Your first attempt at a new venture is eternally a mammoth challenge. As a commercial writer looking for the first freelancing job, the wait could be excruciatingly long. Because most popular freelancing platforms are heavily crowded and the competition is growing fierce.
Just a few years back, a $100 writing project would get 10-13 bids. At present, the number has surprisingly advanced up to 30-35 bids per gig. Too many folks around the globe seem to have suddenly discovered their enthusiasm for commercial writing. We have too many writing talents to join the community. Hence, the ‘Projects Vs. The writers’ ratio has been severely disrupted.
You Aren’t Extraordinarily Smart or Intelligent?
As a starter with no credible freelancing profile or job history, grabbing your first project is a shot in the dark. Especially when the horizon is brimming with newbies, each willing to work at amazingly competitive rates. To worsen things, you aren’t extraordinarily smart, intelligent, or innovative either.
Believe me, none of us are exceptionally talented. The really smart folks are either launching Mars probe missions or designing weapons of mass destruction. We are just a bunch of moderately intelligent folks using the Internet to write stuff.
Since you have Already Ventured into This….
Since you have already decided to venture into commercial writing, it’s time to devise a starting strategy.
- Find projects that involve relatively complex subjects – Ethereum cryptocurrency reviews, federal policies for medical marijuana farming, etc. Yes, your research abilities would be challenged and the overall efforts involved would be substantially higher. But the “mass” competition is relatively lesser at these projects.
- Avoid panic attacks – From “winning” your first girlfriend to “winning” the first project – Life has its share of disappointments and pitfalls. So don’t slip into panic seizures, if clients ignore/reject your proposal outright. A majority of clients are startup entrepreneurs or business owners themselves. Hence, they are apprehensive about escrowing that $100 to a person with no credible profile or job history. Remember, you are serving them an empty platter. So rejections are common.
- Keep your rates low – This is your time to construct up the profile and not dive deep into the Uncle Scrooge business. So keep your hourly rates (or fixed rates) competitively low. Smaller clients with budget constraints might hire you. Asian clients with bulk jobs similar to Amazon product reviews, travel destinations reviews, or HoReCa SEO pages’ often hire newbies with low bulk rates.
- Clients are bombarded with proposals – Every proposal gets a mere 10-15 seconds to make an impact. So keep it crisp and strong. Remember, sending out distinguished proposals is a sheer art in itself.
- Your relationship with clients takes time to evolve – You would be asked for multiple revisions and modifications. Some clients might even ask you to post the content into their CMS (Content Management System) such as WordPress or Drupal. It isn’t a good idea to lose patience. You never know !! This client might have loads of work in the pipeline. While discussing the client’s business, demonstrate strong intent, involvement, and care. These subtle involvement might help in winning client confidence.
N.B: The world isn’t a kind place anymore. Most small scale clients are too demanding, often unsure of their objectives, which results in infinite loops of revisions. However, we also chance upon some lovely customers, very open to constructive suggestions, precise and prompt.