Can You Make Money As A Freelance Writer With No Experience?

You’re probably wondering: can I actually make a living as a freelance writer?

•The short answer is yes.

•The long answer is this:

What is Freelance Writing, Exactly? – YouTube

Takeaways
Freelance writing can be a steady career option for someone with no experience.
Building a strong portfolio and honing your writing skills are essential to succeed as a freelance writer.
Networking and establishing connections in the industry can help you find freelance writing opportunities.
It may take time to build a steady client base, but with persistence and dedication, freelance writing can provide a stable income.
Continuous learning and staying updated with industry trends can help you adapt and grow as a freelance writer.

Table of Contents

Freelance Writing Isn’t A Get-Rich-Quick Scheme

It’s a job, like any other. It takes work, dedication, and planning to turn it into a viable source of income.

If you want to make a living as a freelance writer, you need to approach it the same way you would any other career: hard work and planning.

Your first step is to create a plan and timeline. What are your goals? How much time do you have (e.g., after work or on weekends)? How much money do you need to earn in order to quit your day job?

Let’s say your goal is to make $100 an hour from freelance work and quit your 40-hour-a-week office job within one year. You might break that down into smaller goals such as finding five clients who pay $20 an hour for at least 10 hours of work per week. In one year, you’ll be making $100 an hour for 40 hours of work per week—which adds up to about the same amount you were making at your office job!

If you set yourself up for success, you can make a lot of money doing something you love!

Here are some tips for making sure that happens:

If you’re interested in pursuing a career in freelance writing in the journalism industry, our guide on How to Become a Freelance Writer in the Journalism Industry can provide valuable insights and tips to get started.

1. Get Organized

Make sure you have an effective system in place to track all of your assets (things like images, logos, etc.) so you can find what you need when you need it. Set up a system to accept and manage payments quickly and efficiently, so you don’t end up chasing down clients who owe you money. Don’t let your files get disorganized by saving them in a logical way on your computer or in cloud storage.

2. Set Deadlines For Yourself And Stick To Them

If your clients see that you can be relied upon to consistently deliver quality content on time, they’ll keep coming back to you (and recommending you to others).

3. Be Flexible

Freelancing is fluid—you never know what’s going to come around the corner. Be ready and willing to take on new projects at a moment’s notice; that way, when things shift quickly (which they often do), you can adapt without missing a beat

4. Don’t Ignore Failure—It’s An Opportunity For Growth!

If a client rejects your work, they’re going to give you a reason why. Learn from that rejection and use it as fuel to make your next piece even better.

This is especially important if the client wants you to rewrite or edit your work before they accept it—make sure you do exactly what they ask, and don’t just send them the same thing with a few tweaks. Try and find the root of their complaint, and address that rather than just making superficial changes.

5. Keep Track Of Your Earnings, Expenses, And Taxes

If you aren’t organized in the beginning, it can cause problems later on—and nobody likes being audited by the IRS! You don’t have to use elaborate software or anything like that—just keep some kind of spreadsheet with all of this information as you go along, or at least write things down as they happen so you can enter them later. Even better, if you can start using accounting software such as Quickbooks.

Enhancing your freelancing skills is key to increasing your earning potential. Discover the essential Freelancing Skills That Will Help You Earn More and take your freelance career to the next level.

6. Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Chew

Don’t take on too much work right away just because you’re excited to get started! Pace yourself and find a rhythm that works for you—you can always increase your workload if it feels like things are going well.

7. Make Sure You’re Always Learning New Things And Improving Your Skills

The world of freelance writing is constantly evolving, and if you want to keep up, you’ll have to learn something new every day. This can include different writing styles and methods, but don’t be afraid to diversify into other areas as well! If you want to write copy for websites and brands, why not try learning some coding? If you want to write more compelling emails, learn how business owners think about marketing.

8. Join A Community Of Other Writers

There are plenty of communities out there dedicated specifically to helping freelancers succeed, and most are full of people who have been in your shoes at one point or another. You can learn from their experience in a way that no course could teach you.

9. Be Willing To Start At The Bottom—And Build Your Way Up

There’s a reason why people who are qualified are paid more than someone with no experience: they have more skills and they’re better at what they do.

That means if you’re just starting out, even if you know how to write, you’ll need to take on lower-paying projects and work hard to prove your worth before you’ll be able to move up into higher-paying ones.

But that’s okay! It’s a good thing—if you can prove yourself with small projects, then when you approach bigger clients about bigger projects, they’ll be more likely to give them to you (because they’ve seen what a great job you did).

10. Figure Out What You’re Good At

Got an eye for spelling and grammar? Capitalize on it! Are you a natural when it comes to writing persuasive copy? Play those strengths! The more specific you are about what kind of writing you specialize in, the better chance you’ll have at finding clients who need your help.

11. Look For Clients Who Are Willing To Take A Chance On You

One of the best places to look is on job boards like Upwork or Freelancer. There are plenty of people who need writers and don’t care about your experience because they just want to get their projects done.

Writing a freelance proposal that stands out can significantly improve your chances of getting hired. Learn effective strategies in our guide on How to Write a Freelance Proposal That Doesn’t Get You Rejected and increase your success rate.

