You can make money freelancing. Writer Kelly James-Enger shares some insights from her book Six-Figure Freelancing, out this week! You can learn more about Kelly at her website.

My first year of fulltime freelancing more than eight years ago, I made just over $17,000 and netted less than $12,000. My goal-my dream, really-was to be able to make $30,000 to $40,000 a year writing from home. By my sixth year of freelancing, though, Id far surpassed my expectations and cracked the six-figure mark.

I'm not a particularly well-known writer, nor am I commanding enormous book advances. (My biggest book advance so far has only been $15,000; my smallest, a mere $2,500.) But I have mastered some necessary skills that other freelancers overlook. I can tell you freelancers who make big bucks have many things in common. As a whole, they're confident, efficient, focused, friendly, and adaptable.

Sure, they're good writers-in fact, most of them are great writers. But they're even better at running their writing businesses, working more efficiently, and developing relationships with clients, sources, and fellow writers. You can be, too-whether you're aiming to make six-figures this year or simply get paid more for your writing.

The Power of a Positive Attitude
Let's start with your mindset. A tagline for a poplar antiperspirant is "never let them see you sweat." Successful writers take this motto to heart. Sure, they doubt their abilities sometimes. All writers do. But they don't share those feelings with their clients-or let self-doubt prevent them from working.

A positive attitude can give you a leg up on other writers. Focus on what you can do-sending out queries, calling new potential clients, scouting for regular gigs-rather than on what you can't control. No, confidence in your abilities won't force an editor to give you an assignment or turn a $2,000 advance into a $20,000 one. But you can choose to be positive as you pursue your career. Setbacks are normal. It's how writers cope with them that makes a difference.

"There are so many writers who do nothing but complain. Life is frustrating. Business is frustrating," says Erik Sherman of Marshfield, Massachusetts. "Get used to it and move on. If you want to gripe, go find a friend you can gripe to. But when you're composing that message and feeling embittered, think of how much time would have it taken you to write a query and get it out to another market? You have to stay focused on getting stuff done."

Use Time-Saving Strategies
In addition to working on assignments, you must devote time for marketing, billing, and record-keeping tasks that can easily eat up hours better spent producing income. That's why developing and maintaining a selection of writing templates or forms on your hard drive can be invaluable. For example, I have a standard marketing letter, which I tweak for the market, as well as simple forms for estimates, invoices, and follow-up letters. I'm also a big believer in reusing research and writing about the same subjects more than once. The more ways you can come up with to approach a topic and sell an idea, the easier it is to make more money with less effort.

Master your Day
At any given time, Sherman works on five or six articles in addition to a book or two. He uses a Franklin Covey time management system to help him juggle the research and writing tasks that the assignments demand. "It can greatly increase the amount you can get done in a given amount of time," says Sherman. "I plan ahead. Maybe I'll need seven or eight sources for a 2,000-word article, so I'll go after the sources ahead of time. As long as I'm getting the interviews done ahead of time, it doesn't take that much time, and you can research a whole bunch of articles at the same time. You have to be realistic about where your time goes and willing to put in the planning part so that you can overlap your work effectively."

Look for Repeat Business
Remember, it's easier to get work from clients you already have than to get new clients. To maximize his time, Robert McGarvey relies on relationship-building. "The essence of any business is repeats and referrals, that's how you make money," says McGarvey of Jersey City, New Jersey. "Cold calling and stuff like that you do to fill a pipeline. You don't do it because you want to do it-you do it because you have to do it. My business is about repeats and referrals. If I can make $30,000 from one customer, I'd rather do that than have 30 $1,000 customers. It's a lot less wear and tear on me." For example, this year McGarvey will make over $30,000 from SELLING POWER (mainly covering meetings) and around $20,000 from Harvard Business Review, his two biggest clients.

Climb Outside your Pigeonhole
Recently I was asked by a former client if I could write a television treatment for a new show she was developing. I'd never done it before and in fact knew next to nothing about television writing. Did I turn the work down? Nope. I read a couple of books on treatment-writing, gathered background information, and wrote a script and treatment she was thrilled with. Next time around, it'll be easier.

Don't let clients pigeonhole you. Just because you write magazine articles doesn't mean you can't write books or speeches as well. Your background in a particular subject can also lead to lucrative corporate gigs if you look for those kinds of opportunities.

Adapt to the Market
To succeed as a freelancer over the long haul, you have to be able to adapt to a changing market and learn new skills. This often gives writers a chance to follow their own passions as well. That may mean writing in a new genre, covering different topics, teaching, or switching forms-say, writing books instead of magazine articles.

McGarvey, who's been freelancing for more than 30 years, says he reinvents himself as a writer every few years by learning about new subjects of interest to him. That's kept him marketable, and helped prevented him from becoming bored. For example, several years ago, an editor at Midwest Express asked him to write a couple of stories on biotech. The money was minimal, but McGarvey was interested in the topic. He also suspected that biotech might be big news down the line, and he was right. Last year, he wrote several major stories on biotechnology for Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, and The Boston Globe which totaled more than $30,000. "I'm basically following my own interests to a large extent, but my interests have been shaped by commercial realities over 20 years," he says.

Aim for Balance
Finally, ensure that freelancing doesn't consume your life. One of the most challenging aspects of being self-employed is that it's all too easy to spend eight, ten, twelve hours a day-or more-working. That's fine occasionally when you're under the gun to make a deadline, but work long hours day after day and your productivity will plummet. I've learned firsthand I can't work 12-hour days anymore without getting sick, exhausted, or extremely cranky, and the fact is that most successful writers don't work 70-hour weeks. They strive to work more efficiently but they've learned to take time off.

It's important to draw the line in terms of protecting your free time. It might seem that the more hours you work, the more money you can make, but you also run the risk of burnout. If you want to sustain a six-figure freelance career (or close to it), you've got to learn to balance the time you spend at your desk, making money, with time spent away from your desk, enjoying the rest of your life.