I am a freelance content writer, and in the beginning, I took as many jobs as I could to earn some money and pay some bills. I also joined a few different content writing sites, and one of those was iWriter. I can’t say iWriter was all bad because I ended up finding an amazing client on there who paid me more than my husband was making as an accountant at a big company. It was actually quite shocking. But, for the most part, iWriter sucked for so many different reasons.
IWriter Was An Easy Way To Make Some Money
IWriter was so frustrating at times. Clients were cheap, your work could be rejected for no reason (and often you would find it on someone’s site later on despite the fact that they rejected it), the site didn’t always work properly, and the support was lacking – to say the least.
There were other problems. I remember being so frustrated about iWriter that I worked myself into a frenzy where I just wanted to quit writing altogether. But, I stuck with it.
The problem was that iWriter offered the easiest way to make a quick buck online. There wasn’t, and probably still isn’t, a content writing site out there like it.
You can easily take a job, write the content, and get paid quickly. So, you keep plugging away with iWriter because all the other options out there are much more work.
For instance, when I dabbled in it, Constant Content required you to pass the site’s regulations for writing and then your article would sit there waiting for someone to come along and buy it, which could take weeks or not happen at all. It just seemed much harder than writing for iWriter where you could take a job, write an article, and get paid within a few hours.
Interestingly, I had written a few articles at Constant Content before iWriter, and I’m STILL getting paid from there, even though I haven’t written anything in years!
I Started An IWriter Facebook Page
Because I had been having so many problems with iWriter, I started a Facebook page to talk to other writers at iWriter. I called it Writers at IWriter.
This was years ago before anyone else had the idea to start a page for writers at that site, so it quickly became popular. I had so many people join that page in a short amount of time. And, they were all struggling with the issues I was having. Some of them were even struggling with more than I was struggling with.
Facebook quickly became just as big of a headache as iWriter. Because so many people were having problems, they were constantly sending me messages with complaints, concerns, and just plain hate. They tried sending messages to the actual iWriter people, but often they never heard back from them.
I constantly had to tell people that I didn’t work for iWriter, I was just a writer there, but it didn’t matter. The messages just kept coming in as if I was an employee at iWriter.
The Facebook page took up hours out of each day as I dealt with people’s problems and concerns.
This went on for years.
I Thought The Facebook Page Would Do Something For Me
Eventually, my high-paying client on iWriter didn’t need any more content. Because I had been working for him full-time, I had lost all my other clients. Moreover, I hadn’t been working on any other ventures because I had no time between my client and the Facebook page.
So, not only was I not making anywhere close to the income I was making before, I was constantly bombarded with messages from the Facebook page.
I decided I was going to start affiliate marketing full-time, which was something I had dabbled with a little bit while freelance writing, but never went all-in for.
I thought the Writers at IWriter Facebook page, full of angry, desperate people, would be a great audience to promote to. I thought I could help them get out of iWriter and do something more rewarding for themselves.
So, after I spent hours tending to their messages, I would work on my website geared towards working online and post my articles on the Facebook page.
I had thousands and thousands of people on that page who regularly interacted with posts, so I thought I was going to easily transform into a successful niche writer in the online business niche.
It didn’t happen.
That audience knew that even though they were having a crappy time with iWriter, it was the easiest way to make money with their writing, and they were not interested in putting in the work towards creating their own online business.
But, I kept trying. I kept telling myself an audience that big with that much interaction, who was desperate to do something they loved, would eventually come around.
They had to.
It would be insane if I wasn’t able to be successful with an audience that big!
I tried to make it happen for over a year.
What a waste of time.
Deleting The Page And Focusing On Things That Worked
Even though it had done nothing for me for years, I never let go of the idea that the Facebook page could be profitable in some way.
But, still, I knew that it was soaking up more time than ever in my day, and I had to do something about it.
One day I was sitting at my parent’s house trying to enjoy a nice visit, and I got an alert every few minutes from that page. That was the last straw.
I decided to delete the page and free myself from hours of pointless interactions and work.
It was terrifying. Even though the page had done nothing for me for years, the thought that I was letting go of something huge would not leave my mind. But, after a few days of stressing out about it, I finally did it. I hit the delete button.
Suddenly I had no stress. I didn’t need to check Facebook to see what problems people were having with iWriter.
My mind shifted from struggle and lack to potential.
I started to come up with a business plan for myself, and I started to work towards it.
Sometimes You’ve Got To Let Go Of Big But Useless Things To Be More Productive
The lesson was big.
I’ve never had a Facebook page that had as much interaction and as many followers as the Writers at iWriter page. But, I’ve had so much more success since letting it go.
With the headache and stress gone, I was able to create new websites that have pushed me back into an income range I’m happy with.
I’ve learned that sometimes ventures that go big are not always good. Sometimes they do nothing but give you a headache and soak up your time. You need to cut loose the things that don’t work in order to focus your attention, time, and energy on things that do.
