It’s estimated that more than 4 million blog posts are written every day. Those posts are written by bloggers, businesses, and experts.
Many of these people frequently outsource their work to freelance writers. Quality freelance writers are in demand, and people will pay you well to write on their behalf.
You can build a freelance career that lets you work from anywhere in the world. Are you ready to learn how you can be a freelancer?
Let’s get started!
1. Decide Your Niche
What kind of content do you want to write? You actually have more opportunities than just writing blog posts.
You can be a copywriter, where you use your way with words to convert traffic into leads and leads into sales. You can be a technical writer, though you need to be familiar with engineering and systems. You can be a ghostwriter, helping experts turn their knowledge into books.
It helps to narrow your niche because you can target specific clients.
2. Register Your Busines
You may not feel that it’s necessary to register yourself as a business and operate as a sole proprietor. That may be a good idea in the beginning, but as you build your client base, you need to establish a business.
You should consider setting yourself up as an LLC for legal protection. It’s also much easier if you keep your business and personal finances separate.
3. Set Up Financial Systems
One of the biggest reasons why freelancers fail is because of cash flow management. It’s a big jump from working for someone else to self-employment.
Freelance writers have added responsibilities when it comes to taxes. Sure, you get to write off your business expenses, but you’re responsible for self-employment taxes. That amounts to 15.3% of your profits.
You have to pay that in quarterly installments, or the IRS will assess interest and penalties. You also have state income taxes to worry about too.
You should have systems in place to track your expenses, income, and create a paystub online for self-employed individuals.
4. Get Your First Clients
Getting your first clients may be pretty easy. You don’t want to give away your services at first, but you may want to get a few clients at a discount to build your client base.
You can get referrals and testimonials, which help you close more clients. You can also build your writing portfolio to show prospective clients.
5. Keep Learning
Writing is a craft that you constantly have to improve. That’s how you’ll get better clients that pay more. You should always practice your writing.
One way to do that is to give yourself a writing prompt each day and work on one area, such as sales copy.
Becoming a Successful Freelance Writer
You can set yourself up for a dream life as a freelance writer if you play your cards right. You can set yourself up to work from anywhere in the world and make a good living.
For more tips to help you build your dream lifestyle, visit the Lifestyle section of this site.