12. It’s Time To Get Some Practice

We all know that being able to produce quality work when no one is looking is not what professionals do; professional writers focus on their craft and produce content that is second only to their skill level and experience.

That means that it’s time for some freelance writing practice! Find an article that interests you—whether it’s a blog post, an ezine article, or anything in between—and start churning out quality pages of content.

The Pitfalls Of Freelance Writing: What To Avoid

Whether you’re just starting your freelancing career, or you want to make sure that your existing career is on the right path, there are some things to watch out for. Here are some pitfalls and how to avoid them:

1. Getting Paid On Time

Freelancing can be a pretty tough gig if you don’t get paid on time. But it doesn’t have to be! You can protect yourself by asking for a deposit before starting work. If you’re still having trouble getting paid, consider using an app like [app name], which helps to track payments and automatically sends reminders for when money is due.

2. Falling Behind On Taxes

When you’re working as a freelancer, it’s easy to forget about those pesky income taxes. But the IRS doesn’t forget! That’s why it’s so important to keep track of your income and expenses so that you know exactly how much tax you need to pay at the end of the year.

3. Don’t Take On Too Much Too Quickly

You may have heard the saying “Slow and steady wins the race.” This is true with any job, but especially when it comes to a freelance career. You’ll need to build up your experience and portfolio before you’ll be able to land better clients.

So if you’re looking to start your own business as a freelance writer, don’t jump right into it by accepting every job offer that comes your way, no matter how much money they’re offering or how good their reputation is. Instead, focus on building up your portfolio with small jobs that pay less.

This way you can get a feel for what freelance writing is like before taking on more difficult projects with higher-paying clients.

4. You Will Get Burned

That’s right: Once you’ve been freelancing long enough, someone is going to stiff you on a payment or something like that—and you’ll have no one else to blame but yourself. If this happens, try not to let it discourage you—just learn from your mistake and move on!

5. Avoid Writing For Free

We know that when you’re starting out in freelance writing, the temptation can be to write for free in order to build your portfolio and land bigger gigs. But this is actually not the best plan. Sure, you’ll get some practice and good examples for your resume—but what you’re really doing is undervaluing yourself as an author.

If you’re going to write for free, make it for yourself: start a blog or write stories just for fun! That’s more valuable than writing content for someone else who will use it to make money with no reward for yourself.

6. Getting Distracted By An Inbox Full

As a freelancer, it can be hard to focus on your work when your inbox is overflowing with messages from clients, potential clients, and friends. It’s okay to check your email occasionally, but try not to let it distract you too much!

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7. Not Charging Enough

Always charge fairly for your work. It might seem like you won’t get clients if you charge too much, but people will pay for quality work—and if you’re not charging enough, that’s actually hurting your business!

8. Avoid Trying To Be A Generalist

Sure, it’s tempting to think that you can write anything in any voice for any audience. But the reality is that it’s hard enough to find your voice as a writer, let alone several different ones. If you try to be all things to all people, you’ll end up being nothing to no one, and that’s a recipe for burnout and failure.

9. Overly Ambitious Goals That You Haven’t Prepared For

You have to start small, and build your way up. Write the things that are easy to get, and go from there. If you write something hard first, you’ll burn out fast!

10. Avoid Micromanaging Your Clients

Clients hire freelancers because they want to be hands-off with the process, so if you’re constantly emailing them asking questions and pestering them to give feedback on what you’ve written, you won’t have any projects after this one.

11. Don’t Be Afraid Of Negotiation

Clients will often try to pay less than they should, and they’ll often ask for more work than they should without offering additional compensation. You can negotiate both these things! It might feel awkward at first, but practice makes perfect (or at least less awkward).

12. Don’t Feel Like You Have To Try Everything

Freelance writers are more likely to succeed if they can define themselves in some way. Without that definition, your work may suffer from being too general or unfocused. For example, if a company needs a copywriter, they want someone with experience in advertising or marketing.

They won’t want to see a portfolio full of blog posts about how to make macaroni and cheese. It might be tempting to try everything at once because it feels like any kind of income is better than no income at all. But don’t fall into this trap! Choose one or two areas and develop your skills around those topics until you can charge more money and create more value for your clients.

13. Pick A Niche

Pick one or two things that interest you and use them as your niche—a niche is just a specialized area of expertise within an industry, and for freelance writers, it can be anything from finance content marketing copy to medical product descriptions. Having a niche will help you focus on what makes YOU unique as a writer, which is the best way to build your brand and your career over time!

14. Failing To Learn From Your Mistakes

If a client tells you they weren’t satisfied with something, don’t just move on! Take the time to reflect on the feedback and how it can help you do better in the future.

If you want to charge higher rates as a freelancer, developing in-demand skills is essential. Discover the top skills in our list of Top 10 Freelance Skills to Charge More and elevate your value in the freelance market.

Wrapping Up

In conclusion, while freelance writing is a growing industry, I wouldn’t say it’s a quick way to become a millionaire overnight. Nor is it something that you can do after work or in your spare time; it takes hard work and dedication to the craft.

And, unfortunately, there isn’t an easy answer to the question of whether or not steady freelance writing jobs are available to anyone with no experience.

However, based on my experience writing for several different clients as well as sites like The Write Life, I would say that freelance writing can be a steady career for those who are willing to put in the work and find their niche within it.