People want to know how they can begin a career in freelance. The process is the same, no matter the location in the world. Many have offered wrong bits of advice on how to start, and this article will correct the lies.
Anyone can venture into freelancing, especially bloggers, those seeking to quit their 9-5 jobs, and stay-at-home mums. You don’t need a degree or formal training to be a freelancer like most people say.
Working from Home as a Freelancer
Most people would typically sign up on freelance platforms, which I also did, but regretted. Most of them dole out work for ridiculously low amounts, and you might want to avoid that.
I started a writing website, and I’ve worked with high-paying clients over time, after putting in the required motivation, persistence, and working hard. Check out these steps, if this is also your goal:
- Research
Research the business from other freelance writers, going through their websites, blogs, and emailing them your questions on grey areas. You could check out freelance websites like The Writer life, FreelancerFAQSs to learn more.
- Skills And Tools
You’ll need to hone your skills in certain areas and learn to use specific tools if you must succeed at what you’ve started. You’ll need to learn to organize yourself pretty well since you’ll be your boss.
You’ll be monitoring your projects, client information and billing, your blog content schedule, and that of your client’s, and the pitches you send out. Developing a writing routine, time for research, and a blog’s outline is necessary to avoid missing any detail.
Your writing skills are essential as well. You need to pay attention to formatting and keeping online readers captivated. You’ll need to have a catchy headline, introduction, subheadings, bullet points, actionable steps, and good sources to validate your claims.
You have to be confident, because you’ll face rejections at the beginning and all sorts of behavior from clients, but you must not allow it to stop you. Excellent skills in trading and marketing will help you when pitching.
Finally, you’ll need tools to manage your tasks. You could use a planner or tracker line Google sheets and Trello for a start. You’ll need to master the use of image editing apps, as some tasks would demand images along with your written content. Grammar editing tools like Grammarly would be necessary to keep your work error-free.
- Practice
You’ll get better at what you do overtime, and it’s important to keep doing that. You might need some extra effort if English isn’t your first language, but if you’re fluent at it, you’re good to go.
- Portfolio
Your clients will need to see samples of your work, so you need a portfolio. As a fresh starter, you could draft examples, upload them on a drive, or publish on Medium. You could also write as a guest on other blogs, and you could add it as a link in your portfolio.
- Start Pitching
You’ll need to put yourself out there to get your first writing job. Check out freelancing job listings on sites like Problogger and pitch yourself in a way that stands out. You’ll need to put yourself out there. You could be a guest blogger or network on your social media pages to reach out to your clients. Keep at what you do, and don’t stop learning.
You can become better at what you do, honing your skills and putting yourself out there. Don’t forget to ask questions from those who are ahead of you when you’re confused.