I’ve known I wanted to be a writer my whole life, but I didn’t always know what I wanted to write. I just knew that writing needed to be part of my future job. Yet, writing comes in a lot of different forms, and many writing jobs aren’t easy to get into, even with experience.
For some background, I’m currently a full-time writer for HomeLife Media, the company that owns sites like iHeartDogs, iHeartCats, and the Hero Company. I primarily write for iHeartDogs, creating any pet-related content they need, which can include news stories, informational posts, product lists, and partnership content. iHeartDogs is such an important site because whenever they sell products, they donate meals to shelter dogs. As a huge dog lover who does a lot of animal-related volunteering, it’s the perfect website for me to write for.
I’ve seen a lot of writers online complain about the struggles of making a living while writing stuff they enjoy, and that breaks my heart. Sure, writing may not be exciting 100% of the time, but it should be for the majority. So, I decided to write about my journey to give some tips to new writers who don’t know where to start.
Keep in mind that most of my writing experience consists of freelance jobs. A lot of people look down on freelance writing, including me while I was in college. It didn’t seem to have enough structure for me and I thought it was the type of work writers took when they couldn’t land a full-time gig. But I quickly learned that I was wrong. Even if you don’t want freelancing to be your full-time job, it’s still a great way to get experience, which could make your chances at getting a dream job better, depending on what that job is.
So, I hope sharing the following steps in my journey can benefit many writers, regardless of the type of jobs they’re looking for.
1. School
I went to college for creative writing, but I’m not going to recommend that for everyone. I know not every person can afford or make time for college, and that’s okay. You don’t need a bachelor’s degree for most writing jobs. In fact, I’ve never been asked about my degree when applying for a job. I usually mention it, but most people seem to care about experience and writing samples more than your education.
That being said, I’m glad I went to college for writing because it made me more confident in my work and allowed me to learn about a variety of writing types. Even though book writing was my preferred type both before and after college, I learned a lot about all areas of the writing industry and gained a lot of skills that are beneficial to all types of writing.
If you’re uninterested in or unable to go to college for writing, I would strongly suggest attending classes or writing groups elsewhere. There are likely local classes or groups of writers that get together to help each other write. These might sound silly since writing is often a solo career, but even though you’re hiding behind a computer screen all day, lots of other people will see your work. And the opinions of other writers can help your improve your craft.
Before college, I was terrified to share my writing with anyone and I wasn’t happy to make the changes people suggested during critiques. But looking back at those experiences, I can see how that made me a better writer. So, consider finding ways to interact with others to improve your writing skills. You may even be able to find online writing groups if you’re someone who’s hesitant to go out and meet new people like I am.
2. Portfolio
As I mentioned above, many people hiring writers care more about your writing samples than your education. After all, having a bachelor’s degree doesn’t say what your writing style is or what topics you excel in. Thus, making a portfolio is essential.
If you go to school for a writing degree, there’s a good chance you’ll have a class to help you set up a portfolio. I had a class specifically for setting up an online portfolio, and then, several other classes helped me add and improve to that portfolio. Since I had such a variety of genres and writing types during college, I had a pretty diverse portfolio by the time I graduated.
But if you don’t have a portfolio-creating class, then how do you make one? The easiest way to do so is to create a website. I made my portfolio website through Wix, but I know there are lots of other options out there. If there’s a website-making tool that you’re already familiar with using, that may be your best option.
If you’ve had any writing jobs (non-ghostwriting) or classes before making this portfolio, then you can include writing pieces from those if you’re proud of them and they show off your current writing skills. However, if you don’t currently have solid writing pieces available, you’ll need to make some.
It might sound overwhelming, but starting from scratch may actually work in your favor. After college, my portfolio was filled with a lot of content that wasn’t relevant to the types of jobs I was interested in. So, I ended up making a lot of portfolio changes after college anyway. You can think about the types of jobs you want to apply for and then write content that’s relevant. Your odds of getting hired for freelance jobs are higher if you have writing samples that are very similar to what you’ll be writing for that job.
3. Niche
You don’t have to have a niche, but in my experience, it’s much easier to get freelance jobs if you do. A niche just refers to a topic you focus on, so mine is dogs. Right away, I knew that I was interested in writing about dogs, but I thought it was too specific to make a whole career out of. However, I quickly realized that lots of websites need pet-related articles.
But loving dogs wasn’t enough to get me jobs. Most clients prefer someone who’s also knowledgeable or has experience with the topic. Having owned a dog and worked at a pet supply store, I knew enough about pet care and products for jobs to consider me over the average dog lover. Once I started volunteering at animal organizations too, that made it even easier to get dog writing jobs.
