Freelance writing is a compelling career choice, offering flexibility, the potential for lucrative earnings, and the opportunity to work on diverse and interesting projects.
In fact, I was a freelance writer for 2 years, making 6 figures a year, before moving into the world of influencer content creation.
And despite what you’ve been told, it’s not overly saturated nor is it doomed to fall apart with the rise of AI.
In fact, more and more companies are seeking excellent writers to bring more authenticity to their work. The great news is that you don’t need any prior experience or a specialized degree to get started.
If you’re ready to dive into the world of freelance writing, here’s a comprehensive guide (of what I wish I knew before starting!) to help you embark on this journey from scratch.
How to Become a Freelance Writer With Absolutely No Experience
What I’d Love For You to Know About The Freelance Writing Journey!
Before we begin, a few quick notes:
1) You do not need experience
You do not need experience, a fancy degree, or some special skill to start freelance writing.
I don’t have a journalism, creative writing or English degree, no-one I’ve ever worked for has ever required them.
They only ever cared about how I wrote, my portfolio and if I could hit their deadline on time.
What’s more important is your willingness to learn something new, your drive for succeeding, and how quickly you embrace the fact that freelance writing is a business.
2) There is more than enough space out there for you!
Having a scarcity mindset can really hurt your progress, and it always seems to sneak in when you’re seriously on your game.
So, repeat after me, there is enough work for me!
3) Freelance writing isn’t always a breeze.
Thanks to my profitable start in freelance writing and the connections I made through it, I now quite literally live in an oceanside house with a small private beach so I get the appeal.
It’s not the best choice for everyone out there. It’s not as simple as whipping up a resume or a CV and just applying for jobs.
In fact, many high paying freelance writing jobs are never advertised. There’s an art to getting them.
This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t go for it (seriously, do!) but be prepared to put in the work.
4) Is Freelance Writing a Good Fit For Me?
Freelance writing might be a good fit for you if you:
- Enjoy writing
- Have good writing skills (or are willing to learn)
- Are excellent at time management
- Want to be your own boss (many actually don’t like the idea of this)
- Can communicate effectively
- Are willing to put in the time and work
- Most importantly, truly want to be a freelance writer! (I believe this is one of the most important requirements)
5) Why Choose Freelance Writing?
I mean, there are a ton of positives to this role, not least because you can work from anywhere in the world.
I remember writing an article for a women’s health magazine whilst looking out of a hotel window in Rovaniemi, Finland and watching skiers come back into the village – nothing beats this level of freedom.
1) Flexibility: You can set your own hours and work from anywhere, providing you have wifi access.
2) Diverse Opportunities: There are myriad niches and industries that require content, from technology and health to travel and finance.
3) Scalability: You can start part-time while maintaining your current job and gradually transition to full-time freelancing. It’s not all or nothing.
4) Creative Freedom: You have the freedom to choose projects that interest you and align with your passions.
6) How to Start Freelance Writing with No Experience: 6 Steps
Getting anything done is hard enough, but trying to do it with no idea where you’re going? Impossible! Setting goals will help you head in the right direction.
When setting up your initial goals as a freelancer you’ll want to look at the following areas:
- Building a great portfolio
- Getting clients and securing work
- Marketing your business
- Making valuable connections
When it comes to money-goals at this stage of your freelance career, I recommend sticking with those related to your bottom line. That is, how much money you absolutely need to pay your bills.
It’s incredibly fun to day dream about replacing your income or buying a oceanside villa in some exotic country, but setting financial goals too high with no experience in the industry can offset your progress.
1) Good Beginner Freelance Goal Examples
Here are a few inspirational goals you can modify and turn into your own:
30-DAY GOALS
- Pick up your first client
- Complete your first assignment (preferably on-time)
- Create and publish your website and/or portfolio
- Finish three sample pieces for your portfolio
90-DAY GOALS
- Get your first freelance paycheck (it usually takes 14 to 30 days to get paid, so it probably won’t happen day 1
- Better define your niche
- Sign X number of clients
- Build a a base monthly income of $X (it’s totally cool to set this at $500 or $750 or $1,000, easing up to full-time is a great route!)
