The technical writing services business is the ideal business for those who are blessed with good writing and analytical skills. Technical writers don’t have to step out of their homes; the business comes to them. It is also a business that is easy to start, requires low investment and delivers good returns.
Target market: The owner of a technical writing services business can tap industries that want to develop training manuals for their employees, manufacturers who want to prepare instruction manuals for their products, entrepreneurs needing clear and focused business plans, researchers needing influential grant proposals. Earlier, a technical writer needed to scan classified advertisements or college notice boards to obtain information about these projects. Today, there are several online agencies and sites that have built a platform where the technical writing services business owner can negotiate with a prospective client.
Qualifications: Technical writing involves writing on complex scientific and technical subjects, but in a layman’s language. The technical writing services business owner should therefore be proficient in his language. This means that you should be strong in grammar, should know how to structure a report and should not make spelling mistakes. Ideally, if you want to write in English then you should have done a four-year degree course. You should also have undertaken secondary training in technical writing. Besides this, you should possess sound research and analytical skills, and the desire to learn about complex industrial processes.
Start Up Costs: The start up costs are limited to owning a computer with a good word processing program, an Internet connection, a table and a chair and a phone line. Earlier, it would have been necessary to have your own little library of reference books. Today, most of this information is available on the net. Still, you do need good dictionaries. They come in very handy at times. You also need to have your stationery, business cards and invoice books, if you want to conduct your business offline.
How to charge: There are two ways to run the technical writing services business. The first is to bid on technical projects on online auction sites. The bidding price can be based on the scope of work and the number of hours needed to complete it. In the initial months you can bid low so that you get more projects, and make a name for yourself. A reasonable hourly rate can be from $10 to $15. Later, you can increase your rates.
The other way is to send proposals to different companies that have advertised in the local media. These proposals should detail the time you need to do project, your hourly costs, and the reasons why you think you are the right person to do it. After that, you wait for a response.
Income potential: The income that you can earn from technical writing services business depends on the number of hours that you are willing to invest in the business, the quality of your work, your analytical skills and your writing abilities. A good technical writer can easily make $1,000 to $2,000 a month. This amount can increase with experience, and can easily go up to $5,000 to $10,000 a month depending upon the kind of projects that you handle.
