Do you want to discover how to become, not a just freelance
writer but, a Successful Freelance Writer?
How to become
a thriving freelance writer? I get a whole lot of emails from personalities
asking me how to develop freelance writing quality as a profession as they
doubt that they are not from a major city. I always tell them that, at
least today, your location in the world doesn't matter much,
because the actions to be taken to becoming a freelance writer are the same
around the globe. Go through the Mini Guide...
How to Be A Successful Freelance Writer - A Beginner's Mini Guide.
Being a Freelance Writer a super cool way to earn
extra income and actually make a better living from it compared to a
9 to 5 job. So, I thought of writing an article that can help
beginner and new freelance writers to jumpstart and get their business
going.
As I've have started my journey as a freelance writer,
the most irritating thing I've noticed is that many
people are trying to give wrong advice - like you need very
formal and professional training to become an online writer. You don't need any
degree or a certificate to become an online freelance writer.
Today, there are so many full-time-professional Bloggers in the world.
The stay-at-home, doing their perfect business of just writing informative
and helpful articles, create a good network with other bloggers,
business and writers, and earn a decent or very high income, which might
not be possible from their day-to-day, 9 to 5, job.
There are many examples of people quitting their
The "so-called" safe and secure job just to follow their passion for
freelance writing without having any professional experience in writing. Their
incomes are now almost 5X or at least twice from what they were earning from
the "so-called" safe and secure but boring day job.
Even I do the same.
It’s been almost 4 years since I’ve started my freelance
writing business.
My career as a freelance writer started with lots of
mistakes. I ended up making contacts to find content writing jobs. Back then, I
thought that content writing is just another name for casual writings like
stories, personal blogs, general topics, etc.
But as I started going deep and kept learning things without
getting discouraged, I found out so much interesting going on within the layers
of a business and professional promotions. It was a whole new world in itself.
My first income was through a post written for a classified
website. It was near to $3.47, as per today’s calculations. That moment was
very confusing. It was a joyful moment because I earned my first dollar online
which opened the doors of many possibilities in the coming future, but the
feeling of lac was clear in that income. I found that I was not a perfect
writer because, on the referral of that one article, no one was ready to give
me the work I was seeking for.
I decided to learn the skills needed and upgrade myself
because the potential was high but if I was not enough capable, the freelancing
writer's future (for me) was absolutely dark.
I found the influencers (influencers in the real sense of
their work, not just on social fashion media) and grouped with them. Somehow, I
wrote many articles and was lucky enough to get high-paying customers and the
future is not dark anymore.
OK, I hopped over the important stage of struggle, but I’ll
bust it for you in a bit.
With determined resolution, firm motive, and a lot
of hard work I am now qualified to have freelance writing jobs from home! If
you also want the same for yourself, here are the important steps on
how to become a Successful Freelance Writer.
1.
Research About Freelance Writing
When I began freelance writing, I did a lot of studies on
how the other freelance writers write. I found some great freelance writers,
read their blogs, and looked at their websites and learned as much as I could
about this business.
At that time, I was not having any idea about how
freelancing business works or what kind of jobs are available to freelance
writers. I sometimes emailed or even called freelance writers and asked silly
questions like how to apply proper headings.
2.
Become Natural with the Crafts/Skills and Tools Related
to Writing
There are some crafts/skills that are necessary only if you
want to increase the probability of your success. Success doesn’t come
overnight and there is no easy and quick way to become famous. But hard work
never goes in pain only if you work consistently in the right direction. Also,
some most important tools will help you in the freelance writing
journey.
Organization Craft – Management - Organization Skill
Blogging Craft – Blogging Skill
Content Marketing Craft – Content Marketing Skill
Confidence Craft - Confidence Skill
Management Tools
Editing Software
Image Editor
3.
Exercise Writing
You don’t need to be the best writer on the internet but, you
shall have the basic knowledge of how to structure a sentence and convey your
thoughts simply and freely.
What? English isn’t your first language? Are you serious
about becoming a freelance writer even without English as your first language?
Just kidding!
You don’t need English as your first language or mother
tongue to become a freelance writer. Yes, there are benefits of learning to
write in English with food grasp on the language but, you can go with your
native or regional language if you want.
