Freelance writing can be a great way to make money during your free time. It’s especially great if you need the extra money, but don’t have the time to take on another full-time job. My favorite thing about freelance writing is that it allows me to set my own schedule and work when I want to.
With all of this in mind, let’s dive into how you get started as a freelance writer and make some extra money on the side!
| Takeaways |
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| 1. Freelance writing offers an opportunity to earn extra income on the side. |
| 2. Explore different niches and industries to find freelance writing opportunities that align with your interests and expertise. |
| 3. Building a strong portfolio and showcasing your writing samples can help attract potential clients or employers. |
| 4. Networking with other writers, joining writing communities, and attending writing events can provide valuable connections and job leads. |
| 5. Time management and discipline are crucial for balancing freelance writing with other commitments and maximizing productivity. |
| 6. Continuous learning and staying updated with industry trends can help you refine your skills and stay competitive in the freelance writing market. |
| 7. Marketing yourself as a freelance writer through online platforms, social media, and personal branding can increase your visibility and attract clients. |
| 8. Setting realistic rates and negotiating fair compensation for your writing services is essential for maintaining a sustainable freelance writing business. |
| 9. Providing high-quality work, meeting deadlines, and maintaining professionalism are key to building a strong reputation and securing repeat clients. |
| 10. Always be proactive in seeking new opportunities, expanding your skill set, and adapting to the evolving needs of the freelance writing industry. |
Choose A Niche
Choosing a niche is essential to becoming successful and earning a living from freelancing. When you’re learning how to make extra money through freelance writing, your first step should be picking a topic that you are passionate about.
To choose the right niche for yourself, ask yourself:
- What do I love?
- What am I knowledgeable about?
- What unique perspective can I share with others?
- How do I want my voice to sound in my writing projects?
If you’re passionate about both fashion and writing, you can turn your skills into a successful career. Check out our guide on 10 Tips to Become a Successful Freelance Fashion Writer to learn how to thrive in the fashion industry.
Make A List Of All Your Skills And Career Experience
You probably have a lot of skills and career experience to offer, but before you start looking for freelance writing jobs, you must make a list of everything you can contribute to the industry.
A long list of skills and experience can give you more options when it comes time to market yourself as an excellent writer. You want to be able to show employers what makes you unique and valuable.
When employers see that your resume is filled with all kinds of things that they value, they will be more likely to hire you than someone else who only has writing on their resume.
Start A Blog
Write about something you love or know well, and write consistently. This might be the topic of your freelance writing gigs, but it doesn’t have to be (and you’ll probably get more traction if it isn’t).
You can also write about any other passion that inspires you or interests you in travel, fitness, animals, and so on. Just make sure that whatever topic you choose will allow for an endless amount of content: if there are only five things worth blogging about in this niche then it’ll become difficult for readers to find new posts when the old ones run out!
Write For Online Content Sites Like Linkedin And Medium
If you’re looking to make extra money on the side, writing is a great way to do that. If you have some experience writing and you know how to use Google, there’s a good chance that companies will pay you for your work.
There are several sites where companies will pay writers:
LinkedIn and Medium are two popular sites where people publish their work, such as articles and stories about their professional lives or advice pieces on various topics. You could write an article about how to get started with freelance writing or share some tips for freelancers trying to grow their businesses, either way, these kinds of articles can make money!
You can also write for other blogs (like this one!) and if they’re doing well then they might be willing to pay someone like yourself who knows how much time goes into creating content every single day.
This could be an excellent opportunity if it appeals more than just getting paid per word count alone (which would make sense). It depends on what type of person they are but there’s no harm in asking either way!
Are you interested in combining your writing skills with the finance industry? Discover the steps to becoming a freelance writer in finance by reading our comprehensive guide on How to Become a Freelance Writer in the Finance Industry.
Write For Other Blogs
Writing for other blogs is another great way to make some extra money on the side. If you’re just starting, you should focus on getting your name out there and building credibility by writing for smaller blogs that are in your niche.
