How to Become a Freelance Writer (From 0 to $20,000 per Month)

HOW TO BECOME A FREELANCE WRITER WITH NO EXPERIENCE?

“If you want to be the best, you have to do things that other people aren’t willing to do.”
Michael Phelps

If you are wondering what freelance writing is so I can bet you that you are in the right place. This article is ideal for you if you know nothing about freelance writing with no experience but still, you have an urge to do something and a creative mind. Here is a brief introduction of what freelance writing is:

If you are working from 9 to 5 on a fixed set of instructions whereas you are creative, want to do something different and always welcome the change so you need to look into freelance writing. Imagine working according to a schedule that is designed by not your boss but you. You are the boss and will work in a comfortable environment in your home, making from 0 to $20,000 per month.

Before starting Freelance writing, you need to ask the following questions to yourself:

• Do you like writing?
• Why do you like writing?
• What makes your writings different?
• What piece of content that you have written makes you the proudest of yourself? Why?
• Is your writing style enjoyable?

How to become a freelance writer from home and get paid?

These days freelance writing is a popular job, where many people are opting for additional income or shifting themselves towards full-time freelance writing jobs like becoming a freelance writer for newspapers to enjoy the benefits of working according to their schedule. Freelance writer’s salary is moving upwards as they get jobs on high traffic websites.

First of all, I am going to share some of the steps that will help you to start your freelancing career from scratch. After that, you will get complete information about some of the most trusted and famous freelancing platforms to start your gigs. You’ll also find out how much you’ll be paid on these platforms. Read carefully all you need to know before getting started into freelance writing.

How to be a successful freelance writer? Here are some of the easy steps:

1. Set a clear purpose

You never know what freelance writing is unless you start working on it even if you don’t have any experience. Many people will suggest you start a writing course before starting it, to me this is the next step as there is always room for improvement. The first and the foremost thing before starting freelance writing is to know your purpose. The first thing that is stopping you from starting Freelance writing is what you are and what you should write about. If you are passionate about writing, you know about your expertise and your area of interest so you are already there. To be a successful freelance writer you will fail and face challenges but remember that success lies in the efforts.

Before you can get anything meaningful done what people call “productive” you need to know why you want to do it? How I got my purpose? how I became a freelance writer and get paid?

In my case how I realized that I want to be a freelance writer is when I saw my students getting appreciation for writing Creative writings. I love to teach and see my students doing well. I always look for their well-being and emotional health. I believe that my students are very attached to me. One day one of my students came to me his piece of writing that he wrote for a regional competition. I edited a few lines and gave suggestions to improve it. Later on, I came to know that his writing wasn’t only appreciated but selected for a local magazine too. That day I realized that if my student can write for a magazine or newspapers so why not me? Since that, I started writing at different levels. I used to write short paragraphs and poems. My brother once read my writing and suggested I work as a freelance writer. I did a lot of research before starting it. YouTube helped me a lot in this all. Freelance writing is the same as living one’s dream. I love writing and this thought is incredible that I get paid for it. The success of my students helped me find my purpose. It was so easy and simple but before the hunt, it was the most difficult task ever. It worked for me and I became a successful freelance writer from home, and it will surely work for you too.

2. How to get started freelance writing? Define your Niche

Knowing what you are going to write is the first and the most important question before finding any freelance writing jobs for beginners. A writer can write about anything with the help of little research but having the best paying gigs are those that require subject matter specialists. Besides, if you have the relevant college degree you already have the edge to get started freelance writing because there are plenty of great writers that have no formal degree. In reality, a freelance writer education requirements are nothing but the craving to write. First of all, you need to know what exactly a niche is…. A niche in the market is a specific area of marketing which has its particular requirements, customers, and products.

When you will choose a niche you are enthusiastic about, you will be able to write well without spending hours researching. You will not only do well in that specific job but your expertise will be acknowledged too. You can also become a freelance writer for newspapers working from home.

