Working As A Freelancer In Singapore: What It's Like

by - August 28, 2020

Working As A Freelance Writer

freelance writing in singapore

I'm back with another one of my What's It Like blog series! I realised that this series have been pretty popular, so I thought it was about time that I wrote another one.

Writing has always been something I loved doing, and since I support myself financially, I have always been open to different sources of income. I've been doing freelance writing for about 5 years now (ever since poly) on top of other forms of freelance/ contract/ random work such as VJing at nightclubs and even social media marketing. As much as I need the money because I'm a broke ass Uni student with tens of thousands of student debt, I also love doing freelance work because it gives me a sense of fulfilment.

When people know I do freelance, they tend to ask me questions like, "How do you find clients?" or "How much do you get paid?". So today, I'm just going to put it out there and answer all the important things you want to know in regards to my work as a freelance writer.

Leggo!

1. What kind of freelance work do you do?


I do lots of freelance work such as writing, social media, and sometimes even video content. Writing is still my main gig; and I typically do lifestyle writing and occasionally even YouTube scripts and play scripts. I have been asked to do copywriting or corporate writing before, but it really isn't my cup of tea and I don't enjoy writing formal stuff. I may consider taking on copywriting next time, but we'll see!

2. How did you get started?


I first started out doing freelance writing for Zalora. To be honest, I won't even consider it freelance, rather it was more like content contribution - and I didn't even get paid.

I had to write weekly articles for them, which was pretty stressful for me at the time as an inexperienced poly kid. They'd suggest certain topics for me to write, and I would just pitch them article ideas. After getting the green light, I would just write a draft and submit it to the editor. I did this for a few months until my internship at TSL started. It was pretty fun and I even got awarded 'Contributor of the Month' for writing a viral article. As a reward, they gave me $200 credit to spend on Zalora, and I ended up buying a pair of Nike shoes. LOL.

Although I didn't earn a cent writing at Zalora, it helped me hone my skills and exposed me to the world of fashion and beauty writing. In fact, I included the articles I wrote for Zalora in my portfolio during my internship with TSL. I remember the interviewer (who won't be named) laughing when he saw the stuff I wrote - I still had a lot to learn then and my writing was pretty meh. But it was a good start!

If you're interested to write for Zalora, you can send them an email at community@zalora.com. You can also check out my works with them here.

3. Where do you find freelance work?


After my internship at TSL ended, I continued working for them as a freelancer, but I didn't have consistent work. I still needed money to fund my education (and travels) so I looked for more gigs. I can't remember exactly HOW I came across this particular one (I think it was LinkedIn), but I initially signed up for a talent position instead of a writer. I think the HR must have thought, walao this girl face like some sai, her neh neh so smol, how can be influencer, so they emailed me later and asked if I would want to do freelance writing instead.

So this writing gig was for iFitness, and they're actually a Men's magazine. Since I had to write lifestyle and fitness articles related to men, I had to really challenge myself and put myself in their shoes. Writing for them was fun and simpler since their articles were mainly listicles.

I was writing for iFitness for about 3 months when Covid hit and I lost my part-time job. Just a lil' context, I worked at a club previously as a Video Jockey, but Covid, so here I am. With my part-time job out the window, I lost a steady income stream, so I needed extra work to make up for it. This was some time during the end of my Uni Y2S2 and a week into the Circuit Breaker. I went on LinkedIn and applied for a few positions, and finally got a reply from Confirm Good (also known as Good Lobang). They called me in for an interview, and I started taking on assignments from them a month later.

4. How much do you get paid?


I'm not allowed to disclose my pay for legal reasons, but it really varies.

The lowest I've been paid is $20 per article, and the highest I've been paid is in the hundreds. I can't say who paid me which rates though, so you're gonna have to guess.

I won't say I've been paid unfairly, because the amount that I'm paid really reflects the amount of effort that I have to put into the article. Obviously I don't try as hard for lower paid articles, and my clients don't expect too much from me as well. As long as I get the job done, it's cool.

I won't say doing freelance is a very stable job because there are times when I have a lot of work, and there are times when I don't. It really depends. I also rarely get paid on time, for GOD knows what reason, and frankly, it's really annoying. Dear companies, please pay your freelancers on time!

I remember having to rush some of my clients to pay me, even months after my article was already published. In my opinion, it's just really irresponsible and unethical to do so, because even though we're 'just freelancers', some of us rely on the money to feed ourselves. So yeah, just saying!

5. Is freelance really an OTOT job?


Freelance work is quite OTOT since it doesn't follow the typical 9-5 clock in, but you still have deadlines to meet.

Companies usually hire freelancers to work on last-minute work, or to take over assignments when the main team is overloaded. So do expect to be thrown lots of last minute stuff and having to rearrange your schedule around deadlines. I don't really mind this because last minute work also means surprise extra money, but it can get a bit challenging having to juggle work and school. School assignments are tough as it is, so it's important to really plan your schedule well.

I try as much as I can to take on all the jobs that are offered to me, but sometimes I just have to say no, especially when I'm really swamped. When finals come around, I tend to keep taking on work which ends up affecting my studies and my results. But it really depends on your priority. For me, work still comes first because I need to support myself, and I know that my ultimate goal after graduation is to become a writer. My results are going to be meh no matter how hard I try because the bell curve god has never favoured me anyway, so I'm just going to focus on building my career!

Working the free(lance) way

Working freelance is fun and I'm really thankful for the many opportunities that have been given to me. It's a good job to have as a student as it helps build your portfolio, and it can even be a decent full-time job. If you're hoping to become a writer one day, my advice is to just send out as many emails as you can to different companies and take on the jobs they offer you. Don't be too picky. The pay may not be the best at first, but you'll learn a lot of things along the way, and your pay will gradually improve.

A good way to start is to look for freelance jobs on LinkedIn. I know subscription emails can be spammy, but it's good to stay subscribed as you'll be updated on the current job openings.

I hope that this article answers some of your questions, and if it doesn't feel free to leave me a comment below! Till then, see you next post :)


Love this post? Feel free to share and comment below or check out this article about my internship experience at The Smart Local.

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