What if English isn’t your first language? There are many
freelance writers who have English as their second language and they are
making a living through freelance writing. So, it is possible but it means that
you may have to work a little harder displaying that you are more than just
skilled in writing for them.
Even if you are a decent writer, work on refining your
writing craft.
Practice adding details & using less miscellaneous
words. You can do this by creating your personal blog. Know that blogging
and content writing is not the same as you might think. This will help you to
become a good writer and market your freelance writing business. You can get
many clients only through blog and it only makes you more credible as a
professional writer.
Another great way to improve vocabulary and world
knowledge is reading. I read articles on my topic and actually pick up a
physical book to read on my downtime!
4.
Create Your Authentic Portfolio
Mostly all of the jobs that you will apply for will wish to
see your previous work so that they can trust your abilities and look what is
the potential in you before they invest their time or money in you. They would
be asking for the samples of the work you have successfully completed.
But the beginners, obviously, don’t have such collection to
show what they can do. If you already have a blog, you can show your published
work. But if you don’t have a website, what is the way? How will you show your
talent?
You can create writing samples on your own. You can do guest
posting on various sites in your niche, write articles on Medium or you can
upload them on Google Docs and that will do some help.
Guest posting is a very helpful way in my opinion because this
increases the trust factor and shows your prospects that someone is having
trust in you and so your writing must have some good qualities.
Go to Google and type “your
niche + write for us” - to get blogs that accept guest postings. See the
image below:
5.
Start Applying to Freelance Jobs
Start searching quickly for freelance writing jobs from
home.
But you may wonder where and how.
Initially, when I started my freelance writing career, I
went to the Information Guru (i.e. Google Search). I searched for “best
freelance writing jobs site”. And guess what did I found in the first position?
Freelancer.com, probably you guessed it right.
At that time, I was not having much knowledge about the
internet business and any of the digital marketing stuff so I believed google
results and jumped directly into that site, registered an account and set my
profile correctly.
I started biding on the projects with all the expectations
that now I will be getting a lot of clients and I’ll be making good money
soon. But unfortunately, this didn’t happen right away, not at least in 5 months.
I also tried Upwork and some other portals too but they were
also not quite satisfying. Actually, I never got any work from it.
Through this process, I learned some important lessons.
1.
Be as quick
as you can to apply for the
projects.
2.
Your pitch
should be enough impressive and stand out from others.
3.
Always showcase
your work portfolio (guest posts,
your blog, personal projects, college/university papers, or testimonials).
6.
Marketing
If you select a freelancing career that means you want to
and are ready to hustle. There is no other option until you maintain a specific
momentum.
The clients should come to find you anyhow. You need to show
yourself.
But, if you are new in the freelance writing business, how
it is possible that any client, even a smaller one, would come to you trusting
you?
The answer is Promotion and Marketing of yourself or your
services.
1.
Social
Media Networking – LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest are
the present best social media platforms for business promotions and marketing.
Specifically, LinkedIn and Twitter are the best business place among all the SM
platforms. Use them well and your marketing part will be strong enough, but not
easy.
2.
Guest
postings – When you write a guest post for any reputed or say an average
website, your skills are seen by not only the website owner but also by the
readers of that site. This is not just a tool to build up your portfolio but
you can make good networking with it. If your writing style is unique enough,
the readers will definitely follow you along with the website you write for.
This easily puts your name out in the market.
7.
Be A Life-Long Student
It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner or a successful
freelance writer, learning is a never-ending process. And there are no limits
to learn only when you think of you as a student. When you stop learning, at
any point in time, you start to go down because the world is changing at an
exponential rate. And if you stop learning that means you have stopped growing
which gives a quick fall to your flight to success.
Of course, you can have a break but never stop learning.
Keep growing with the world.
You can read books of your niche or interests, listen to
podcasts, or watch videos. Do anything suitable to you but keep yourself
updated with what is changing in the world trend.
Conclusion
I hope this post will definitely help those who want to start their career as a freelance writer so that they can earn from home and be their own boss.
In future posts, I will also describe the whole process of finding freelance writing jobs, creating your portfolio, promoting your work to the world, and creating your personal blog.
Sharing is Caring! Do share this article with someone in need.
Earn, Help, Smile, and Be Happy!😊
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