Most people prefer to work for themselves nowadays rather than have a fixed schedule and work under a boss. Being self-employed means, you have total control over your working hours and the kind of work that you want to do.
What is better is that you can make a lot of money out of it as well. Most people have started opting for freelance writing because it is a great way to have control over your dreams and income as well.
It is not very difficult to become a freelance writer, but it is essential to know where to start and how to make it constructive. You will have to learn from other people as well as your experience.
1) Overcome your fears
Yes, it is not that easy to get over your fears and get the courage to start a new job.
You need to have a plan which will help you to move forward in that way. You need to gather samples to understand how to write blogs and also start to practice writing. You will also have to frame your portfolio which will be displayed for your work.
To make a big change, you will always have to take a small step toward it.
2) Choose your category
One of the most important things that you need to decide initially while starting with a blog is the niche of your writing. It is always advisable to start with a small niche, and then you may start increasing your genre.
Always start writing on a genre in which you have been familiar earlier. Initially, most of the newbies don’t have much idea about the type of articles they are going to get from the clients and the amount that they will be paid either.
If you start writing with something where you have little idea and make yourself stable there, you might start exploring new ideas a little after.
3) Seek more opportunities to write even if you have to do it for free
It is crucial to have a nice portfolio because it can be a deal closer for many clients. If you want to make an appealing portfolio, you need to have more experience. You can write for free to build your portfolio.
As a newcomer, you may choose to write for several media outlets and gather more experience. Initially more than getting paid, your interest should lie in publishing good content to get more potential clients.
With more exposure, you will get better traffic, which will enhance your reputation.
Do your best work, supported by your subscribers. Substack lets independent writers and podcasters publish directly to their audience and get paid through subscriptions. Read about how to start writing on Substack.
4) Set your schedule
Since you are working for yourself; you might feel that there need not be a definite regular working schedule.
But, you must not forget that a plan and determination are essential for achieving success. The pros of self-employment are that you can have a flexible schedule and you don’t need to travel to your office daily as well.
But, that doesn’t mean that you will not have a fixed time for work.
You need to set certain boundaries and make sure that you employ that time for your work. Try committing to the schedule no matter what because if you keep on delaying your deadlines, you will have to end up working the entire day with not many fruitful results.
5) Track the amount that you are making
If you want to stay in this profession and become successful, you will need to track your income.
When you keep a check on the amount that you are making, you will be boosted, and motivated to do better. It is also a smart approach because you will be aware of the taxes that you need to pay.
Most successful freelance writers also claim that tracking their income makes it easier to make more money in less time. However, you should remember that you will not be able to make much money initially.
It is a game of patience, and as you keep gaining experience, you will get more clients. With an increase in the number of clients, you will also have to maintain an excel sheet where all your work and income should be written in detail.
6) If you need a coach, then have it
There is a lot of competition in this business, and it is always advisable to gain more knowledge from someone who has already made it in this field. If you are targeting a specific genre, make sure that you read articles, and blogs that are published by other people who are already pretty successful in this field.
There must be tons of articles already on Google, and you need to do your research.
You need to learn to write articles that people find convenient and easily acceptable. There are many blogs that are full of innovative ideas, tricks, and tips that can help you learn and do better for yourself.
7) Get familiar with the tools and skills that are required
When you are starting from scratch, it is always better to know some of the skills which are going to help you to succeed easily.
Organizational skills: You will have to keep a check on the projects that you are working on and track them regularly as well. The billing details should always be cleared and managed properly.
Before you sign up to work for a client, make sure that you have enough information regarding the client. The schedule of the content for your or your client’s blog should always be under control.
Also, develop a writing routine to make yourself more organized and improve the quality of content as well.
Blogging skills: While writing for your blogs, you should also take care of digital marketing. It is essential to maintain the format of the post as well. You need to pay attention to the subheadings, metadata, and every other nitty-gritty detail of the content.
Impressing an online audience is pretty much different from getting the attention of someone who is reading from paper. Your article should have proper indention, and the main points should also be highlighted to ensure that it grabs the attention of the client.
The more you captivate the reader with the subheadings and introduction, the more traffic you are going to gain.
Confidence: It doesn’t happen overnight. There will be times when your content is going to be rejected, and you will be turned down as well. If you want to be successful, then you will need confidence and ensure that you keep trying even after getting failures.
Keep applying for jobs and building your portfolio and you will get clients.
Task Management Program: It is essential to keep track of the work that you are doing. Use a spreadsheet like Google Sheets or so, to keep track of the work you are doing and the amount you are going to be paid for that particular work.
Editing: Many of the clients prefer to have images in the content. You should know how to add images and text to your blogs.
You should also have a fair knowledge of working with other editing tools like Grammarly. Before submitting your work to the clients, make sure you check the articles in these because they prefer having articles with no grammatical errors.
8) Keep searching for jobs
After you have settled for all of these, you must constantly keep looking for new clients and jobs. There are many websites like Freelance Writing Jobs etc. from where you can get your clients.
It takes patience, hard work, planning, and persistence to be successful in any field. Becoming a freelance writer is not a very difficult thing, but you need to make sure that you work towards it and keep trying to excel in it.