How I Consistently Made $450+ Per Writing Project (Despite Having Zero Experience)
Another day, another dollar…
Literally.
You sigh as you scroll through the available projects on Upwork, feeling your spirits deflate as you see other bids.
How on earth are these people feeding themselves with $10/hr rates?
It’s a race to see who can churn out the most number of words in the shortest amount of time for the least amount of money, and you absolutely hate it.
But since you’re still new to freelance writing, you figure you have no choice but to suck it up until you gain more experience.
As the days pass, you’re less and less sure that full-time freelancing can ever be your reality.
Before you throw in the towel and resign yourself to corporate life, know that there is a way out.
During the first 6 months of my freelance writing business, I’ve trawled through other writers’ websites and Facebook groups to learn what works and what doesn’t, trying out all sorts of things to see how I can make money without hair-pulling anxiety.
It’s how I’ve earned at least $450 every project, month after month, even without a degree in English or Journalism.
Now, you’ll have all this information at your fingertips to give freelance writing another shot:
In a more sustainable way, this time.
1. Resist the crowds at all costs
The temptation to jump on the freelance writer bandwagon and make a quick buck was overwhelming, especially since I was fresh out of university, unemployed and had mouths to feed.
There was also nerve-wrecking pressure to prove to my friends and family that I knew what I was doing, even though no one in my social circle was a freelance writer.
It was these same well-intentioned people who told me the best way to make money was through freelancer marketplaces — like Upwork, Zomwork or Fiverr. Since I didn’t have any experience, it seemed like a good place to start, right?
Wrong.
Truth is, the clients there tend to favour quantity over quality.
And with the intense competition through bidding, your work gets commodified.
I hate to say it, but these marketplaces hardly respect you or your work.
There’s no way you can stand out from the crowd and prove you can offer something of value.
You’d only end up with a terrible portfolio and sucky writing pieces that you’d never want any future client to see.
Not only is it a waste of time since you’re not effectively growing your business, you’d also be dependent on these sites for meagre income.
So what can you do to scrape by in the initial weeks of starting your freelance writing business?
Look through your storage for old stuff to sell — toys, books, clothes, you name it.
Have a garage sale.
Or do odd jobs and other freelance gigs, if you have to; I did acting and singing gigs when I first started out.
But whatever it is, you’ve got to maintain your confidence in your writing career by refusing to work for peanuts.
2.Don’t play by other people’s rules
After the horrors of freelancer marketplaces, you’d think job boards and companies which literally say they’re “hiring freelance writers” would offer more decent rates.
Well… Not exactly.
Here’s a screenshot of an email I got from a job board posting for freelance bloggers:
$38 for 1500 words. Ack.
These companies also tend to have rigid system in place on how they’ll treat freelance writers, leaving you little room for negotiation.
Take a look at another a company sourcing for freelance contributors to their blog. While they offer $200 for a 1500+ word article, pay attention to their conditions:
There’s no mention of what they’d do with the other two ideas that you’ve pitched — assuming they’ve even selected one.
They could easily get an in-house writer to craft the content.
Seems a bit unfair that they should pick your brain for free like this, don’t you think?
Plus, the payment for a full-fledged 1500+ word article comes only after it “meets their standards”, the details of which aren’t made transparent. After all that time and effort, no money!
Yikes.
What this means is that you have to take steps to seek out companies that aren’t obviously hiring writers to do jobs “ASAP” — such companies are more likely to value quality over quantity, pause to take stock of what you can do, and be willing to work out a fair price.
How do you find these companies?
The main method I used was cold-emailing.
But there are a couple of caveats…
3.Be a jack of all trades, and a master of one
Before reaching out to companies, it’s best to develop a writing niche.
Market yourself as an expert in a specific field, and build trust with clients within that field to show that you know your stuff.
Ideally, your writing niche should be:
- Something that you love writing about;
- Something you already know about, or can pick up on your own; and
- Something that a client will pay you well for.
I chose to specialise in healthcare and medtech since I could use my Life Sciences knowledge from college.
This allowed me to get the attention of specific healthcare and medtech clients, who were more willing to work with me as compared to a do-it-all, generalist writer.
The best part?
With brilliant writing pieces, you can still get requests from clients outside of your writing niche asking if you’d be able to craft content for them!
Specialise, and then write outside of your niche if you need (or want) to.
4.Fabricate, flaunt and feel fabulous
“But Shermin,” you ask. “How can I possibly show clients in my writing niche that I can do a good job in the first place?”
