There are some things I’d like to say to anyone thinking of starting a career in freelance writing. Now, full disclaimer: I’ve only been doing this for a little over a year, so I’m not exactly a seasoned expert. But I’m also close enough to where I started to remember all of the challenges I faced.

So, from that perspective, here are some things you should know:

Get Organized.

I’ll admit it — I was not at all organized during my university years. I didn’t need to be. Five classes, how hard were those things to keep track of? I only made to do lists during particularly stressful times, like finals week.

This did not serve me well when I started freelancing. Having to manage your own workload, clients, and deadlines give you far more of an appreciation for organization instead of chaos. It’s still something I’m working on (I’ve gotten to the point where my to-do list is pristine, but my workspace is a mess).

So learn from my mistakes. Get a system that works now. Download an app, get a planner, or (my personal favorite) start a bullet journal. Just find something that works for you.

Track your finances.

I hated doing this in the beginning, because frankly, it was downright discouraging when I only had one client and was hardly making enough off of my freelancing for gas money, much less bills or food.

But seeing how much you’re progressing from month to month is so helpful to making sure that you really are making progress. And more importantly, tracking both your income and your expenses ensures that you aren’t spending more than what you can keep up with.

You can’t be picky …

Searching for clients is hard. It’s a lot of unanswered emails, polite rejections, and filling out job apps with the same information that’s on your resume. (Seriously, why even bother asking for the resume?)

So my advice for you is this: cast your net wide. Apply to writing gigs outside of your niche, maybe even a little outside your comfort zone. You never know which one is “the one” that will become a regular client.

Except for when you can.

That said, knowing when to say no is a very important skill. While I advise you to step a little outside of your comfort zone, that just means that you should apply to jobs that are a “fun challenge,” not jobs that you’re genuinely distressed by.

To give an example, I recently finished a rather technical piece. I felt pretty out of my depth when writing it, but when I got feedback from the client, it was full of praise, and I was offered another assignment immediately.

However, a few months ago, I turned down a job not because I felt out of my depth, but because the subject matter made me feel genuinely sick to my stomach. That is the sort of job you should say no to.