Freelancing: Hit Two Birds With One Stone
Why freelancing is a must-have experience for your content creation business success (and how to choose the right gig)
One of the best ways to start growing online is by providing a service for small businesses. Today, every business must have some online presence, and that, of course, requires writing and video production.
This is a straightforward opportunity for you.
Providing writing services, copywriting, or video editing to small businesses can give you invaluable experience and extra cash while you develop your creative side online.
That is two birds to kill with one stone:
1. You earn quick money you probably won’t get from the start of your content creation brand.
2. It helps you hone the creative skills and business understanding needed to establish your brand correctly.
Many people enter the creative world to earn passive income and quick money. Some try quick money schemes and get disappointed, whereas others turn to freelancing.
If you belong to the first group, that’s fine, but I want you to consider the freelancing option, too.
Freelancing seems less attractive than being a successful creator who earns passively from his content. I get it. However, this vision is problematic when one is just starting out.
Many fall into that top creator vision when starting their online thing and skip the “active income” model of freelancing, meaning earning per outcome or hour. They undervalue the knowledge and skills cultivated by working with different businesses and content creators.
This is a common mistake. Freelancing for at least one year is critical for the long creator game.
The invaluable experience you get by working with other businesses
Gaining experience by working with other businesses is critical before launching your brand. Otherwise, cultivating your writing and editing skills would probably take much longer.
I started my creative journey by taking courses in content marketing and SEO. Then, I started offering my service as a content writer for a small business in my area.
I must admit that finding the first client was challenging. The first cold emails I sent to business owners were bluntly ignored.
Nonetheless, I finally made it, though not through these emails. As with job interviews, it’s best to use your social network to find projects as a noob. I ultimately figured this out by landing my first client through someone I knew from an NGO I volunteered for years ago.
He works as an independent organizational consultant, so I offered him to do his content work on social media and his site blog for a meager price.
I earned my portfolio this way, and he got a writer for almost no money. A win-win deal!
I did all his content marketing work for a year.
The work was initially intimidating, as I needed to learn and practice what I learned in the courses. However, this experience helped me better understand business and the different real-life aspects of content marketing.
One example I remember clearly was how much I learned from the content marketing strategy building. In the course, I was unaware of quandaries like to what degree to expose yourself as a business owner in the content, and I faced that right there, in practice for my client.
Also, I remember how we struggled at first to evaluate the added value of his organizational solution. It took us time and experimentation to realize that we should not focus only on his unique organizational analysis method but also on how it can help CEOs save resources and time.
That experience helped me better understand the process of dialing in your unique value proposition.
My journey began traditionally. I planned and wrote content 360 degrees for each client I reached in real life and made several concrete projects by demand.
In hindsight, starting a gig in an online freelancer marketplace would have been a far quicker and easier starting point. I wasn’t aware of those at the time.
Fiverr and Upwork are the most popular networks, but you also have plenty of other options today. Because every such marketplace is dense with talented freelancers, you must choose the right gig to stand out.
How to choose the proper gig for you
Finding a gig to start working with clients in a marketplace is not as complicated as it may seem.
You need to find a skill you enjoy and have some experience with (or would like to learn) and gradually start building your gig portfolio by serving businesses and creators. Offer a low price tag first to attract the first customers, and raise the price after receiving positive testimonials from several clients.
Today you can learn any skill for free, or for a few bucks. You have plenty of tutorials online about content writing, copywriting, video editing, and the technicalities of starting your gig in a specific freelancer marketplace.
Specifically, this Skillshare course teaches you how to become a top-rated freelance writer on Fiverr. On signing up, you get 7 FREE days to watch this course and other valuable courses on Skillshare.
Choose your gig according to your passion, strengths, and work energy. This is critical to your ability to stay consistent and grow.
So, try to understand the nature of the chosen creative freelance work. You can read about the skill online or ask friends who already do that job.
For instance, video editing requires repetitive work by cutting all the silent moments and embarrassing parts. Later, it becomes a creative work when you add effects and B-Rolls — the videos and pictures presented to showcase your ideas. So, figure out if such a work vibe mix resonates with you.
At the same time, writing long-form content requires you to go into detail and research the topic thoroughly. On the other hand, copywriting is more about understanding customer psychology and succinctly delivering your message.
To choose your gig, ask yourself — what is YOUR work energy?
Following that, it’s best if the skill you master supports the content type you wish to produce as a creator. Nonetheless, it doesn’t have to. Freelancing can also indirectly support your online endeavor.
For example, the successful productivity YouTuber Ali Abdaal started freelancing early on with web design. That has helped him indirectly develop unique, slick designs for his YouTube videos, site, and newsletter.
So, this is the growth mindset needed to succeed long term — always think in the long run. Don’t fall into quick money schemes. They don’t serve you as well as relevant freelance work will.
As you learn the business core of other businesses and creators, and more importantly, create and edit content for them — you become a much better creator yourself.
Find out how to become a successful freelancer on Fiverr.
You might be interested in these stories:
Disclaimer: The information in this article is for educational purposes only and doesn’t substitute professional advice. Results may vary. The links to the Skillshare course are affiliate links, meaning I get a small kickback if you pay for a subscription after the free trial (at no additional cost to you).
