How I made $500 in the first month of becoming a freelance writer (and, you can too)

March 15, 2019
29 Comments

Last Updated on April 17, 2019 by NandiNN

Freelance Writing Jobs for Beginners

Here is what you need to know! Learn how I made $500 in the first month of becoming a freelance writer (and, you can too)

Do you love to write?

Are you thinking of becoming a freelance writer?

Are you unsure where to begin?

If you are still nodding, this post is for you. In this post, I will tell you how I made $500 in my first month of freelance writing and you can too. It has been increasing ever since, and I have never regretted the decision to go location independent.

If you are new to this, check out this extensive guide on freelance writing.

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Why Should You Become a Freelance Writer?

Becoming a freelance writer will definitely give you the flexibility of working for yourself and having your own income. If you are looking for self employment opportunities that are easy to start, then looking into freelance writing.

They are definitely plenty of freelance writing gigs, so finding clients will not be the issue.

By following our step by step guide below, you will be well on your way starting your own profitable freelance writing business.

Relevant read:

Sure-fire Ways to Finding Freelance Writing Gigs that Pay Well

10 Tips To Kickstart Your Freelance Writing Career Off The Ground

Let’s start with a confession.

I was exactly like you when I began my freelance writing career – had absolutely no clue where to begin. I did not have the budget to invest in any of the writing courses which left me with only one way of learning – online resources.

So, I read a lot of articles about how to become a freelance writer (almost everything on the first 10 pages on Google) and wrote down all the points that I considered “actionable” and “of consequence”.

I made a hell lot of mistakes along the way, but I learned what works and what does not.

That means, you DON’T have to make the same mistakes I made and you will have a step-by-step process to launching a profitable freelance writing business.

Also feel free to email or contact other freelance writers for tips, but we hope this post will answer all the questions you might have about becoming a freelance writer.

Are you ready to become a freelance writer? Let’s begin:

Step 1 – Select a niche

Freelance writing niche is nothing but specialization in a particular type of content or industry. For example, you can be a marketing writer (an example of industry type) or a whitepaper writer (an example of “type” being a niche).

Look, the best of writers recommend having a niche but I am not a big fan of it in general. That said, it is best to have a niche at the beginning of a freelance writing career. It will streamline your efforts into making your business profitable. For example, you will know exactly who to pitch your services to.

Jot down your interests and decide on a writing niche. When I started out, I marketed myself as a technology writer. You can select marketing, personal finance, parenting etc or type of content (whitepaper, eBooks, courses, case studies, blog posts etc).

This is a significant step in becoming a freelance writer who is well paid.

Step 2 – Know your target client

As a freelance writer, you need to understand your client in order to know how to target them!

Once you have selected a freelance writing niche, research on the type of companies you want to work it.

As a technology writer, I decided to target IT companies with at least 50 employees. I wanted to ensure that the clients I deal with have the required budget for marketing efforts.

Pro tip – Look for freelance writers in your selected niche and jot down the kind of services they provide and the clients they have worked with (you will get this from the testimonial or what client speaks about my work kind of section).

This will give you an idea on your potential client and services.

As long as you have a client niche in mind, as a freelance writer, you can find clients much easier. The more niche you are, the more targeted it is to find clients.

Step 3 – Create a portfolio

At this step, you should be clear about the freelance writing niche, services you will provide (the type of content), and target client.

If you have all this information, you will understand what your clients are looking for. Go to BuzzSumo, type in a keyword that covers your niche and see what pops up. It fetches the most popular articles on the web for your keyword.

Write at least 3 samples around those topics. For example, if I am in a technology niche, I could write a few articles on artificial intelligence, cloud computing or UI/UX etc.

You have two options for doing this:

Use LinkedIn Publisher or Medium (this will give you live links to your work)
Create a Google doc folder and put in your samples in a PDF format (I did this and it worked with clients)

Step 4 – Create a services website and make social media accounts

This is extremely important for you as freelance writer.

You need to have a services website. Becoming a freelance writer means that you are working online. So, it only makes sense to have a strong virtual presence.

On this website, you will need to create the following pages

Home – This is where you will talk about what you do, results you drive and services you provide. You can also put in client testimonials here. Don’t make it text heavy and keep to the point.
Services page – This is where you talk about what services you are providing and again, the results you can drive.
About you – while it says “about you”, this should be more about how you can benefit the clients. So, talk about yourself in 2-3 sentences and then focus on why they should hire you
Rate – this is optional. If you have a rates page, you will drive away lowballers. That said, you will also not have a chance to negotiate and come to an understanding on a mutually agreed price. So, decide what works for you.
Contact us – This is very important. You should provide potential clients with a way to contact you. So, put your email address on every page.

Once you have a website set up, go to social media (most importantly Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn), put in your website and state that you are a writer in the bio. This makes you “searchable”.

Ideally use the keyword “Freelance Writer“

Step 5 – Decide a rate structure

As a freelance writer and probably an independent writer, you need to know how to charge people.

Calculate what you need to earn in a given month. While doing this ensure that you remember that you’re no longer an “employee”.

So, you will not get perks like insurance, sick leaves, holidays etc. Factor that in while calculating a rate.

Add a few more dollars to this rate. It is always better to charge a little more to cover your expenses and contingencies.

Also, decide on a minimum number. For example, I never took any project that paid me less than 10 cents a word. Never go below your minimum.

Step 6 – How to pitch clients and grow

Finally, this is one of the most important factors in making your freelance writing business profitable.

If you want to make freelance writing profitable, start pitching from day 1.

Considering you know already know your target audience, you can use Google search (for example, 20 top SaaS companies or 20 top baby products company) and LinkedIn (you can find companies from the search bar) to get the names.

Once you have a list of companies, figure out the contact email of a concerned person. This person could be the chief marketing officer, digital marketing manager, content head etc. You can use free tools like hunter.io and findthatemail.

It is time to start pitching the clients. When you are writing the pitch, remember that it is not about YOU. It is all about your clients.

Start by making a connection with the client
Introduce yourself
Talk about what you can do for them
Insert a strong call to action

There you go.

If you follow all these steps, becoming a freelance writer who is paid well is going to be easier.

How Much Can I Make As A Freelance Writer?

How much you can make depends on your experience, how much you charge and how much you write for your client. This article shows you how you can $500 the first time you become a freelance writer.

The image below from Vennage has an amazing info graphic you can see where they outline how much you can make as a freelance writer.

Freelance Writing Jobs from Home

As we mentioned early, this job is perfect for those that want to work from home, anyone looking for extra cash can do this job and you can make great money.

As a freelance writer, you have the flexibility to work from home, set your rates and as well as to pick your clients.

Here a few places to get jobs if you decide that becoming a freelance writer is for you:

B2B Writing Success – $100 – $300
Freelance Mom – $75 – $100
Make a Living Writing – $75 – $150
Parent.co – $50 – $300
Write Naked – $50 – $200
Writers Weekly – $40 – $60

Do you have any questions on becoming a freelance writer or if you are a freelance writer and you have questions? Feel free to comment below and I will answer.

Chhavi Agarwal is a freelance marketing writer and a blogger at Mrs. Daaku Studio. On the blog, she along with her husband (Daaku), talks about work from home options that can replace your 9-5 income easily. To learn more about pitching, you can check this out.

If you are looking for extra ways to make money as Freelance writer, find them here!

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