Some areas you can choose to become an expert are:

• Travel
• Fitness and diet
• Health and well being
• Family, relationships, and parenthood
• Personal Finance
• Yoga and Meditation
• Cooking and Nutrition
• SEO
• Finance and Budgeting
• Leadership and Career counseling
• Crafting, knitting
• Hobbies

3. Write a Great Sample Work through your website or blog

The people with whom you are going to work will want to see your previously done work. The best way to display your work is by having your website even if it is on one page. Your clients will go through it, they’ll get to know about the quality of work that you are offering and hire you. People try to exaggerate while filling up their website, if it is easier it is better. Try to create some sample writing works if you still not get any previous experience. That should be the best thing to become a successful freelance writer with no experience.

Read: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Successful Blog That Makes Money

You don’t need a website that might be of a professional level this can be done by having a blog or one-page basic website instead. Keep updating your website not daily but you can make a proper time chart to update your website on weekends or maybe after a quarter. You can even upload your writings on Google docs to make it available to the clients. If you don’t have any piece of writing your client may ask you to write something for them on the given topic. Never let this practice demotivate you, you are writing free for a while to open up a door of endless bounties. Several tutorials to make a website are available you can go through them to make your basic website from home. If you are interested in making blogs the same steps can be followed. After the website, your portfolio is the other key part that you need to have in place to get started freelance writing business.

4. Create a strong portfolio

A strong portfolio is like a cherry on the cake and acts as a freelance writer’s resume. You need to provide the following information to any platform before they let you sign up:

• Full name
• Personal information
• Academic information (freelance writer education requirements)
• Profile picture
• Your contact information
• Freelance writer job description
• Your company details if you have a business account

Many freelancing websites can help you to create a strong profile. All you need is to sign up onto a trusted website and be realistic. In your portfolio, you need to display your sample work too. No client will ever hire you without seeing your previous work. Make sure you share your original work with the client or you can share the link of your blog or website. In some of the cases, you can email your content to the client too. Staying professional and realist is the only demand at this step.

You must keep updating your profile by adding up necessary data and by taking the tests that are quite helpful to lift your profile. Upwork, Fiverr and people per hour, etc. are some of the trusted and high in demand websites where you can sign up will get all the relevant information to make your profile appealing with the help of video tutorial and guidance emails. Such a profile can even include freelance writer rates, freelance writer agreement template, or freelance writer average salary.

5. Invest in yourself

You are never too old for self-improvement. It is a continuous process. One shouldn’t be rigid about it that whatever I have done or wherever I am in the ‘final destination.’ There is always room for improvement and being a human, we can never say that we are perfect. Seneca the younger said
“To err is human. To repeat the error is of the devil.”

The best way of learning is to learn from the professionals, seek the people of the same field, and learn from their style. You are not only going to learn to improve your writing but you need to work on your personal and professional development as well. Check the profiles and portfolios of successful professionals from your field. Think of the topics you can write best on. Keep talking the notes and try to sit and write on it as much as you can to improve your writer’s resume.

The question about how to become a freelance writer with no experience should be burning in your mind. The other investment that you can make is to get yourself familiar with the latest trends and applications that will surely help you to improve your writings and overcoming the errors. By educating yourself with these trends you can not only serve your clients in the best way but also increase your earnings too.

Here is the list of some of the most helpful tools ever:

• Grammarly & Hemingway for
• content editing
• Pixabay for image sourcing
• MOZ to learn SEO
• Adobe Photoshop, Pixlr and Inshot for image editing
• YouTube for video tutorials

I do thorough research on the topic before starting writing on it, I do take notes of the important points and things that I am going to add up in it. Adding relevant images not only makes your work presentable but gives the best look too. Always look for images that are relevant, eye-catching, get on well with society norms.

6. Pitch for Jobs

Are you going to wait for the companies to find, contact, and hire you??? Of course not, you never know the depth of the water until you dive into it. Taking the first step is always difficult. Once you have worked on your portfolio and learned ample about freelance writing your next step is to pitch for jobs. How you are going to do and what will be the response is the most common question at this stage.