After you build up some experience and a bit of confidence, consider reaching out to more established publications like Huffington Post or Entrepreneur Magazine.
The best part about freelance writing is that it can be done almost anywhere with little to no equipment needed! You don’t even have to be home if you don’t want; I prefer coffee shops because they’re quiet enough for me to focus, but if the library or park is more your style then go right ahead!
Create A Website To Market Yourself
You’re not a professional designer, so don’t expect to create a site that looks like something out of Wired Magazine. You just need to make sure that your website is easy to navigate and doesn’t look like you threw it together in Microsoft Paint.
A great platform for building websites is Squarespace (www.squarespace.com). It’s easy-to-use, mobile-friendly, and has templates designed by professionals so you can get started without having any design skills at all!
Once you’ve created your website, don’t forget to include:
- A portfolio section where potential clients can see examples of work you’ve done in the past (this also shows them what kind of style they can expect if they hire you)
- Contact information including an email address, phone number(s), social media links (or links back to their pages)
Go To Networking Events And Conferences
You can also make connections with people who can help you find work. This can be an especially good way to meet potential clients if you’re a freelancer or want to become one.
At networking events, you might get in touch with someone from the media industry who needs an article written for their magazine or website and doesn’t know where to start looking for writers. You could even make connections with other freelance writers who might refer your services when they’re too busy or don’t want to take on a project themselves!
Create A Portfolio Of Your Work
To impress potential clients and get jobs, it’s important to have a portfolio of your best work. A portfolio is a collection of samples that shows off your writing in its best light. You can create one by building a website or creating an online document with links to all your relevant articles and past work.
It’s also important to keep it updated regularly! If you’ve written an article months ago, but haven’t touched it since then, don’t include it in your portfolio. This makes it seem like you’re not working as hard as possible and might make clients think that they’ll be waiting for weeks for new content from you after hiring you on a contract basis (which isn’t fun for anyone).
Be sure to keep everything up-to-date so the client knows exactly what they’re getting when they hire freelancers like us at Write My Paper For Me Service!
Effective time management is crucial for freelancers. If you’re looking for strategies to improve your productivity, check out our article on 12 Lessons I Learned from 90 Days of Time Management to discover valuable insights and techniques.
Offer To Write An Article For Free In Exchange For A Great Testimonial
If you’re good at writing, this is a great way to get your name out there without paying for advertising. To ensure that you get the most value out of offering this service, make sure that you get written permission from your client before publishing anything.
Also, ask them if they would be willing to submit their images and/or contribute in any other way; this not only helps establish trust with potential customers (because they will see how much work goes into each article), but it also allows those customers to see that each piece is unique and tailored specifically towards them!
Build Your Social Media Presence
As a freelance writer, you’re going to have to be able to market yourself and your work. Social media is an easy way to do this.
Post regularly on Instagram it’s a great way for prospective clients and publishers to learn about you and your writing style. You can use hashtags like #freelancewriting or #writerlife to reach those who might be interested in hiring you as well as other writers who may want to collaborate with you on projects or become friends within the industry.
Having a blog or a website where anyone can read articles that are published by one person over time makes it easier for potential clients (or publishers) who want more information about what kind of writer they’re getting into business with before committing resources like money or time towards any projects together;
Having an active blog also gives them some insight into how dedicated their potential business partner is when it comes out regularly every week/month rather than sporadically throughout the year!
Take Courses That Will Help You Become Better At Freelancing, Like Seo, Email, Or Grammar Courses
If you’re serious about making money through freelance writing, it’s a good idea to take courses that will help you become better at freelancing, such as SEO, email, or grammar courses.
SEO (search engine optimization) is a skill that can be learned by taking online courses like Udemy’s Complete SEO course. This course will teach you how to optimize your content for search engines like Google and Bing so that it gets higher rankings on search results pages.
Email courses are another great option for improving your communication skills and building relationships with potential clients. For instance, Lynda.com offers an email marketing course that covers topics including email copywriting tips and tricks; creating newsletters; personalizing emails; sending bulk emails; working with images in emails; and more!
