How to Become a Freelance Writer: First

Dollar to Six Figures

You’ve probably already heard that you can make six figures
as a freelance writer, but this can sound like a fantasy if you’re
just starting your career.

Whether you’ve been rejected from a few low-paying jobs on Upwork or

you’re struggling to make more than a few hundred dollars per month, the
prospect of making six figures as a freelance writer can sound like a fantasy.

While these setbacks are discouraging, the key to becoming a six-figure

freelancer is implementing a proven process, improving your writing skills,
and persevering through any challenges.

Fortunately, plenty of full-time freelance writers have achieved this success.

Building a successful freelance writing business that pays six figures

isn’t effortless, but if you follow a proven method and are willing to put in
the work to level up your writing skills, it is certainly possible.
So below, we’ll outline a proven step-by-step guide that real six figure
copywriters have used to build successful freelance writing careers.

Step 1: Select a Niche

Many new freelance writers advertise that they can write for any niche
because they fear selecting a specific writing niche will limit their list of
potential clients.

However, employers want to hire experts, and advertising yourself as a

generalist will actually repel potential clients.

For example, if a real estate company is looking to hire a blog post writer,
they’ll look for someone specializing in writing for real estate. So between
the two writers below, the one advertising himself as a real estate specialist
will definitely stand out to the hiring manager:
While good writers can usually create high-quality content for multiple
niches, it’s still best to position yourself as an expert in a specific niche. An
added benefit of focusing on a specific niche is that you’ll grow a network of
clients faster.

So what is a niche, and how do you select one?

There are three main categories of niches:

• Content Form: Some examples of different types of content

include emails, blog posts, ebooks, ghostwriting (for books),
social media content, landing/sales pages, and video scripts.
• Business Type: Some examples of business types include SaaS
companies, ecommerce companies, online courses, bloggers, and
local businesses.
• Industry: Some examples of industries include pets,
cryptocurrency, finance, real estate, digital marketing, travel,
and healthcare.

So select one specialty from each of the three categories above. Here are a
few examples:

• Email copywriter for online course creators in the finance

industry
• Blog post copywriter for SaaS companies in the healthcare
industry
• Social media content writer for bloggers in the travel industry

While niching down shrinks your target market (list of potential clients), it
also shrinks the field of competition and allows you to charge more as you
can position yourself as a specialized expert.

If you look at the examples above, the real estate specialist charges double
what the generalist charges.
Step 2: Create a Few Quality Writing Samples
Most hiring managers don’t have time to look at more than two to three
pieces of content, so you only need a few pieces of high quality content
relevant to your niche to win your first freelance writing gig.

If you currently don’t have any writing samples that fit the niche you
selected, here are two excellent methods to create writing samples:

• Write a free sample for someone in your ideal target market

• Create your own blog/newsletter/social media page

We’ll discuss how to execute both of these below.

Write a free sample for an influencer in your ideal target market.

Writing free samples for an influencer in your niche is an excellent strategy

because it helps you create positive relationships with potential clients
while simultaneously building your portfolio.

The key to properly executing this strategy is to write the content for free
and then send the completed version to the potential client.

Most beginner freelancers make the mistake of reaching out and asking if
they can work for free without providing a completed sample.

These emails are actually annoying for busy influencers that are well-
established in the industry.

However, if you send the potential client a completed piece of content,

they’ll probably respond. Here’s a great email template you can use:
Even if they don’t publish the content, you can still add that sample to your
portfolio.

It’s also worth noting that if you’re going to do work for free, aim high and
reach out to well-established brands/influencers in that industry. If the
brand does publish your content, it will significantly boost your credibility!

In fact, even if you already have plenty of sample writing pieces, doing free
work for high-profile clients is a great way to build industry credibility and
create relationships with well-connected individuals that might turn into
excellent referral sources.

Creating your own content

Another option to build your portfolio is to create your own content.

For example, if you want to be a finance blog writer for SaaS companies,
you can start your own finance blog. While you might not be selling SaaS
products, you can still target the same keywords that a SaaS company might
target.