So, think about what topics you’d enjoy writing about and which ones you know the most about. Hopefully, those two things are similar, but if not, that’s okay. If possible, find ways to gain more knowledge or experience in the topic while you’re searching for jobs, which could include writing samples about those topics. Since it may take a while to get enough writing work to be full-time, it can’t hurt to get a side job that’s somewhat related, such as how I worked at the pet supply store part-time while I was getting started with freelance writing.
As much as I want to encourage everyone to write about the things they love most, that’s unfortunately not doable for everyone. Not all topics are in high-demand, so you may need to settle for other topics sometimes if you can’t find any jobs in your preferred niche.
Also, it’s worth noting that there are certain topics that are in high demand but are hard to make a living off of since so many writers want to write about them. Some examples are Disney and video games. I’ve seen lots of job openings for those topics (and I even wrote about Disney World for past clients) but they rarely pay high because it’s easy to find someone willing to write about them. It’s certainly possible to make money off those topics, but many clients may not be willing to pay what you’re worth.
4. Freelancing Platform
Getting started with freelancing can be tricky because writing jobs can be hard to find on regular job platforms like Indeed or LinkedIn (it is possible to find writing jobs on those sites, but it’s not as common). So, finding a freelance job platform that you like is a great way to start.
I found almost all my jobs on Upwork, so that’s the platform I know best. There has never been a shortage of writing jobs on there since I’ve used it, and whenever you complete a job, the client can give you a rating and review. Once I got a few good ratings, it became fairly easy to get jobs because people could see I was a trustworthy writer.
On Upwork, once you get enough good ratings, you can be listed as “Top Rated” or “Top Rated Plus,” which increases your chances of getting hired even more. Once I reached those levels, I was able to be pickier with jobs I chose and I felt comfortable charging more. Also, the better your ratings are on Upwork, the more likely you are to get invited to apply for jobs, some of which are ones that only those who are invited can apply for.
It can take a while to work your way up on Upwork, but once you do, freelancing full-time becomes a lot more realistic (as long as your niche is one that enough people are looking for). Even though I love Upwork, I know there are a lot of writers who aren’t fans, and I can understand why. They do charge some fees, such as if you want more “connects” to apply for jobs (you only get a certain amount monthly). Upwork also takes a cut from your earnings - some clients may be willing to pay you more to make up for it, but most aren’t.
To me, those fees are worth it for the convenience of the platform. If you’re successful on Upwork, they seem like a small price to pay for a platform that helped you get into your line of work. However, if there aren’t a lot of jobs in your niche on Upwork, it may not seem worth it. If that’s the case for you, there are plenty of other sites that have great freelance jobs.
Like I said, I don’t have a ton of experience with other platforms, but Fiverr and FlexJobs are a few others that I’ve heard good things about. A quick Google search can give you some other options, and then you can decide which one seems best based on your preferences.
Once you have enough writing pieces out there with your name as the author, you might even get clients reaching out to you via your website with job opportunities. That has happened to me a few times and it’s such a great feeling. However, I took on a lot of random jobs before that started happening.
5. Start Simple
Since writing jobs typically care about experience and writing samples more than a degree, the best way to get started is to take whatever jobs you can get. I hate telling people to accept jobs that are low-paying, but that’s genuinely how I got started.
When I first got into freelancing during college, it started with a simple job that was one article for like $10. I just had to write about my dog, so it was something fun that I would’ve written anyway. Even though I didn’t get paid much, it was an easy 5-star review on Upwork and then I had a published article with my name as the author. Those two things made it easier to get other dog writing jobs because potential clients could see that I’d already worked a dog writing job before.
Now, I’m not saying you should just accept any job without a second though. You should still research the client if you’re able (Upwork shows past reviews of clients) and make sure it’s something that you want to write about. Look for easy jobs in your niche if possible so you can get your foot in the door. Once you get a few simple jobs out the way, it should be easier to get higher-paying and long-term clients because you have experience. Again, it all depends on the types of writing jobs you’re looking for (some are in higher demand than others).
When you’re getting started, you’ll likely have to keep working another job until you get enough freelance clients. I was lucky enough to work at a pet supply store that let me work on my writing whenever there was downtime, so it was easy to juggle the two. But I understand that for most people, working a normal job and freelancing will likely be stressful as they get used to doing both.
Another concern is that you may write stuff you regret when you’re first starting. For example, some of my biggest early projects were books, including one about Shih Tzus. While I enjoyed writing those books, I really wish they weren’t under my name now because I don’t want them to be listed next to my personal books that I’ll be writing soon. But now that they’re written, I can’t undo it. And if I could go back in time, I don’t think I would undo it because those jobs led me to iHeartDogs, but it’s frustrating that they’ll be linked to me forever.
I’m not telling you these downsides to scare you away from being a writer. I just want to make sure I’m honest about the process. Starting out is a lot to handle, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be on your way to getting a dream job.
