Once I first began freelance writing, no one knew who I used to be.
I didn’t have a portfolio.
I didn’t have business connections.
I didn’t have a distinct segment.
And I positively didn’t have the arrogance I’ve at this time.
Most days, I felt like I used to be Googling my means by way of a profession I wasn’t even positive I used to be certified for.
Sure, I had (and nonetheless have, at occasions) imposter syndrome as a new freelance author.
Again a decade in the past, I used to be a stay-at-home mother with twin toddlers climbing onto my laptop computer whereas I attempted to determine what “content material advertising” even meant.
I didn’t know which platforms mattered and even how one can pitch. I didn’t even know what counted as a “clip.”
However I did know one factor: I needed this to work.
So I handled day by day like a tiny experiment.
One pitch.
One visitor submit.
One new writing pattern.
One job board utility.
One touch upon an organization’s weblog.
None of these actions appeared life-changing — they usually weren’t.
However collectively? They constructed the muse for every little thing that got here later.
Each writing job I landed in these early months got here from sheer consistency and a whole lot of trial and error.
Some pitches flopped.
Some “excellent” samples acquired ignored.
Over time, I noticed this:
Paid writing jobs don’t seem magically. You create alternatives lengthy earlier than a consumer ever finds you.
Purchasers aren’t watching you from afar ready to succeed in out. They’re busy so that they aren’t seeing your effort and all of the hours you set into studying about freelance writing.
They solely see the second you present up, which ought to be confidently, and persistently.
However once you’re a beginner in any respect of this, you have got doubts which you can even get a contract writing job.
So, how will you construct that momentum even in case you’re ranging from zero?
Right here’s the system that works, whether or not you’re model new or rebuilding your consumer pipeline from scratch.
1. Construct a Easy, Dependable Consumer-Discovering System
In the event you’re new, your largest problem isn’t solely expertise, t’s visibility.
Individuals can’t rent you in the event that they’ve by no means heard of you, proper?
However you don’t must be all over the place always and even grasp each social media platform.
And also you positively don’t must submit 50 occasions a day hoping somebody notices.
You solely want two or three constant channels bringing in potential purchasers.
That is precisely what I inform my college students in my Write Your Approach to Your First $1k program.
Once I began, my channels had been:
Later, LinkedIn turned considered one of my strongest inbound sources.
However I didn’t begin there. I constructed up slowly, and that’s what I like to recommend for you too.
2. Flip Referrals Right into a Routine (Even When You’re New)
Most new freelance writers assume referrals solely occur once you’ve been round without end.
Not true.
Even your earliest purchasers can refer you however it’s important to make it straightforward for them.
Once I delivered tasks, I seen one thing:
Purchasers had been happiest the second I turned in that last draft. That’s after I began constructing a easy behavior into my offboarding course of:
Ask for a referral or testimonial in the intervening time of peak satisfaction.
Most freelance writers mess this up by being imprecise:
“Let me know if you realize anybody who wants writing.”
That is too broad and too straightforward to disregard.
Referrals flip into your warmest, easiest-to-close jobs, even once you’re nonetheless constructing your repute.
For extra assist, I share my finest suggestions in my course Writeto1k.com.
3. Use Outreach That Doesn’t Really feel Chilly or Spammy
Chilly pitching straight from “Howdy!” isn’t efficient anymore.
The inboxes of selling managers, founders, and editors are slammed. Even hyper-personalized chilly emails really feel like chilly emails.
What does work is heat pitching. That is exhibiting up earlier than you want something and works on constructing an genuine relationship.
Right here’s what I do, and what learners can do too:
- Touch upon their LinkedIn posts
- Share their content material
- Reply thoughtfully to one thing they posted
- Have interaction with their firm bulletins
- Discover after they’re hiring (large opening!)
- And ensure to observe them and different essential individuals (e.g. content material marketer)
By the point I ship a message, my identify is already acquainted and makes it simpler for them to rent me.
Once I pitch firms hiring a full-time author, I typically supply one thing particular:
“I can bridge the hole whilst you’re hiring, so your content material doesn’t stall.”
Upon getting your foot within the door, it’s simpler for the consumer to simply rent you for his or her content material as a substitute of weeding by way of numerous resumes or pitches.
4. Construct Visibility on LinkedIn (Even Earlier than You Really feel Prepared)
I do know, I do know….I preserve harping on LinkedIn.
I’ve written posts and I appear to speak about it in every bit of content material I create.
I’m sorry however LinkedIn actually is the place to market your freelance writing enterprise successfully.
So, the faster you begin a LinkedIn profile and join and observe others in your business, the earlier essential individuals will discover you and ultimately rent you.
Right here’s a video I did about making a LinkedIn profile that will get purchasers.
To construct your LinkedIn followers and connections, begin posting extra persistently.
Now I’ll be the primary to let you know that I’m not that constant on LinkedIn and I am going in spurts however that’s okay. In the event you try this, that’s effective however attempt to keep it up for greater than a month.
