6 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Freelancing
If there’s anything in life that I’ve been dead sure about, it’s writing. Words have always felt very familiar like a long lost childhood friend you bump into on a busy two-way street.
Whether they’re on the glossy pages of a new magazine or nearly losing their ink on the rusting pages of an old novel, words have been my place of solace.
So, when I accidentally stumbled across the world of freelance writing, I knew this was one thing that life had cleverly placed in my path. It wasn’t another trial and error attempt at finding out if this was meant to be my career.
And, it was definitely not a misdirected walk in the dark (although it was to an extent because finding clients is part luck and part dive into the dark for rookie freelancers.)
Full disclaimer: I didn’t know that writing could give me a comfortable living. I thought I’d have to be a novelist (totally impossible) to do what I loved the most — write.
But, even today, three years into freelancing, I really wish there were some things that I knew as I started out. Thing is nobody is going to hold your finger and lead you through the rocky waters of freelancing.
Except for words such as these that I’m writing today and these and these can help you guide a bit.
If you’re only just starting to row through these unsteady waters or are someone who is an expert and is only just here to reminisce, let’s get started:
1. The writing that you do for yourself is a great portfolio
How many times have you seen job adverts that read something like this:
‘looking for a fresh graduate with 5 years of experience.’
Your (probable) answer: tons of times.
And this isn’t just the fate of 9–5s, but jobs hiring freelancers demand similar things, which can overwhelm a newbie.
Not to mention, it can be heartbreaking. Plus, if you don’t have a solid portfolio to showcase, you can quickly end up feeling like you don’t belong to the circle of freelancers.
Additionally, lots of people who are looking to work with writers can take your vulnerability of being a new freelancer and turn it against you.
On one hand, you want to be honest. On the other hand, you know that opening up can swell your odds of getting exploited.
Throughout this struggle, remember one thing (I wish I knew it back then too) — the work that you do on the side such as blogging can serve as your writing portfolio.
Anything that chips in indirect experience can help.
When I started, I had two published short stories, tons of articles on paper, essay writing certificates from my childhood, several book reviews on Goodreads, a literature degree, and an article in my college magazine. That’s all.
Of these, I only used the published short stories as my indirect experience to attract some prospects.
Had I been smart, I would have put up a stellar portfolio from what was available.
Besides, I would have never believed that this wasn’t enough to land a writing project.
2. You need to be visible on social media to appear trustworthy
Facebook was the major source of most of my initial work. Lots of time, my pitches went ignored. Some viewed my message but never replied. Others didn’t bother opening the application.
As I applied for jobs though, I learned one thing really quickly — you have to appear trustworthy.
This means my profile needed to look active with interaction with other people.
Look at this from your point of view. What do you do when you’re planning to purchase from a business? Or, when you’re planning to work with a client?
You look up their social media profile. An inactive page, however, helps weed out the scams from the trustworthy.
Now, reverse it, and you’ll understand that the employer is also doing the same thing when he is hiring someone.
Hard to swallow? Who’s got time to look up candidates on social media during their recruitment phase?
70% of employers have as per a 2018 CareerBuilder survey.
So, you need to establish a proper social media presence.
Since I like to keep Facebook private, I ended up setting a Twitter profile after a lot of procrastination. However, had I known the benefits, I would have set it up immediately.
If you’re only just getting started with setting up your social media channels, remember the following:
- Don’t let social media eat away your work hours, which means don’t make social media an excuse for procrastination
- Don’t spread yourself too thin. Aim for an engaged profile, which is why 2–3 social channels at one time is a NO since maintaining an active profile takes time and a lot more than automation
- Be clear about what you do and share relevant content on your profile
Remember, you don’t have to share your opinion on everything. So, don’t jump onto anything controversial that is trending.
The survey mentioned above also concluded that 31% of the employers questioned said that a candidate’s discriminatory comments regarding gender, race, religion, and so on left a poor impression on them.
3. Sometimes you have to work for free
Hear me out before you judge me on this point.
So, let’s suppose here that you only have a portfolio to show to your potential clients? But that isn’t yielding much for you?
