Want to Become a Freelance Writer? 5 Things to do Now!

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At least once a month, I hear from someone who would like to become a freelance writer but doesn’t know where to start.

I can sympathize. Becoming a freelance writer isn’t like getting a “normal” job, where you put together a resume, throw on your best suit, and give well-thought-out answers to standard career questions. Instead, the ball is entirely in your court… and there isn’t really anyone to tell you how to push forward.

I’m hoping I can fill in some of those gaps for you. When I first got into professional writing as a 23-year-old, I walked out of my financial job that morning and started making calls to potential clients that afternoon, without any real sense of where it would lead or whether that was the best way to promote myself and my work.

If I had to go back and do it all again today, there are five simple steps I would follow. Here they are:

1. Decide what you’d like to write. “Becoming a freelance writer” is a good goal, but it’s also a vague one. That’s because there are literally dozens of kinds of writers out there. Do you want to work on magazine articles, corporate press releases, direct response copy like financial writing and fundraising letters, or something else?

There isn’t a right or wrong answer, of course, but most successful writers choose something that’s in line with their passions and interests and is big enough commercially for them to earn a respectable income. I didn’t start experimenting with different copywriting specialties until after I’d already gotten started. You can get off the ground a lot faster, though, if you make this important decision ahead of time.

2. Launch a basic website. As a freelance writer, full or part time, your website is likely to be the hub of all your sales and marketing activity. Certainly you want it to describe you and your expertise, but you also want it to give clients a sense of your work history and fee range. Plus, with your own website, you can get a professional-looking email from your own custom URL.

You don’t have to spend a lot of time and money on your first website. If you’re a little strapped for cash, or feel like you’ll want to upgrade to a bigger website once you’re established in your field (I’ve gone through half a dozen of them myself), consider starting with a template like the ones found on ThemeForest.

3. Get a few samples together. You don’t really need as many samples as you might think to start your professional career as a freelance writer. In fact, if you have 3-5 good-looking pieces, that’s probably enough to show a potential client that you have talent. If you can get a few editors or business owners to give you a positive testimonial to go with them, that’s even more powerful.

What to do if you don’t have any samples? There are two easy solutions to this problem. In the first case, you can simply make them up – write fictional projects for fictional companies, and then have someone put them into an attractive PDF you can email to businesses and creative directors. The second is to simply take free or low-paying work (possibly from a site like Elance.com) just to build up your portfolio. You won’t make much, but you’ll get a chance to showcase your abilities.

4. Put a marketing plan in place. If there’s one thing that new freelance writers tend to struggle with more than anything else, it’s marketing themselves. That’s why it’s imperative that you know before you begin where your first few clients are going to come from.

Although a lot of new freelancers like sites like Elance.com, I don’t recommend that as an option after your first few projects. You’ll simply end up doing far too much, for far too little money, to make it worth your while. If you can afford it, pay-per-click ads can be a good tool, but you’d be surprised at how quickly you can find profitable projects just by picking up the phone and calling companies in your area.

On that first morning after I walked away from my financial job, I got a brochure writing project after just over an hour of calling local ad agencies. Those few jobs grew into longer relationships, and I had my writing schedule filled within just a few weeks.

5. Be ready for new business. If you’re really serious about making it as a freelancer, get the business aspects of your business in order. Open a checking account, print some business cards, and have a professional brochure or a biography you can send to creative agencies and referrals. Know what good fee ranges are for a beginner in your geographic area and industry, and then put a simple template for contracts and proposals in place so you’ll have them ready when clients ask.

Not only will taking these steps help you save a lot of valuable time and avoid miscommunications later, but they’ll make you feel more like a “real” writer who has invested something in his or her own business. You’ll feel like proving it to yourself that you’re legit, and that will spur you to do what you need to.

Taking on a new career path, even if it’s just a part-time project on the side, can feel overwhelming and intimidating. I can tell you from my own experience and coaching others, though, that becoming a freelance writer isn’t that complex. Follow these five steps and you’ll have everything you need to start accepting projects and getting paid. Once your business and writing career are up and running, everything that comes after feels a lot easier.

Are you interested in becoming a freelance writer but don’t know whether it’s right for you? Check out my e-book – Should You Become a Freelance Writer? An Inside Look at the Business of Trading Words For Money – available on Amazon Kindle now!