A hot summer afternoon by the seaside. You sit on the porch sipping fresh lemonade as the sun caresses your skin. Words bloom under your fingers like the daisies coloring the dewy grass and the sound of every letter you type on your keyboard tells the story of your careless day. You are a freelance writer.
A rainy late night at your flat. The clock ticks its way to midnight while your desperation grows and swirls into your mind blocking any thought that promises to withstand. You stare at the blinking cursor on the white monitor fading its way through your deadline. You are a freelance writer.
Writing, just like everything else we romanticize about, is a two-faced activity where one can either relish the immense creative freedom they have or curse the day they decided to undertake the overwhelming responsibility of being a storyteller. When it comes to freelance writing, this dissonance is multiplied. All of these experiences, however, demonstrate the tantamount reason to keep going – you feel alive.
Lately, we’ve been receiving a number of inquiries on how to start freelancing writing. What better time to plan your next year’s resolution than two months in advance? We’ve collected the absolute essentials on how to start freelance writing in 2019 and we’re sharing them with you.
Create a Portfolio You Are Proud Of
As critical as a portfolio is, many prospective writers underestimate the power of a carefully curated one. When you decide that you’ve arrived at the point when it is time to start your own freelance writing journey, building a substantial portfolio is crucial.
First of all, make sure you have collected exemplary works in a wide variety of fields. This will showcase your ability to adapt and learn broadening your potential customers’ backgrounds.
Next, find out how to make a personal website where you can exhibit your previous writings and introduce yourself. As a future writer, make sure to convey your personality and passion through your digital portfolio.
Consider your web hosting provider choice carefully as this will determine your website’s uptime and performance. These, as insignificant as they might sound, can be the difference between landing your very first freelance gig and losing prospective customers. This is why choosing carefully should be a priority.
Finally, whatever you choose to showcase has to go through a deliberate editing process evaluating not only the spelling and grammar but also the pragmatic means of your writing. Many online blog writing tools can help you polish your utterance and improve your phrasing.
Take Initiative on Contacting Customers
A little courage never killed anybody. Okay, this might not be entirely true but that’s what people say.
Nevertheless, if you dedicate the next two months to curating an impressive portfolio, you can kick-start 2019 with your first freelance gig. Hence, to turn this computational probability into reality, you might need to leave your comfort zone and start actively searching. Furthermore, many companies share that they appreciate initiative employees which contact them first.
First of all, look up local companies that work in the industries you’re the most educated in. This will ensure that you are able to offer competent writing for their freelance projects.
Also, don’t forget to send them your portfolio accompanied by a couple of sentences on why you are interested in that exact customer. Whether it’s their exceptional service quality or high employee ranking, companies appreciate candidates that have researched them.
Finally, make sure to not negotiate your pricing right away. Let the other side respond with whether or not they’re looking to engage with freelance writers. If the response is positive, you can always arrange a quick Skype call to talk about the payments. This will most certainly make a good impression of your work ethic and personal attitude.
Spread the Word
This would not have been a complete ‘How to Start Freelance Blogging’ guide if we didn’t mention the backstage process of marketing your work. Even though many customers might be willing to work with you without looking into your social media channels, distributing your writings across the web will help you gain popularity and confidence.
Most noteworthy, you can drive traffic to your website using social media, which by itself is a wonderful SEO practice. In the era of the digital revolution, social media is dictating trends and setting successful professionals apart. As a result, the larger the popularity one has online, the more trustworthy he might seem as a professional.
The Future of Freelance Writing
Because 2019 seems to be so promising for your future career achievements, considering the development of technological innovations can only be to your advantage.
On the other hand, as we all know too well, writing as a freelancer is a challenging enterprise no matter how well prepared you are. Writer’s block, lack of customers, and stressful deadlines do take their toll on one’s psychic. This is why we advise you to take care of your own well-being in order to be able to create mindful writings filled with meaning and inspiration.
And if you can make 2019 a little more harmonic, this will convey your writing style and working habits. Then, hopefully, the question of how to start freelance writing will be a topic you can lecture on.