This strategy is excellent for building your portfolio because you’ll learn
how to write great blog posts and how to grow a finance blog. As SaaS
companies want to hire a writer that can produce results – not just words –
this will make you stand out against other applicants.

In fact, you might find that writing your own finance blog is more profitable
than being a freelance writer for other finance companies.

Unfortunately, this strategy isn’t always feasible. For example, this strategy
might not be realistic if you want to be a social media content creator for
local businesses but don’t own a local business. However, you could instead
use the first strategy and offer to create free content for a local business.

Note: I purposefully don’t discuss how to build a writing portfolio website,

because in the next step, you’ll see that the strategy you’ll use to close your
first paying client doesn’t involve applying to any job boards or submitting
a portfolio. In fact, spending time designing a portfolio is often a distraction
from doing the hard work of getting your first paying client. So instead,
we’ll focus exclusively on how to create great writing samples, and then
you’ll send these samples as links or Google Doc attachments in your email
pitch.

Step 3: Close Your First Paying Client

If you’re just getting started and have minimal writing experience, you
might feel uncomfortable pitching clients, but the best way to become a
better freelance writer is to just do the job.

In addition, many clients are happy to pay generous prices for freelancers
who produce decent work, follow instructions, and adhere to deadlines.

So once you have three to five decent sample pieces, seek out your first
paying client. You’ll also feel more motivated to persevere once you have
your first paying client. We’ll discuss two methods to get your first paying
client:

• Ask for referrals

• Send personalized cold pitches (with a twist)
Asking For Referrals

To find your first paying client, start by asking for referrals from the clients
you worked with for free while building your writing samples.

Assuming you did a good job, those clients will likely be more than happy to
refer you to friends.

If you feel awkward asking, here’s an exact script you can use:

You can also ask if that person would consider mentioning you in Slack
groups and other communities they’re a member of to spread the word.

Again, this is why working for free for well-established industry influencers
with large networks is much more beneficial than working for free for any
random company.

Send a Personalized Cold Pitch (With a Twist)

Cold pitches can work, but most freelancers don’t know how to make a
compelling offer.

Potential clients often receive hundreds of generic pitches from writers

each month, so most emails are immediately deleted.
Here are two killer ways to make your cold pitch stand out:

1. Send them a free piece of content they can publish, and tell
them you can create more content like it consistently if they are
willing to hire you.
2. Pitch the potential client that you’ll work with a specific
content marketing expert on a platform
like Clarity or Intro and execute everything the expert
recommends. This is a win-win strategy because you become a better
writer and can justify charging a high price while the client gets a
world-class expert to look over the execution of their marketing
process.

It’s also critical to send your pitch to the right person at the correct email
address. If you’re reaching out to a large SaaS or ecommerce company, look
for the content marketing manager or (if there isn’t a content manager)
head/director of marketing.

You can just search “marketing” or “content” on the company’s LinkedIn

profile to find the right person, and Hunter.io and Verifalia are excellent
resources to find email addresses.
If you can’t find the person’s email address, you can also contact them
directly on a social media platform like LinkedIn or Twitter.

While it may seem simple, those two strategies are generally the most
effective for getting your first paid freelance writing job.

Many newer (and even some more established) freelance writers struggling
to close clients make the mistake of mass applying to writer positions on
job boards.

Mass applying is never a good idea because swamped hiring managers

usually immediately delete any applications that lack personalization. For
example, you can see that the job post below has over 200 applicants.

In addition, applying to jobs places you in direct competition with other

applications, and many hiring managers won’t even see your application.
So instead, refer back to your niche and reach out to companies
that aren’t advertising that they’re actively hiring for a freelance writing
position. While this advice may seem counterintuitive, it’s highly effective
because you aren’t competing with other applicants.

In fact, many companies are actively hiring new writers, but don’t actively
promote the position precisely because most job boards generate too many
applicants.

Another common issue that causes many writers to give up before getting
their first client is spending too much time creating a fancy website or
business cards.

Most clients don’t care about these things – they just want someone that’s
reliable and can do the job. So your time is better spent sending compelling
emails with links to excellent writing samples.

