It’s Actually Not That Hard To Be A Freelancer

Want to know how I became a freelancer?

I decided I was a freelancer.

That’s it.

I applied for jobs writing billboard ad copy when I knew nothing about copywriting (my thinking was they could always refund the money if it sucked).

And, basically, that thinking was 1,000 percent accurate.

I remember my first time turning in work to a client. I was paralyzed. I didn’t want to press that send button in the slightest bit — but I had to.

Every moment past 2 hours that they didn’t respond I was sure they were shaking their heads in disgust at how horrible my work was.

Then after about 16 hours or so, the client got back to me.

She loved it. She loved my writing voice, and she gave me a glowing recommendation on Upwork.

The second time turning my work in was considerably less stressful, but it was still stressful.

The third time was the slightly better than the second.

It got less and less crazy until I finally didn’t give a rip anymore. If it sucked, it sucked. They could always tell me and I could either change my wording or refund them entirely.

My point is, freelance writing is not that difficult.

Especially right now when nobody seems to know how to do it properly or what “good writing” even is.

The Same Can Be Said For Blogging

Blogging is not that difficult either. You just think it is.

Nobody’s reading because you’re new — not because you suck. I’d say that’s the case 95% of the time.

I’m always sort of baffled when people tell me they’re afraid to write about something or press the publish button.

It’s like working 3 months to fix your car and then deciding after you’re done to not even turn it on.

Press publish.

Blogging, like freelancing, is NOT as hard as you think it is. The internet is NOT like swimming in shark-infested waters.

Generally when you pour your heart out onto the page, people respond well to it.

I digress.

My 5 “Golden Rules” Of Freelancing

I have a few golden rules of freelancing that should help you out..

1. Assume you can do that job, apply for that job, and if you can’t do that job, figure out how to do that job.

Example: Assume you can be a copywriter. If you don’t know how to be a copywriter, research the heck out of it until you get a basic knowledge of it. Then shoot for the moon with your client.

2. Work with clients that know what a “good job” looks like.

Example: Your client should know what they want. More importantly, they should have some clue of what a job well done looks like. You need to work with clients that have an idea of what they want because this will help guide you — a freelancing beginner.

If you don’t hit the mark, then you can always give them another draft or cancel the contract. Yes, you may end up wasting someone’s time, but this happens in business.

3. Build your career like a pyramid.

Example: My first month freelancing, I wrote an ebook and a few blog posts. My third month freelancing, I was writing for one of the most-visited websites in the world making a base pay of $15 per article written.

Always look for that next opportunity and use previous work to catapult yourself to it.

4. Apply for everything.

Example: Literally say ‘screw it’ and apply for every interesting job you can find. Quantity is important. I do not give a flying rats behind if you don’t know how to do the work.

This excuse is just a defense mechanism we use to convince ourselves into doing nothing. You can learn. You spent 13 years of your life doing it up until high school. So learn.

5. ..But don’t just con people.

Example: If you have tried writing copy for 3 different clients and all three of them didn’t like your work, stop copywriting. There’s some freelancing jobs you can take that require a bit more training than others.

Writing an ebook doesn’t require training. You just write like you learned how to do in high school. But other things, like copywriting, sometimes take a bit of training.

Don’t Get In Your Own Way — Be A Freelancer!

And my final call to action — just get out there and try. Maybe you have a ton of writing/artistic talent and you just don’t know it yet.

A lot of people just lack the self-confidence.

I wanted to take this opportunity to give them some confidence.

Go on Upwork.com and apply to everything you can. Craigslist is good for this as well in the jobs/gigs section.

Just try. Freelancing was the first step of many that led me to here — a full-time vlogger/blogger. Take that step.