Deciding to go freelance can feel like such a big deal. When you’re working for a media outlet, an agency, or in-house at any other kind of business, deciding to them go it alone can be really nerve wracking. After all, you may have heard so many horror stories all about those that have gone freelance and just not made it, have struggled financially, or hated the work or being alone. So maybe you’re worried as to whether the world would suit you, or you doubt yourself, so you just don’t do it. However, you may find that going freelance could be the best decision of your life!
But, you will often need to take the leap in order for this to happen. And that means that you need to put the worries out of your mind and aim to focus on making this work out. However, that in itself can be quite a complex and complicated thing! Because going freelance is just like starting your own small business. You need to make sure that you can make a profit, that you’re able to market yourself, and that you can grow in the best possible ways.
This is often why you’re going t want to think about growing your client base. Of course, you can always get more business from the clients you have (and we’ll look at that too) – but the idea is to get more work, or better paying work, in order to thrive. Let’s take a look at how you can do that.
Define Your Niche
So the very first thing that you’re going to want to be able to do here, is define your niche. If you want your freelance efforts to be a success, then really narrowing down on your writing niche and aiming to become an expert in it can be incredibly beneficial. The more you can establish yourself and know a lot about your niche, the more you can market yourself as a professional.
Gather Killer Clips
Then, you need great work to support what you’re doing. And if you’re going to get that, you need to aim for the best possible clips imaginable. Sometimes, that means doing some work for free to get that clip when you’re starting out. But also, you may want to be incredibly persistent to get the work you want, and then knowing that you can add it as a standout piece in your portfolio.
Create The Best Website
Now, you also need the best possible writers’ website to showcase your stuff with. And remember, the more professional your site looks, the better. So, ideally, you’re going to want to spend some time working on your site, creating great content, and showcasing what you can do. But, you can use a free template to do this.
Start Blogging
On your website, you’re also going to want to make sure that you are able to write blog posts too. Because when you want to be able to generate interest in what you’re doing, you can really do that with blog posts. Writing about the power of copywriting or the different topics of interest in the niche you cover can help your SEO and allow you to have something thought-provoking to share on social media. So, get a blog set up, and get to work with it.
Get Active On Social Media
It’s also important for you to choose your social channels wisely, and for you to make sure that you’re as active as you can be. Interacting with your peers, networking with your perfect clients or editors, all of it can help you to get more clients, and grow your business.
Network As Much As You Can
As a step on from that, you will find that networking can really help you to grow your business too. And yes, this means both in-person and online. Because if you want to get more clients and meet more people, you do need to put yourself out there, and ask for the work!
Perfect Your Pitch
The freelance writing pitch can seem incredibly intimidating. What do you write? How do you sell yourself? How do you come up with a story? Well, while every pitch may be different, there is a killer way of getting it right. And practice makes perfect. So if you know that you want to get better at pitching, you just need to do more of it. You’ll learn as you go, and figure out what parts of your pitch, or what kinds of pitches, are the most successful.
Pitch Persistently
From here, you then need to make sure that you’re pitching as much as you can. It’s never enough to just send out one or two pitches and hope to hear back. Or get disheartened if you don’t hear back at all – or get rejected. Instead, you need to make sure that you’re pitching more often and that you’re consistently pitching too.
Up Your Game
The next thing that you’re going to find may help you, is starting to take your freelancing more serious in general. Sometimes, it’s easy to see this as a hobby, or experience imposter syndrome and feel as if this isn’t a big business. But it is. It’s your career and you need to treat it as such! You’ll want to be registered correctly, manage your accounts well with bookkeeping software, and work with experts. When you treat things more professionally, you’ll feel it too.
Increase Your Services
But then, you could take a look at this in an entirely different way. Sometimes, it’s not more clients that you need, but more work. And so, you could also look to your existing clients to get this too. Are there other services that you could look to provide? Could you do different kinds of copywriting? Sometimes, learning a new skill and looking to then create a new service or package that will support what you already do is a great way to grow what you’re doing and earn more because of it.
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