The 4 steps I took to land my first freelance job that nets me $1000 monthly (and how you can do the same)
Making money online is easy, but it is hard to get started.
I started writing on the internet in the good days of Facebook, but I was inconsistent and didn’t have the business sense to earn any money.
Fast forward to early 2021, I got a job writing an SOP for a company in Dubai which paid $20, which I was very grateful for.
I didn’t land any other job until July, I landed a job with an agency to write on sports betting, and have been with them since.
On average, I net about $1000 monthly writing on sports betting. Not huge, but for me, it’s not also something to sniff at.
On the surface, it seems like luck, but I took some steps to get here. So here are the 4 steps I took to get to 4 figures.
1. I wrote for free on Medium.
This is the starting point for almost everyone. Nobody will pay you to write for them because you put ‘Writer’ or ‘Freelance content creator’ in your bio. People will pay for a skill you have, and the only way for them to know you have the skill is if they see a portfolio. Write for free on Medium or any other social platform like Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. Instagram captions don’t count in my opinion, because most companies don’t ask for an Instagram account to judge your portfolio. I don’t make the rules.
2. I applied on job boards.
This is quite obvious, no one is coming to ask you to write for them, except you establish yourself as a writer. So the next best thing is to apply. Most people will tell you to stay off job boards because it is a time suck. So many low-paying jobs, and there are a lot of qualified writers vying for the few that pay well. And they are right. But fortunately for me, in the beginning, I had a lot of time. So I could spend up to 4 -6 hours looking for jobs and applying for the few that match my qualifications.
3. I was niche flexible.
The common advice you will hear from more advanced writers is to niche down to land better paying clients. That is all true, but in the beginning, you need to be flexible with your niche. For example, my niche was marketing, B2B SaaS, and productivity. But I saw an ad for an iGaming writer and I applied. However, there is a caveat. I applied to that job because I had an experience as a former sports bettor. I was addicted for like 6 months before I just stopped betting completely. So I expanded on how my experience being a bettor made me a perfect candidate for the writing role. I completed the test article and sent them my portfolio which was my Medium profile. And that is how I got the job
4. Deliver exceptionally well
There is no time to deliver subpar work. But if you just joined an agency or company as a freelance writer, in your first few months, make the best impression you can make. Adhere strictly to the brief, deliver solid work on time, and ensure you keep track of any errors corrected, so you don’t repeat them. By creating this favourable first impression, even if you have any challenges and slack in the later months, you will get the benefit of doubt.
Other things to keep in mind
Here are some other things that helped me that can help you too
Join a writers group.
I joined a writers group to understand how other people did it. I paid about $45 to join the group, which was worth it. As other more established writers can ask for help from the group to help out with excess work. I landed my first $20 job there. And I even went ahead to work for the client and earned up to $80 dollars from that single client. A profit of $35. There are free groups on Facebook or LinkedIn, but there are always several people in these groups, and it makes it hard to get these referrals.
Look for low-hanging fruits
Don’t be obsessed with writers telling you to charge a certain amount. In the beginning, except if you have a day job that pays you, my advice is this, take any job that pays above $10. Your goal at this stage is not to make a truckload of money, but to develop credibility and skill. and you get these two things when you write for clients, no matter how low paying. Do this for 3 months, while trying to find higher-paying clients.
Closing words
Everyone you see making 6 figures online, starting from no figures, then 2, then 3, 4, 5, then 6 figures. It may seem hard if you’ve not made any money at all, but if you follow these 4 steps, you can grow your income too.