Get some live links to add some credibility under your belt.
For that, you can join contribution programs. I didn’t realize that I was doing just that as I wrote for the Germ Magazine.
To be honest, I liked the magazine because Jennifer Niven mentioned the magazine in her book, All The Bright Places.
To my surprise, the magazine was real and long before entering into freelancing I got in touch with the editor to express my excitement.
When they announced they were looking for writers, I jumped onto the opportunity without even bothering about the pay.
Guess what happened? I got some live links to my name.
However, you need to be very careful here. I’ve been scathed by the very policy of free writing that helped me take off.
A blogger mentioned she was looking for others to contribute to her site. I didn’t realize that she had only just started and was extracting free content from not only me but tons of other folks under the guise of exposure and yada yada.
So, you have to be careful here.
4. Reading can help you grow more than you think
Getting started means getting consumed with tons of work, leaving little room for reading.
I didn’t give up reading entirely. I kept reading while I was researching pieces and stuck with my habit of reading fiction.
Those are good learning sources.
However, when I mention, reading in this context, I mean reading your peers’ work, reading industry-related blogs, keeping tabs on the latest research in your field, and so on.
Reading industry-specific content including newsletters, blogs, books, and more has nurtured my learning spirit tremendously. After all, Joseph Addison rightly said,
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”
If you aren’t already reading, here are some excellent resources to get started:
- Online sources: Content Marketing Institute and Content Magazine
- Books: Everybody Writes by Ann Handley and Company of One by Paul Jarvis
- Newsletters: Total Anarchy and James Whatley’s Five things on Friday
5. Be aware of the personality that you want to show from the start
As a freelancer, you are your brand. So, you have to be careful about the elements that you showcase in all your conversations and interactions including those on your public social media profile.
Marketing Week highlights that B2B customers are two times more likely to consider a brand that shows personal value over business value.
Therefore, in the crowded freelance market, one key to stand out is by showcasing your personality. In this book, Company of One, Paul Jarvis shares that personality, “can be your biggest edge over the competition.”
Why? Because people relate to other people, therefore, they work with someone who strikes more as a person than a content-churning robot.
Sally Hogshead, bestselling business author, pins down the answer to this ‘why’ on fascination.
According to her research including 125,000 participants and spanning over ten years, fascination in a product or service builds an emotional connection, which holds your prospect’s attention.
Information can easily slip from a person’s mind, but an emotional response that an aspect of your personality elicits doesn’t wear off so easily. Therefore, as Jarvis writes,
“Being vanilla isn’t going to allow you or your work to stand out.”
Be the pistachio ice cream instead.
Don’t fake your personality though since you won’t be able to maintain that faked aspect for long. Instead, take an aspect of your personality and build your service-based business around it.
If you’re not sure how this goes about, then note which of your personality aspects dominate in your freelance business. See what your clients have to say about you.
I was this lonely kid standing in the corner, not sure how to inject personality.
As time passed, I noticed that my clients often used words such as ‘energetic,’ ‘enthusiastic,’ and so on for me.
That was when my aha moment showed up, and I knew that these were elements that naturally showed in my interactions. I didn’t have to fake a thing.
6. The first draft is always ugly
No matter where you are at freelance writing, your first draft is almost always going to be very ugly.
This doesn’t mean that you don’t have the potential to be a writer. Instead, it means that you need to push through the negative thoughts emerging as you write that first draft and finish it.
As Dominick Dunne shared,
“The best advice on writing was given to me by my first editor, Michael Korda, of Simon and Schuster, while writing my first book. ‘Finish your first draft and then we’ll talk,’ he said. It took me a long time to realize how good the advice was. Even if you write it wrong, write and finish your first draft. Only then, when you have a flawed whole, do you know what you have to fix.”
Hence, don’t stop there even if your mind suggests otherwise. Push through and then rewrite to get a better-looking version.
Once done, edit rigorously. True gems only emerge after extensive edits.
I can go on with several other such things that I wish I knew before I started freelancing. But, I’ll hand over the mic to you, what do you wish you had known back when you started out?
