How to Use Discovery Projects to Find What You Like Writing About
If you don’t like what you’re writing about—you’re not going to like writing.
With 5 years of content writing on my resume, I’ve lived both lives.
I’ve written for industries I wasn’t passionate about and resented sitting down to write for the day.
I’ve worked alongside clients with products I love and felt the fulfillment of ending a day of work spent doing what I love.
The latter is the goal, but too many writers get stuck in the former.
When you’re a new writer, you feel like you have to take on every project that comes your way. Your resume and your bank account can’t afford to say no to projects, even if you’re totally uninterested in the product or industry.
For me, this was projects writing:
- Product descriptions
- Landing page copy for a trucking website
- Historical articles on cities in the U.S.
And I hated it.
I would sit down at my computer to write and stare at the blank document, hoping it would magically fill up with words without me needing to type anything.
Sure, I loved writing. But, not about trucking companies.
That’s when I decided that I needed to figure out what I liked writing about. I was doing myself a disservice by not putting in the time and effort to nail down how I liked to spend my time working.
There had to be something I was extra passionate about writing, right?
What Types of Projects To Pick Up To Find What You Like Writing About
The key to picking up these Discovery Projects is to make sure that you’re not getting yourself into a commitment you don’t want to be in. As a coach to content writers, I only advocate for retainer contracts. Retainer contracts make sure you have a set income each month from every client you work with. For example, they’ll pay you $1,000 for 4 articles every month for 3-months.
The rare occasion that I’ll let my coaching students take on a one-time project (for example, 3 articles about historical cities in the U.S.) is when they don’t know what niche they want to write for.
The best time to pick up one-time projects is when you’re finding what you like to write about.
This is the time to look for clients who just need you to write 1–4 articles on a specific subject. You’ll get to “discover” if you like writing about these projects, without the commitment of needing to keep writing about it for months to come.
Here are examples of great “discovery” projects:
- Writing 5 emails newsletters for a holistic health company
- Writing 4 articles for an electric battery company
- Writing 6 articles for an eCommerce company selling journals
Where To Find These Discovery Projects
As a freelance writer, you need to practice radical ownership. Radical ownership requires you to take charge of your future. It means you’re not hoping a great client will show up in your inbox—you’re asking businesses on a regular basis if they’re interested in working with you.
When you’re looking for a Discovery Project, you’ll pitch clients on writing just a few pieces of content for them.
- The clients are happy to get this content because content increases brand awareness and builds relationships between customers and brands
- You’re happy because you get to practice writing about this topic and see if it’s something you want to do long-term.
Pitching Clients
When you pitch clients, let them know that you have 4 articles ideas for their blog if they’re interested. Show them the article topics and why these are relevant to their product, offer, and customer avatar.
The key is to showcase how your articles fit into their bottom line—don’t assume they know why articles are a great marketing strategy. Tell them. Be specific to how your articles are going to help them.
How I Found What I Love To Write About
I write about marketing. That’s my niche, it’s my thing. I write about marketing strategies, Marketing 101, case studies, and more. I figured out what I love to write about by picking up Discovery Project after Discovery Project until I found a topic that really resonated with me.
It started with writing one article about email marketing for an Upwork client. I sat down to research what to write and I realized…I loved it. This time I wasn’t staring at an empty document hoping it would fill itself with words — I was loving writing every single word of that article.
That’s when I knew. Marketing was my jam and all I wanted to do was keep writing about it. I was able to only reach out to companies who would want me to write about marketing for them and my schedule filled up with marketing topics.
To this day, that’s all my schedule involves.
And that’s why my freelance writing business is so fulfilling. I don’t go to work (a.k.a a desk in my apartment) and resent the blank document screen the way I do.
I get genuinely excited (like little kid excited) to hop into my work day, every single day.
TLDR;
To find what you love to write about — write about everything and anything you can get your hands on. Getting paid is a bonus, but with platforms like Medium and Quora you can do this on your own as well.
Once you’ve figured out what you love to spend your time writing about, double down on finding clients in that industry.
Just like that, you have a writing career that’s fulfilling.
And isn’t that the ultimate dream?