180-DAY GOALS
- Secure my monthly income (IF going full time is what you want)
- Find my dream client, or work with company X, Y or Z
- Get a piece commissioned for X website or in Y magazine
- Sign a retainer client
Related: 10 Tried and Tested Places to Find High Paying Freelance Writing Jobs
2) Define your writing practice
With your goals set, it’s time to decide what kind of writer you want to be. By this I mean what do you want to write, and what do you want to write about.
The first thing you need to tackle is what do you want to write about and which format or style do you want to do it in.
One giant reason many turn to freelance writing is because of its versatility and freedom of choice.
I LOVE being able to pick what I work on, and that starts with figuring out what you want.
I’m going to contradict a TON of advice out there, but whilst everyone else screams about picking a single freelance writing niche, I think it’s best to go broad to begin with (unless you know for a fact there’s a niche you want to go all out on).
In the long run, niching down can help you secure higher rates, but being too niched in the beginning can make it a lot harder to break into freelance writing, purely because you have no experience. This is especially the case if the niche you want is more competitive.
So, write a list of topics that you think you’d be interested in writing about.
What can you write about right now? What real life experience can you lean into?
You already have expertise in something. Do you know the Sims 4 inside and out? Do you know exactly what temperature to cook chicken at? Do you know how to hand carve wooden trinkets with tools?
There’s always something you’re qualified to write about.
I want to drop a massive caveat here and say that being “qualified” or “experienced” DOES NOT mean you are the be-all, end-all expert.
You don’t have to be a certified swim coach to teach someone how to doggy-paddle just like you don’t need to be a fashion influencer to share your love of jumpsuits.
The ONLY requirement is that you are more knowledgeable about the topic than the person reading the article.
Not sure where to find the right area of experience? Take a look at your previous work.
Have you spent time working in retail? Chances are you’re a pro at customer service!
A college student or recent grad? Student life is probably something you can talk about!
Horror movie fan? What about movie reviews?
If you really think about it, you’ll probably come up with WAY too many topics. So, start making that list!
Related: 23 Hobbies That Make Money: Build Your 6 Figure Business!
3) Build your portfolio
If you do nothing else on this list (though I recommend doing everything), you NEED to build a portfolio.
Starting a freelance writing business is a bit of catch-22. You can’t get job without published samples, but getting published samples is hard without any jobs. So, you have to get creative.
There are two main ways to publish work without having actual freelance writing clients.
You can:
Start a blog AND/OR
Write on a profit-sharing site (like Medium)
Start a blog
I highly recommend that everyone running a freelance writing business also runs their own blog.
While you can make good money freelance writing, you’ll want to seriously consider diversifying your income.
Relying on a handful of companies to pay full time income is a little uncomfortable, and sometimes they can be late on paying.
A more passive stream of income, like a blog, can help bring a more money in that doesn’t rely on someone else to sign your pay off.
This is really a two birds, one stone scenario. You have an opportunity to publish your own blog posts, experiment with your writing style, and create writing samples, all while building a money-making asset.
Blogs are a lot of work, but they’re completely worth it. Beyond publishing pieces in niches you’re interested in working in, you can earn money via affiliate links and advertising.
Use a Profit-Sharing site Like Medium
To make money writing sooner rather than later, a profit-sharing site like Medium is a great place to start.
Their partner program allows you to make money on any post you publish, providing people read it.
But unlike on magazines etc, you don’t have to wait for someone to approve your piece.
Sites like Medium provide you with the potential to get your work seen by larger audiences through their publications and curation programs.
Plus it provides you with somewhere you can point prospective clients to.
Note that to send Medium posts to potential clients, you’ll want to make sure you give them access to the friend link to ensure there aren’t any paywall issues preventing them from reading your work.
It should be noted that not all potential clients will consider pieces that are published on your own blog or medium as reference work.
This means that you’ll want to double-check the application rules before you apply.
