Once I first began freelance writing, no person knew who I used to be.
I didn’t have a portfolio.
I didn’t have trade connections.
I didn’t have a distinct segment.
And I positively didn’t have the boldness I’ve right this moment.
Most days, I felt like I used to be Googling my approach by a profession I wasn’t even certain I used to be certified for.
Sure, I had (and nonetheless have, at occasions) imposter syndrome as a brand 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 and marketing” even meant.
I didn’t know which platforms mattered and even the way to pitch. I didn’t even know what counted as a “clip.”
However I did know one factor: I wished this to work.
So I handled every single day like a tiny experiment.
One pitch.
One visitor submit.
One new writing pattern.
One job board software.
One touch upon an organization’s weblog.
None of these actions appeared life-changing — they usually weren’t.
However collectively? They constructed the inspiration for the whole lot that got here later.
Each writing job I landed in these early months got here from sheer consistency and numerous trial and error.
Some pitches flopped.
Some “good” samples received ignored.
Over time, I noticed this:
Paid writing jobs don’t seem magically. You create alternatives lengthy earlier than a shopper ever finds you.
Shoppers aren’t watching you from afar ready to achieve out. They’re busy so that they aren’t seeing your effort and all of the hours you place into studying about freelance writing.
They solely see the second you present up, which needs to be confidently, and persistently.
However while you’re a beginner in any respect of this, you may have doubts you could even get a contract writing job.
So, how will you construct that momentum even if you happen to’re ranging from zero?
Right here’s the system that works, whether or not you’re model new or rebuilding your shopper 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.
Folks can’t rent you in the event that they’ve by no means heard of you, proper?
However you don’t should be in every single 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 shoppers.
That is precisely what I inform my college students in my Write Your Solution to Your First $1k program.
Once I began, my channels have been:
Later, LinkedIn grew to become one among 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 while you’ve been round eternally.
Not true.
Even your earliest shoppers can refer you however you need to make it straightforward for them.
Once I delivered initiatives, I observed one thing:
Shoppers have been happiest the second I turned in that closing draft. That’s once I began constructing a easy behavior into my offboarding course of:
Ask for a referral or testimonial in the meanwhile of peak satisfaction.
Most freelance writers mess this up by being imprecise:
“Let me know if you already know anybody who wants writing.”
That is too broad and too straightforward to disregard.
Referrals flip into your warmest, easiest-to-close jobs, even while you’re nonetheless constructing your repute.
For extra assist, I share my greatest ideas in my course Writeto1k.com.
3. Use Outreach That Doesn’t Really feel Chilly or Spammy
Chilly pitching straight from “Hey!” 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 rookies 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 once they’re hiring (large opening!)
- And ensure to observe them and different essential folks (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 when you’re hiring, so your content material doesn’t stall.”
Upon getting your foot within the door, it’s simpler for the shopper to only rent you for his or her content material as a substitute of weeding by numerous resumes or pitches.
4. Construct Visibility on LinkedIn (Even Earlier than You Really feel Prepared)
I do know, I do know….I hold 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 trade, the earlier essential folks will discover you and ultimately rent you.
Right here’s a video I did about making a LinkedIn profile that will get shoppers.
To construct your LinkedIn followers and connections, begin posting extra persistently.
Now I’ll be the primary to inform you that I’m not that constant on LinkedIn and I’m going in spurts however that’s okay. In the event you do 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 indicate potential shoppers my data.
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 those that rent writers!
5. Be a part of Area of interest Communities (Your Future Shoppers Grasp Out There)
This is without doubt one of the most underrated locations rookies discover paid writing jobs.
Not Fb teams filled with different freelancers competing for a similar gigs.
However area of interest areas the place your shoppers really spend their time:
Certainly one of my favourite early wins was from a tiny neighborhood of solopreneurs the place I merely answered questions and shared concepts.
Folks began DM’ing me:
“Hey, might you assist me write one thing like that?”
I didn’t should pitch or chase down shoppers on Upwork. I simply needed to present up and assist persistently.
And sure — partnering with complementary freelancers works too.
Designers, website positioning specialists, VA’s, branding professionals typically serve the identical shoppers 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 1000’s of {dollars} in writing work.
6. Create “Micro Proof” Even When You Have No Portfolio But
New freelance writers get overwhelemed once they see they should create writing samples. I train college students to create a minimal of three samples.
However you already know what? If that is an excessive amount of, you are able to do a micro venture simply to get on the market.
Micro proof sells. There’s no want for a large portfolio or all these samples in the meanwhile..
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 examine from a small venture
Micro proof can construct belief with shoppers extraordinarily quick because it’s straightforward to scroll these teyps of content material on cellular (most likely how your prospect shoppers 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 together with your weblog.”
You may create these in a weekend.
7. Visitor Put up Strategically (The Outdated Faculty Technique That Nonetheless Works)
Visitor posting was how I received in entrance of my ideally suited shoppers.
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 web site.
(Right here’s a screenshot of a bit on my portfolio in 2014).
The magic is in your byline and bio.
If somebody wants a author, and your article helped them, they’ll click on by.
I nonetheless advocate this as a result of:
- It builds credibility quick
- It provides you printed samples
- It places your identify in entrance of the best folks
- 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 Approach)
Job boards aren’t useless.
The improper job boards are. There are nonetheless loads of job websites and curated job boards that may get you a paid writing job.
Skip basic ones and use high-quality, curated boards with fewer candidates:
- ProBlogger (my first huge shopper 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 is responding with:
- a good pitch
- one related pattern
- a quick rationalization of why the model stood out
While you apply like knowledgeable as a substitute of a volume-based spray-and-pray candidate, you rise to the highest rapidly.
9. Decide Two Methods and Commit for 90 Days
Freelance writing proper now’s totally different from a decade in the past. Inside a month I used to be getting leads and touchdown shoppers.
Now? It could actually 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 have been committing to freelance writing.
So, I would like you to select two channels and commit for 90 days.
- Heat outreach
- Referrals
- Area of interest communities
- Visitor posting
- Curated job boards
Persist with them for 3 months.
Throughout that point:
- Monitor 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 this.
Get Seen and Land Paid Writing Jobs Right now
There ya go! I hope you possibly can see that even in case you are new to freelance writing, you will get observed however 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!