First of all, you need to know about your niche and the companies or clients that you are going to target. Choose the companies that are with good ratings, matching your niche, and of course, you are doing this all to earn so the companies that are paying well. You can make up a list of the targeted companies by filling up an easy table. For example

This table will not only help you to understand the requirements of the companies but you can also track your pitches. Google and LinkedIn are the best helpers in this hunt. You can always look into the depth while applying or writing to the companies.
You need to go the websites where you have logged in, as freelance writing experience is different for everyone so I am not going to mention any specific website where you will get the work instantly. It depends on the need and the way you have presented your skills inventory.

There are some of the tricks you need to learn while getting started freelance writing:

• Your pitch should be short and interesting.
• Your task number 1 is to seek the attention, rest of the things i.e. your sample work, the work rate, and testimonials come afterward.
• Stay active, keep in eye of updated jobs try to be among the first five persons to apply for a new job
• Never hesitate to communicate as much as is required.
• Your testimonials and feedbacks from the clients are the best uplifts for you.
• Always remember that the client has a list of choices, make your proposal in such a way that will not only leave a good impression on your client but also hit the requirements.

7. Know your worth and never compromise on quality

If you are going to be a full-time writer you need to clear yourself that what will be your term and how you will maintain your worth. I believe that one should never settle for the less. What are your expectations? How much you will write? What is going to ask for a certain amount of words? If you can write 500 words in an hour are you going to fix your rate per hour or according to the words. The most important thing is to be clear about the topics if you are writing about the niche you need to spend less time in research rather than writing in something different. I believe that I can write continuously about Academics and Psychology without and research as it is my major subject.

You should be very clear how much you are going to get by never compromising on the quality. Your quality work is your top priority, never accept the proposal that is paying you less than your expectations and, in the end, you got demotivated and compromising on the quality.

8. How to become a freelance writer from home and make money – Tack your Earnings

Once you are done with all other procedures and now you are working with suitable clients by setting a reasonable gig, what’s next? As we all know that a freelance writer is getting paid for his/her niche. Some of the clients will pay you per 1000 words per article. And some others pay an hourly rate to freelance writers. It is true that freelance writer hourly rates average are not fixed but people are making from 0 to $20,000 per month through freelance writing jobs.

Whatever you are earning is the estimation of what you will earn in the future. A successful freelance writer needs to keep a proper record of the earnings. the best thing is to divide the yearly income that you have estimated into monthly than weekly and at the end daily. Match it with the number of hours you are going to spend on writing.
Yearly income ÷ 12 = Freelance writer’s average monthly income
Monthly income ÷ working day i.e. (5) = Daily income
Daily income ÷ working hours = Amount per hour (freelance writer rates)

While becoming a freelancer and making money each one charges differently in different fields. A travel blog writer might charge different from health and fitness writer. Someone who writes short blogs two hundred words or maybe less might charge by the word while a writer who writes blogs containing two thousand words would probably charge per article. There are months when you are having your maximum earning. It is always best to do budgeting and to save something for rainy days. If you will do budgeting wisely. It will save you from financial crashes and from working at lower rates than you have already set for yourself.

9. Self-analysis

Finding motivation daily is not an easy task. Freelance writing is great fun and one of the best ways of earning income too if you are doing it with a full heart. Self-analysis is the best push up that will lead you towards self-improvement and help you to grow personally & professionally. With your self-analysis, you get to know who you are, where you are, where you want to be.

10. Write full time or part-time and become a freelance writer for free

I never recommend anybody to quit the job and start freelancing as their full-time job. I do believe that some people are very lucky they get the work immediately but not everyone. You might need to wait too long to get your first job and maybe years to establish a name in the field. It is always the best idea to start freelance writing in your free hours, do budgeting and you can easily figure out that if it is for you or not. Once you are going well with freelancing and you have your savings for the rainy days it will help you to fix your mind and switch to freelance writing as a fulltime job.