Create small posts and share easy classes. I additionally speak about my processes to point out potential purchasers my information.
And it labored.
The weeks I first beginning freelance writing and utilizing LinkedIn for the primary time, I used to be already exhibiting up.
Once I checked my e-mail, I had heat leads in my inbox.
The one is the primary ever one I had and I used to be ecstatic!
And I do know they noticed my profile on LinkedIn as a result of at the moment I wasn’t on Google and my visitor posts hadn’t come out but.
So begin posting on LinkedIn and connecting with the folks that rent writers!
5. Be a part of Area of interest Communities (Your Future Purchasers Dangle Out There)
This is among the most underrated locations learners discover paid writing jobs.
Not Fb teams filled with different freelancers competing for a similar gigs.
However area of interest areas the place your purchasers truly spend their time:
One in every of my favourite early wins was from a tiny neighborhood of solopreneurs the place I merely answered questions and shared concepts.
Individuals began DM’ing me:
“Hey, may you assist me write one thing like that?”
I didn’t need to pitch or chase down purchasers on Upwork. I simply needed to present up and assist persistently.
And sure — partnering with complementary freelancers works too.
Designers, search engine optimisation specialists, VA’s, branding professionals typically serve the identical purchasers however don’t write.
I’ve referred dozens of writers to alternatives that weren’t proper for me and acquired referrals again.
These small networks can quietly create hundreds of {dollars} in writing work.
6. Create “Micro Proof” Even When You Have No Portfolio But
New freelance writers get overwhelemed after they see they need to create writing samples. I educate college students to create a minimal of three samples.
However you realize what? If that is an excessive amount of, you are able to do a micro challenge simply to get on the market.
Micro proof sells. There’s no want for an enormous portfolio or all these samples in the intervening time..
Examples of those tiny proof items are:
- 2 earlier than/after rewrites
- 1 content material audit
- A brief writing pattern tailor-made to a distinct segment
- A breakdown of a model’s content material gaps
- A mini case research from a small challenge
Micro proof can construct belief with purchasers extraordinarily quick because it’s straightforward to scroll these teyps of content material on cell (in all probability how your prospect purchasers view your content material).
A few of my college students land their first writing jobs utilizing simply:
- a single weblog submit pattern
- a content material refresh instance
- or a one-page PDF breakdown of “right here’s what I’d do along with your weblog.”
You may create these in a weekend.
7. Visitor Submit Strategically (The Previous College Technique That Nonetheless Works)
Visitor posting was how I acquired in entrance of my perfect purchasers.
I didn’t write for large websites at first. As a substitute, I wrote for smaller area of interest blogs that had extremely engaged audiences.
For instance, one visitor submit was for an autism weblog and one other one was for a mother’s journal website.
(Right here’s a screenshot of a piece on my portfolio in 2014).
The magic is in your byline and bio.
If somebody wants a author, and your article helped them, they are going to click on by way of.
I nonetheless suggest this as a result of:
- It builds credibility quick
- It offers you printed samples
- It places your identify in entrance of the proper individuals
- It will get you backlinks, which assist your web site rank
When nobody is aware of you, a well-placed visitor submit makes them know you.
And you need to use visitor posting to create these three writing samples I inform my Writeto1k college students!
It’s a win-win scenario!
8. Apply to Curated Job Boards (However Do It the Sensible Manner)
Job boards aren’t useless.
The mistaken job boards are. There are nonetheless loads of job websites and curated job boards that may get you a paid writing job.
Skip common ones and use high-quality, curated boards with fewer candidates:
- ProBlogger (my first large consumer got here from right here)
- Quoted for media jobs like journalists
- All Issues Freelance Writing Job Board (curated by a journalist)
- Superpath Jobs (for B2B/SaaS writers)
The secret’s responding with:
- a decent pitch
- one related pattern
- a short clarification of why the model stood out
Once you apply like an expert as a substitute of a volume-based spray-and-pray candidate, you rise to the highest shortly.
9. Decide Two Methods and Commit for 90 Days
Freelance writing proper now’s completely different from a decade in the past. Inside a month I used to be getting leads and touchdown purchasers.
Now? It may well take as much as a month or extra to land a paid writing job. However that’s to not say that different writers have had success a lot (a lot) sooner. They weren’t dabbling on this. As a substitute, they had been committing to freelance writing.
So, I need you to choose two channels and commit for 90 days.
- Heat outreach
- Referrals
- Area of interest communities
- Visitor posting
- Curated job boards
Keep on with them for 3 months.
Throughout that point:
- Observe the place leads come from
- Take a look at small enhancements
- Present up persistently
- Construct tiny items of credibility
FYI I do have workbooks and templates in my course Writeto1k that can assist you by way of this.
Get Observed and Land Paid Writing Jobs At the moment
There ya go! I hope you may see that even if you’re new to freelance writing, you will get seen nevertheless it begins with creating content material and connecting!
Good luck and let me know on the feedback the way you discovered your first paid writing job!