EIN
- Taking the cats to the vet
- Spending an inordinate amount of time at the post office and meditating on the truth behind the phrase "going postal"
I don't love doing lifemin, but it's nice to get out of the house and do something unrelated to the stuff I do in a day in the life of a freelance writer.
This Monday, it's nasty weather out, so I call my sister and chat with her for an hour while walking around our local pond.
I combine this with a trip to the post office to drop off some documents that I need to send on behalf of my mom, who is applying for citizenship in Spain.
3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m: Free time (sometimes business-dev time)
My day in the life of a freelance writer is usually complete now. I'm a fast writer, so my cross-postable work is done in my early afternoon slot.
Most days, I clock off and enjoy the rest of my afternoon painting, playing video games, cleaning the house, or making dinner.
Sometimes, though, I like to use this time to work on a trickier, chunkier project that requires a lot of finicky work and attention. Past examples include:
- Setting up my website
- Creating a course or PDF to sell
- Analyzing my revenue streams
- Learning about SEO
- Setting up Ad-Free Zulie, a program that I've been thinking about for years
Today, I've been working on my welcome email funnel. It's a little out of date, and I know it could be even better and more useful to my readers.
Right now, when you sign up for my email list, you get:
- My blogging starter kit, which is a five-email welcome sequence, to be used in conjunction with your downloadable PDF guide
- A three-email sales pitch for a product I love and believe in
- Three more emails, purely service, designed to offer more value and help with the most common FAQs
This funnel worked for me for a while, but the conversion rate is pretty low.
After brainstorming and speaking to subscribers, I've realized it's because the sell is too specific and doesn't really fit the needs of enough of my subscribers. So I've decided to revamp it and include a webinar to add even more value.
This involves a lot of researching webinar platforms, poking around in the backend of ConvertKit, and accidentally breaking things and panicking to fix them.
6:00 p.m. onwards: Chill time
I'm pretty militant about not working after hours. Come rain, come shine, I clock off around 6 p.m. and relax at home. A day in the life of a freelance writer must include rest and relaxation.
My husband is normally home by now, so we'll have dinner, play video games together, do wedding prep, or go hang out with friends.
Today, we're enjoying some puttanesca that my husband whipped up. We play some Sea of Thieves and enjoy some cookies that the downstairs neighbors shared with us (raspberry and rye). We catch an episode of the Mandalorian and head to bed.
FAQs about a day in the life of a freelance writer
Hopefully you've got a good view of what it's like to be a freelance writer. One of the trickiest things to capture is just the variety of work, combined with the repeatability of the work. Days vary a lot, but I do a lot of the same tasks week on week.
For instance, the same clients give me the same amount of work every week, and I match that cadence myself — one blog post, one video, and two newsletters every week.
But there's also a lot of variability in the topic, in what I do with my deep or stretch time, and how I spend my down time.
This is just one freelancer's day, but I hope you have a better picture of what you can expect if you become a freelance writer as well. If you're still curious, here are a few FAQs, answered:
How many hours do freelance writers work?
I actually have a concrete answer to this because I religiously track my time. Here's just one monthly example:
Between January 21 and February 21 this year, I worked 85 hours. Most of that was spent on client work, but just after that was work on my own brand and business, and behind that was platform work.
That breaks down to roughly 21 hours per week.
What do writers do on a daily basis?
We write! But we also work on business development, potter around the house, go for runs, and enjoy ourselves.
Can I make $1,000 a month freelance writing?
I make around $8,500 a month freelance writing. It took me a few years to get there, but it's definitely possible to make $1,000 a month freelance writing.
I find it best to look for a combination of direct clients and agency work, platforms like YouTube and Medium, and working on your own brand, or for example, publishing bylines.
What is it like to be a freelance writer?
Very fun, very freeing, and very chaotic at times. Hopefully this snapshot of my Mondays gives you a good idea of what it's like to be a freelance writer.
Is being a freelance writer worth it?
You tell me. Are you reading this list and thinking, "Oh lord, what a nightmare, that sounds awful?"
If so, then no, being a freelance writer isn't worth it.
If you read my typical day and you think, "Hey, fun, I like the sound of that," then it's absolutely worth it to be a freelance writer. I may be biased, but I truly believe it's the best job in the world.
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