How to Start Your Freelance Writing Career

How to become a successful freelance writer? 

Well, this is the most common doubt that appears for people out there who are passionate to write but hate full-time jobs. 

Moreover, the concept of full-time freelancing gives you an escape from 9-5 stressful schedule. And this is why most full-time writers are choosing freelance writing as their career to make a living. 

The upside with choosing freelance writing as a career is you don’t need degrees or professional experience. You can start it from scratch. Yes, you heard it right. All you need to do is pick your domain, write, pitch, get it published and get paid. 

So, no matter you are a mom who wanted to make some money out of writing or a full-time writer who aspires to become a freelancer but not completely ready to jump into the ocean of freelancing. This article helps you with easy steps to start your freelance writing career and actually get paid.

Pick a niche & start writing

Start with what exactly you want to do and what you are highly interested in. So, the first step here is to find out your niche. 

Let it take some time because it’s crucial as you are going to earn some expertise in at least one domain. On the other hand, it’s not that difficult to pick a niche. Choose from hundreds of popular niches like travel, food, fitness, beauty, parenting, relationships, crafting, finance etc. If you are already the one who loves travelling or a foody or a mom, it becomes quite easy to choose the niche as you have some knowledge on it.

If the existing niches are not of your interest but you do have a skill that might help people, don’t hesitate to make it as your niche. 

So, done with picking your niche? Now, start writing content related to your niche to get used to it.

Get friendly with required tools

Before you start pitching yourself to get clients and some work, you need to get familiar with editing tools, apps to check grammar and create images. This is again a crucial thing for freelancers as you need to provide error-free content to your clients. Signup for Grammarly or Hemingway and Canva Softwares to edit content and create images.

Organize your day

As a freelancer, you need to organize all your works. Meaning you are the HR, you are the manager, you are the writer, and you are the editor. Right from pitching to clients, managing your time and preparing bills, you are responsible for taking care of these. 

So, organize your day, track how much time you are taking to research, write, learn new things, and plan the best time to pitch. So that your works won’t collide with each other.

Get a blog

Only writing can make you a better writer. So, get a blog for yourself and start blogging within your niche. This not only helps you in honing your writing skills but also brings you some fans for your content. However, you also need to focus on content writing by constantly pitching yourself to companies. Keep blogging as your part-time work and add worthy articles in your blog so that you will have a published portfolio. 

Prepare an outstanding portfolio

Though you have a blog, content writing is completely different from blogging. Content writing or copywriting comes under the website content or any promotional content that are of so much value. So, include your previous content writing work in your portfolio and come up with an outstanding portfolio. Your portfolio plays a key role in getting clients.

Now you are all set to pitch

Now, that you are done with having a portfolio that describes your worth. So, its time to pitch yourselves. Wondering where to pitch? Find out similar bloggers, businesses in your niche, and do email outreach. Send them your portfolio and introduce yourself or do guest posting, you will either get leads or references. 

Grow your network by pitching yourselves to the right people and try to build a global clientele. This way either you get projects to write and get paid or powerful backlinks to grow your blog and make money out of it. You can later focus on affiliate marketing and Adsense to earn money out of your blog.

Signup for job boards

In the beginning days as a full-time freelance writer, you might feel empty with zero clients even after you hustle. In order to get work for yourself, you need to reach out to job boards such as The Write Finder, iWriter etc. where you can meet your clients. Do not fall into the trap of content mills as they pay you less. Explore the job boards, publish your portfolio there, set your pricing and start working confidently.

Also, remember that though you have chosen a niche as a writer, you don’t need to stick to it while working for clients. Be open to new challenges and new domains and take up projects that you feel you can work. Learn, and start to write for other niches also, who knows you might feel them interesting too.

Explore social media

Social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn help you meet your clients. So, be active on social media especially the professional networks like LinkedIn, contribute your own content so that businesses or people who liked your content may reach you. Again, this acts as a great reference generator for getting new clients.

Also, learn some content marketing skills such as writing captivating lines that influence and engage your audience. Thus you can improve your fan base on social channels which is again a key to drive clients towards you.

Collect feedback and testimonials

Your work needs to be heard both by you and the world. So, never hesitate to ask for feedback on your work. Never turn back to listen to the negative feedback. After all, it only helps you improve your writing skills. Also, ask for testimonials if you hear that you performed really well and they loved it. You can publish them on your blog or website as they might influence your visitors to turn as your clients.

Keep learning

Finally, though you write and work regularly on your freelancing projects and your own blog, it is also important to learn something new each day. As a freelancer, you decide when to work and you have the power to manage your work schedule, so include a short learning session in your schedule. This helps you to nourish your skills even more and lets you shine in the work you do.

Focus more on content marketing as this has become so popular among businesses and even individuals to promote themselves and grow.

Bottom line

So, learned how to start your freelance writing career? OK, now its time to implement. Though there are multiple bloggers and writers in almost every niche, the space is never completely occupied. Enter into your favourite niche, show your skills and get paid for what you love.

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