How to find freelance writing jobs for beginners

It is one of the most important questions popping up in the mind of a beginner freelance writer. Various websites and networks post freelance jobs but the question is which website is the most suitable one? You need to bid the job you want to get at your earliest so it is always suggested to check the latest jobs early in the morning and before going to the bed. As I mentioned earlier you will be considered if you are among the first five candidates who applied for the job. Here are some of the famous and trusted websites that might help you to get a kickstart without any freelance writer education requirements:

1. Upwork

Upwork is one of the very famous and ideal freelancing websites for international users. It usually takes 3 days to hire a freelancer on Upwork. Upwork was founded in 2015 when two of the biggest freelancing companies, oDesk, and Elance merged. Now a publicly-traded firm, Up Work is a great platform for content writers looking for work. Several opportunities are available here daily. It has a great number of clients over 5 million but the sad news is this that the number of freelancers on this website id 12 million. You must be clear how tough the competition is. You need to pay 20% of your earnings to the Upwork. You need connects to send proposals for the jobs, some of them are free of cost while later on, you have to pay 0.15$ per connect, it takes 2 to 10 connects to bid for a job. If you agree to work without any payment for some works you can easily find freelance writing jobs as a beginner.

2. Fiverr

Fiverr is one of the biggest platforms for freelancing over 14 million users, it is the dream destination for freelance writers. It was founded in 2010 and known best for beginners. Unlike Upwork, Fiverr offers you services rather than bidding for projects. as the name suggests you will get 5$ for your job you can add up extras for more income. Fiverr too charge 20% of your earnings but no system of connects unlike Upwork, you just need to make a profile and wait for the clients to approach you.

3. Freelancer

It is considered best for the professionals; it consists of 20 million users. A very unique thing about Freelancer is that the fee structure is different from job to job. However, the minimum fee is $5 or 10% only. It has excellent customer support including phone and online help. This platform is very easy to find freelance writer jobs and allows a variety of writing-related jobs however the fee structure can be confusing for the beginners.

4. People per hour

People per hour is a UK based company (founded in 2007) it provides online opportunities for freelance writer jobs. This is quite easy to use the website but some freelancers found it a little less user friendly. You can easily sign up here and bid for a suitable job. It has the 68th number in the ranking of freelancing websites yet it is very popular among the freelancers.

5. Cloud peeps

Cloud peeps are one all in one platform, market place, and community that empowers freelancers. It has 20k customers in more than 150 countries. It was founded in 2014, to sign up here you need to fill out your profile and apply to join the community.

Once you have applied your application will be reviewed and you will get a confirmation email if you are selected. On cloud peeps, if you are working on a fixed rate job, you will be paid every 30 days, since the day you were hired. If working on a one-time job or package you will be paid out 30 days from when you were hired, and if working on an hourly invoicing job you will be paid based on the invoices you submit.

Above are the five most famous and trusted platforms for getting freelance writer jobs.

What else you need to do to be a more successful freelancer for free?

• You are not going to be the one who will write only but you need to change the writing style according to the requirement of the client.
• You need to insert the relevant images and take care of SEO as well.
• You need to advertise yourself in such a way that your client not only selects you to work with them but also pays you more for extra services you are providing for example clients pay extra for revisions in Fiverr.
• Your dealing matters a lot, once you got your first gig there is no looking back. You can only achieve this milestone by staying active and asking questions from your client to meet their requirements.
• There is a term ghostwriting. Unfortunately, in this field it is acceptable. Your article will be published by the name of someone else. If you want to get your work published with your name you can clear it with your client beforehand.
• You should ask for feedback and give honest feedback about your client too. This matters a lot to redirect your future gigs.
• Be very clear about the terms and conditions of the website you are using.
• Continue to improve your skills and keep updating your portfolios.

Conclusion:

I hope the above-mentioned information is enough to start your first freelance writing gig. I suggest you not to waste your time looking for some ideal first job. Finding your first project might seem difficult but once you got the work there is no looking back.
There is a very famous quote: “The beginning is always NOW.”

To summarize this article, I must say that to be a successful freelance writer all you need is to be dedicated, curious, self-motivated, and enthusiastic to be paid well. Rule number one is to never get offended by the rejection; you may find it very difficult to find your first gig but once you get it the sky is the limit. Rejection might be one of your greatest fear every but you need to be persistent and never give up. Keep looking for opportunities and never stop writing even if you are still waiting for clients or freelance writers’ average salary is low. The best thing is to write for your website or blog and do advertise yourself a lot before making any freelance writer agreement. Let me tell you about the key that will unlock the door of the world that leads to top freelance writing is LUCK.

I wish you good luck!