Step 4: Seek Feedback and Actively Invest In

Improving Your Skill Set
As you work with more clients, you’ll find that each one has slightly
different requests, so a key aspect of a great writer is seeking initial
feedback and adjusting to your client’s wishes (within reason).

It’s important to be decisive and own your work (you don’t want to
constantly bother clients and ask them if your work is acceptable), but
clients appreciate communicative freelance writers who take action on
feedback.

In addition to gathering client feedback, the most successful writers also

seek mentorship to level up their freelance writing skills. For example,
many freelance writers join content writing courses, hire coaches, and
participate in peer groups to improve their skills.

If you’re interested in joining a membership group that gives you direct

access to content marketing coaches, live interviews with industry experts,
content marketing courses, and a community of high-earning freelance
writers, consider joining the Copyblogger Academy.

You can also use a platform like Clarity or Intro to schedule one-on-one
coaching calls with world-class experts.

Finally, consider creating a side hustle where you create your own content.
For example, if you specialize in writing emails for ecommerce sites, you
could start your own dropshipping website and write emails to sell those
products.

We recommended this in step two as a method to build your portfolio, but

it’s worth mentioning again here, as building your own content platform is
a great way to understand the pain points your clients face so that you can
learn how to deliver better results.

As clients are paying you to help them grow their business, having your own
project is advantageous, as you can use it to run experiments and learn how
to improve your skills to drive more sales. This will ultimately make you a
better marketer and help you understand how your services fit into the
larger growth strategy.
Step 5: Scale Your Career
Getting your first few clients is one challenge, but most professional writers
will tell you that keeping your clients and generating steady income over
several months is the biggest challenge.

If you want to transform your freelance writing business from a side hustle
to a full-time job, here are a few strategies to improve income stability.

Be Reliable And Consistent To Earn Referrals

First, always produce high-quality work, respond to clients within 24 hours,

and submit your projects on time. Abiding by these three rules is critical to
both retaining clients and creating a network of referrals.

In fact, the most successful freelance writers look at each new client as a
new potential referral partner rather than a one-time source of revenue.

Once you have several clients and some case studies demonstrating your
work, create a simple website with client testimonials, case studies, and
your writing service packages.

You’ll soon reach a ceiling where you can no longer take on additional
writing clients, but there are a few different ways you can continue to scale
your income without overextending yourself.

Increase Pricing

Increasing pricing is the easiest growth lever, and most clients won’t even
bat an eye if you increase your prices.

You can also form referral partnerships with lower-level agencies/freelance

writers and send them clients that can’t afford to continue working with
you.
This is a win-win situation as you can earn a referral partner fee and keep a
high-quality client base.

If most of your clients can’t afford to pay a higher price, you might want to
consider moving upmarket and targeting larger businesses that can afford
to pay more.

Require Long-Term Contracts

The next option to scale your income is to require long-term partnership

contracts.

As churn is one of the critical challenges that many freelancers face,

keeping your existing clients is a great way to increase your annual income.

Offer Productized Services With Unique, Proven Processes

Finally, the most successful freelancers spend a lot of time learning more
about their client’s pain points and then create unique systems and
processes to consistently solve those pain points.

If you can show your clients that you have a specific, documented method
to solve the exact pain point they have more efficiently than the average
freelancer, you’ll be able to charge more and generate more consistent
demand.

For example, if you know that most of your clients struggle with “content
mill” or “me-too” style content, incorporate expert interviews into your
writing process and use that to prove how you’ll create unique content. This
alone is often more than enough to make you stand out from the crowd and
command higher prices.

If you’re not sure what your client’s pain points are, spend some time
talking to them or ask in Slack channels dedicated to your target audience.
Take Action Today

One of the biggest mistakes aspiring freelancers make is spending too much
time learning about how to build a freelance business rather than just
getting started.

This post has all the information you need to get started, so take action
today, as experience is the best teacher.

After you get started, seek feedback and level up your skills. You can join
the Copyblogger newsletter for more freelance writing tips or join
the Copyblogger Academy to learn from other like-minded freelance
writers.