6. Regular Clients
For me, having long-term clients with consistent work was what led me to switch from casually freelancing to being able to do it full-time. I had to do a lot of one-time projects with various clients before I eventually got some regular clients. However, if you build a good enough relationship with one of your first clients, they could become someone you work with for a long time.
I’m not sure if other platforms do this, but on Upwork, all the job listings have the expected length in them, so you can see if the person needs long-term or short-term work when you’re applying.
One thing to keep in mind when finding regular clients is their personalities. Not all clients are going to become close friends with you, but they should at least be someone you can communicate well with since you’ll be talking to them regularly. I love everyone I work with at iHeartDogs, and I’ve had many other wonderful long-term clients in the past.
However, I’ve also had a few clients that had poor communication skills or ones that didn’t agree with things that were important to me (for example, one kept asking me to write about topics like “best Goldendoodle breeders.” I always make it pretty clear that I don’t like to promote breeders when there are so many rescue dogs that need homes, but to make matters worse, the list of breeders they gave me definitely had some puppy mills in it.) Needless to say, I had to stop working with clients like that.
Working with a client that has bad communication skills or has unreasonable requests can be really frustrating. So, be sure to ask as many questions as you can during the interview process to make sure it’s someone that you could get along with long-term.
7. Full-Time Freelancing
There’s no correct answer for “when should I freelance full-time?” When I finally realized that I could realistically be a full-time freelancer, I struggled with taking that leap for a while. Even though I was making a lot of money freelancing, I was worried I would struggle to keep a consistent income without my part-time pet supply store job.
After I was sure I could make enough freelancing, I still kept my part-time job for a few more months just to be safe. Along with iHeartDogs, I had a few clients that gave me consistent work, but iHeartDogs was the only one that I was confident wouldn’t run out of things for me to do. So, I waited a while and kept track of how much I was making to ensure that quitting my "normal" job was the right move.
In those months, I consistently made more each week, which proved that I was heading in the right direction. So, I ripped off the band-aid and quit my job, which gave me more time to take on new freelance projects.
My early months of freelancing were all over the place. Some months I’d make lots of money while others weren’t as successful. Yet, I always made enough to support me and my dog, and that’s what mattered most.
The most important part of freelancing is making sure you have a routine. Even though I could work wherever I wanted, I would’ve gone crazy if I let my work bleed into all hours of my day. So, I set myself up with a schedule. I worked from about nine to five every day like a normal job, occasionally taking breaks to eat and walk my dog. Once five hit, I was done for the day even if I had more stuff to do because that’s how I kept myself sane.
Over the years, I kept getting better and better job offers, but iHeartDogs is the one client that stayed consistent through it all. Their content has always been fun to write, and they regularly give me raises so I never considered leaving. They’ve also been more personable than any other client I’ve worked with because I get to interact with the other writers and be involved with what some of the other departments outside of publishing do.
While clients as incredible as iHeartDogs are rare, there are still so many wonderful people I’ve worked with, so I’m sure most writers will be able to find them. Also, I just want to remind everyone that if you end up working with a client you don’t get along with, it’s okay to talk to them about ending the contract. After all, two people who clash would probably both be better off finding someone different to work with.
8. Full-Time Job
Eventually, iHeartDogs offered me a full-time position. I’m still a contractor, but I get paid the same amount every week without needing to track my hours, which is really nice. They trust that I’m getting 40 hours in every week, which I am, of course. I also get paid vacation days on top of that. Basically, it’s freelancing but for only one client. (Technically, I could take other clients if I wanted to, but I’d have to do their work on weeknights or weekends).
The reason they offered me a full-time position is because they could see that I was getting busier with all my freelance jobs and I think they were worried I might leave if something better came along (even though they should’ve known nothing would’ve been better unless it was another rescue dog job). Other clients had asked me about full-time in the past, but I had never considered their offers because I didn’t want to leave iHeartDogs.
Now, I can’t promise that your favorite client will offer you a full-time position one day. In fact, I would never plan on it if I were you. That’s because they hired you as a freelancer, not a full-time position. It could happen, but if a full-time job is what you’re looking for, don’t count on getting it the way I did. I never thought I would want to switch from freelancing to full-time, but the offer was too good to pass up.
If you’d rather have one job than a bunch of freelance jobs, you should be applying to full-time jobs. However, even if that’s your plan, it can’t hurt to take some freelance jobs while you’re looking for that full-time dream job because as I’ve pointed out many times already, freelance writing jobs are great for gaining experience and getting samples, which could increase the odds of a full-time writing job.
I hope sharing these tips based on my experiences helped you in some way, whether you’re trying to figure out what type of writing you want to do or how to get your writing career started. Even if you’re not a writer, I just want to say that you shouldn’t give up on your dream job. It can take a lot of hard work to do what you love for a living, but I promise it’s worth it in the long run.
If anyone has any specific questions about writing, freelancing, or anything related to this article, feel free to visit my contact page.
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