Grammar courses will also help anyone looking to improve their writing skills and editing abilities when writing articles or blog posts for clients remotely from home full-time or part-time during the day.
While still earning money from other sources too like tutoring children after school hours outside of class time hours where parents won’t complain about kids being late getting home because they’re spending extra time helping less fortunate kids who may not have access otherwise without being able to afford private tutors due to their financial status.”
Take classes to become even better at your niche, or to learn something new that you can also write about.
Take Classes In Your Niche
Take classes to learn something new that you can also write about. This might be a class on photography or travel, for example. It doesn’t have to be directly related to what you write about since many topics could benefit from other skillsets (for example, if you’re writing about how to save money on groceries, taking a cooking class would help).
The key here is to look for ways that learning more about your topic can help you become better at it and make it easier for people who read what you write (and hopefully buy other products or services from those same people) to get value out of the information that’s being shared with them!
When it comes to securing freelance writing projects, a well-structured proposal can make a significant difference. Learn how to create an impactful proposal by following our guide on How to Structure a Proposal When Writing as a Freelancer.
Improve Your Writing Skills By Taking Writing Courses At Local Community Colleges
Become proficient with budgeting tools like Freshbooks or Quickbooks if you’ll be freelancing full time and need to track expenses and invoices – it will make tax season much easier!
Tax time can be a headache, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the tax jargon. But if you are self-employed, being a freelancer means that there is more than just your salary to think about when filing taxes. You will also have to pay taxes on any side income, like freelance writing jobs or freelance accounting jobs.
If you’re starting as a freelancer and want to learn how to make extra money on the side through freelance writing but don’t know where to start with taxes (or even how), this post will help! In this post, we’ll cover everything from tracking your income and expenses to setting up invoices and paying yourself properly so that your business can succeed in the long term!
The healthcare industry offers numerous opportunities for freelance writers. If you’re interested in writing about healthcare topics, our guide on How to Become a Freelance Writer in the Healthcare Industry provides valuable insights and tips to get started.
Conclusion
By following these steps, you’ll be well on your way to a successful side hustle. Remember that it’s all about finding something you’re passionate about and putting in the hard work to make it happen. Make sure you have some legitimate funds available so you don’t get into too much debt while building up this business! Best of luck!
Further Reading
Here are some additional resources you may find helpful for exploring writing side hustles and earning money through writing:
The Ultimate Side Hustle: 14 Ways to Get Paid to Write: Discover 14 different ways to earn money through writing, including freelance opportunities and creative writing options.
Best Writing Side Hustles: Explore a variety of side hustles related to writing, such as copywriting, content creation, and blogging, that can help you monetize your writing skills.
Best Ways to Earn Money Writing: Learn about various avenues for earning money as a writer, from freelance writing gigs to creating and selling your own digital products.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do I Get Started As A Freelance Writer?
It’s really easy! You can find clients through sites like Upwork, Fiverr, and Guru. You can also use social media to find clients by posting about your services and asking for referrals.
Can I Do This Full Time?
Absolutely! Many people make their living as freelance writers. It’s not uncommon for people to be able to work from home full time, or even part-time from home while they’re still working their day job.
What Types Of Writing Jobs Are There?
There are many different types of writing jobs out there. Some examples include blog posts, copywriting (for companies), editing (including technical), ghostwriting (for authors), newsletter writing, press release writing, and more!
How Much Money Can I Make As A Freelance Writer?
It depends on how much time you’re willing to put in, but the average salary for a freelance writer is around $18 per hour. You can also make more if you’re able to charge more per page or project usually, it’s best to start with lower prices and negotiate them up once you’ve established a relationship with your client.
Do I Need Any Special Skills To Be A Freelance Writer?
No! All you need is an internet connection and a computer or smartphone (or tablet). The majority of work will require some sort of writing skill, but there are also opportunities for translators and graphic designers. If you have one of those skillsets, then definitely consider branching out into those fields as well!
Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.