Indeed — I might have had training in Life Sciences, but I sure didn’t have any writing samples to show clients per se, at the start.
To that, I say, prepare yourselves to perform one of the greatest magic tricks of all time:
Proving that you do have the relevant writing experience…
… By creating it for yourself.
First off, get a proper website and email domain.
It’s solid proof that you’re thoroughly invested in your business.
People will notice, and take you more seriously.
If you’re a complete coding noob (like me), you could go for drag-and-drop website builder templates.
Weebly has a ton of free ones, which I’ve used for my own writing website:
You can probably tell that this is a functional website.
As in, the aesthetics-are-pretty-trashy-but-my-clients-will-get-the-information-they-need kind of functional.
But it’s still good enough to land me serious clients.
Done is better than perfect.
— Sheryl Sandberg
So long as you have a page for your bio and a way for people to contact you, you’re better off focusing your energy on building a portfolio.
The important thing to note here is the quality of your writing samples — even if you have to spend two weeks researching, writing and editing them.
3 to 4 pieces on topics within your writing niche should suffice, rather than putting lots of old, irrelevant samples up.
When you’re done, plaster your website and writing samples all over your social media, email signature and spread the word!
You don’t need to have a degree in English or journalism to prove that you can write. Now, whenever a client wants to get a taste of your magic, you’ve got solid portfolio pieces to dish out.
Woohoo!
Next up: it’s email showtime.
5.Secretly stalk your clients
By stalking, I mean taking a couple of minutes to learn about the person you’re trying to reach out to — it’ll most likely be a marketing or business development manager.
Do a quick Google search of the company to learn their names. Look at their LinkedIn profile and hunt for something to break the ice in the opening fire of your email.
Something as simple as complimenting them on the existing articles they have on their company’s website would work:
You might just earn yourself a warm reply:
Sure, this whole process is time-consuming.
But it also shows the recipient of your email that you’re serious about working with them — enough to find ways to personalise your interactions and get to know them.
Think about it:
You’re essentially asking them for a favour — to look at your work and consider the prospects of working with you long-term.
The least you could do is get to know them as a human, rather than some gateway to make money.
You can also reach out to your clients on LinkedIn with an invitation to connect and a note that you’ve emailed them.
This is how I got 30% email reply rates!
6.Fire away — blindly
As much as I wish I could give you a sure-fire way to land jobs with a single cold email, the truth is that there’s no quick way to tell what sort of clients will be a good fit for you.
You’re going to have to experiment. A lot.
Going by the 100:10:1 rule of prospecting, where 100 cold calls lead to 10 good prospects and 1 actual client, you’ll need to increase the number of people that you reach out to.
Don’t worry about what clients will say, and don’t wait for a response.
Don’t wonder if it’s the right industry to target, either.
Try every available platform and see what works for you and your skills.
I’ve contacted pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, start-ups, start-up incubators and accelerators, investors, advertising/communications/PR agencies, textbook publishers and some really dodgy facebook groups.
These are some of the places I’ve found that are more receptive to freelance writers:
- Start-ups
- Advertising/Communications/PR agencies
- Magazines in your niche
Now, get out there and start making connections!
Reclaim your rightful space
It’s easy for your confidence and self-esteem to take a battering when your work is repeatedly devalued, especially when you’ve just started out.
The trick to protecting yourself is to start saying no — as difficult as it may be.
No more soul-crushing pressure to spew slipshod content in the name of gaining experience.
No more scurrying for pennies on content mills and job boards.
No more degradation of your work.
You deserve better.
Start by figuring out your niche, and building a proper portfolio with niche-specific, high-quality writing samples on your own website.
You can then begin sending personalised emails to as many contacts in your niche as possible.
None of this has to be perfect — chances are, you’re gonna be off the mark precisely because you’re trying something new!
I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.
Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.
Enjoy the process of experimenting, again and again.
Remember:
Your work is valuable.
Even without any fancy training or formal “writing experience”, I’ve made enough money to do this within 6 months of starting my freelance writing business:
Take the time to invest in your freelance writing business, so you can reap the benefits in the future:
You’ll have ample time and energy for your friends, family and pets.
You could pursue new and meaningful projects.
Or, you might revel in your freedom by disengaging from work completely for a couple of days, whenever you want — something that office workers can only dream of doing.
All this is possible.
But it’s up to you to make it happen.