Heavy hitters such as Conde Nast or The New York Times obviously only want previous journalistic style pieces so that means pieces published in known names like Martha Stewart, Homes & Gardens, Cosmo etc.
Related: Top 10 Free Courses to Help You Make More Money Online & in Your Career
Want to make your piece stand out?
Before you hit that publish button, you’ll want to double check a few things:
- Write articles that are relevant to niches you want to freelance write in.
- Make sure the articles also match the length of the content you’re looking to publish, there’s a big difference between a 500-word and a 2,000-word article.
- Choose nice images that match with your content writing, but make sure you’re not violating copyright law.
- Make sure to take into consideration search engine optimization, it’s incredibly important for online writing work.
- Double and triple check your work for spelling and grammar.
4) Figure out the business side of things
Don’t be one of those freelance writers that is great at writing but treats it like a hobby.
Your freelance writing is a business and should be operated like one.
Business rules and regulations vary by country (and I’m not a lawyer), but I do want to quickly brush over what you need to look at when you’re starting out.
At bare minimum, you need to:
- Open a separate business bank account (this is a legal requirement in many countries and it shouldn’t cost you much, if anything).
- Sign up for an accounting program once you start taking payments (I recommend Honeybook or Bonsai).
- Get a writing services contract.
- Create a separate business email (you don’t need a bunch of newsletters and promo materials in your main account).
There is WAY more you’re going to want to do in your first year as a freelancer. But this short list is the perfect place to start so you don’t overwhelm yourself.
5) Set Your Pricing (and Don’t Undersell Yourself!)
Pricing is a complex subject. Most contract writers have varying contracts, and it’s how I operated.
I might make $500 an article for one client, but only $400 for the same amount of words for a client I’ve previously worked with based on a loyalty retained discount.
If you’re an absolute beginner with zero experience and need to build that portfolio, $0.05 per word is an okay starting point, this gives you $50 for a 1,000 word article.
Is it glamorous? Not at all! Is it going to turn out to be close to minimum wage? Probably.
But can you find jobs in this pay range as a beginner? Absolutely, and lots of them.
Small companies often can’t afford the pricey up-market journalism rates, so look to newbie freelance writers to get off the ground.
$0.10 per word can be a good 3-month goal, whilst $0.20 per word could be a good 6 month goal, so you’re doubling rates. This puts you at $100 or $200 per 1000 word article.
This is still bottom line though, so if you’re disappointed with this number, don’t worry, it can only go up from here. In fact, I started with $0.03 per word because clients loved what I wrote on Medium.
For future reference:
$0.15 per word is pretty comfortable, that means you’re writing a 1,000 word article for $150.
Most part-time freelance writers settle on this rate so they’re not tied to a really tight deadline, but it’s totally up to you.
That said, if you need to take on a few jobs that only pay $20-$50 per article in the beginning, so be it. We’ve all done it to get some experience. You’re never stuck at that rate.
If that means pumping out a ton of $30 articles for 1-3 months to build that insanely valuable portfolio, then go for it. Don’t listen to anything else anyone says!
If you’re writing for a corporate or business client though, $30 articles are a complete rip-off. For corporate clients you should expect around the $0.40-$0.50 per word mark, if not more. Some projects I worked on budgeted $1 per word (and that was conservative!)
6) Find freelance writing jobs
Yes, I left the best for last. I’ve written an entire blog post on how to find high paying freelance writing clients from the outset, so you’ll definitely want to read that.
Related: 8 Real Ways to Find High Paying Virtual Assistant Clients (Even as a Beginner!)
Some Extra Advice Though:
Make sure you figure out your pricing scheme before you start reaching out to freelance writing clients, otherwise you’ll probably agree to anything they suggest.
If you’re feeling a little brave, I highly recommend reaching out to companies you’re interested in working for.
This usually results in better freelance writing work, and more projects you love, but of course, you do sacrifice comfort to get there.
You’ll receive a lot of rejections amongst the many yeses, too! Lots of my best contracts came about this way.
