If you like money and writing:

Freelancing Made Simple. The 3 Essential Steps To Getting Paid

And all of this without relying on platforms like Fiverr or Upwork

I always have the dilemma of what to write as a hook. Well, in this case, I am starting the draft with one topic in mind: Freelancing.

This is the hook and I am rolling with it. Don’t click off just yet because I think I’ve just cracked the code when it comes to this industry.

You see, many writers flock in big numbers to platforms like Fiverr and Upwork. But all they do is oversaturate the market. Everyone is fighting for the lowest-price gigs. It’s horrible.

The results?

You get people thinking that clients don’t need freelance writers and that they don’t have a place in the market. Well, let me tell you, the people working there only attract low-quality clients. Clients who only care about their pockets, not the quality of the work.

The irony here is that: if they focused on the right things, they probably wouldn’t need to worry about their pockets, except maybe if they were bringing down the pants with their weight…

And so goes the opportunity to make money as a freelance writer. Wasted on the fact that people are becoming greedy as D*uck. They quack all day long that life isn’t fair and then move on to the next shiny thing. Maybe that can make them money, right? Embarrassing.

The opportunity is still here. I’ve caught it. So enough chit-chat, it’s getting boring at this point, right? If you really want to succeed and make money freelancing I need to prepare you first.

1. Clients are a pain in the arse. They want stuff done earlier rather than later. The quality shouldn’t go down either. Oh, and don’t forget the fact that, unless they are a business owner willing to spend money in order to make even more money, they WILL try to haggle on the price.
2. Ask yourself first this one thing: If you would interview yourself, look to hire for a position( More on that later ). Could you SURVIVE the interview? Or even better, could you close the deal?

If yes, then stop lying to yourself, if not, then you’re not ready. A bit harsh, yes. But I consider it better to be crying by yourself than being sorry to someone else. You could actually lose people's money, I am not into that.

Now, we need three main components to realize this strategy:

1. Knowing what skill you have to offer and who needs it.
2. Showing off your skills to the public
3. Preparing and actually doing outreach, then handling inbound.

I’ll explain each of them separately. First:

1. Knowing what skill you have to offer and who needs it.

You go into the market to conquer it, right? Think of yourself like Napoleon. There is something you can do to succeed ( Comment if you get the reference). You’re Napoleon and your first conquest will be in northern Italy. Divide and Conquer those armies by solving those questions:

• What are you good at/ can be good at?

If you strictly refer to writing you can be a copywriter — writing emails to make people more money(very short, I know). It’s really not hard, and I think I’ll drop an article at some point explaining this further, but only if I see 200 claps. So, start pressing that button.

or a content writer/ ghostwriter — You are not writing ghost stories, but rather giving someone your voice ( like in The Little Mermaid), borrowing your talent to write content that resonates with others but using your client’s expertise and knowledge as a baseline.

In short, you’re the middleman. You communicate ideas that come from the person hiring you to their potential audience and existing one.

2. Showing off your skills to the public

Next up in our Napoleonic Journey. Let’s crows ourselves the emperor of France. How? By showing off our skills to our audience. We do this by:

• Posting tips and tricks, business insiders, and more on our selected craft.

So for example, a copywriter would post content on what “installing a belief in your audience means” while a ghostwriter would pick a topic and talk about it, endlessly. They have it better, I know, but creativity and hard work are still required.

• Also, by doing this we increase our perceived value in the market. So when we actually go about reaching out to clients (which is up next on the list) we have a higher acquisition rate. Simple? Let’s move on…

3. Preparing and actually doing outreach, then handling inbound.

We now have to discuss three things. But first, the Napoleon analogy hasn’t worked for me at all but I still use it. We are facing a big coalition. And if we lose it we might get exiled to some island, I don’t really know.

1. Preparing for the outreach means doing something very crucial. And if you miss it, you won’t be able to muster up the confidence to close the deal. Ready to hear it?

It’s building a strong, very strong portfolio.

It means that as a copywriter, what you are going to do is take the landing pages, ad copy, emails, etc. of other companies and businesses. And you are just going to rewrite them. It shouldn’t take you long if you learn the fundamentals first. Oh yeah, I missed that step, but who would try to charge for a service they actually didn’t know, right?

I can do a story on learning copywriting or you could just go online, watch YouTube videos, buy a book or two, and be better off in time management.

And… as a ghostwriter, you should already have a portfolio ready to present. What was it…hmm. Your social media. Ideally Medium or X. Those are great choices for showcasing writing skills.

2. Now you do the outreach. And I have to tell you beforehand. It’s all a numbers game. You can’t shoot three-pointers with every DM. So be prepared to miss A LOT! Don’t let yourself be discouraged. That’s the most important part and where a lot of people fail

Where can you do outreach? Simple: just go on Instagram, TikTok, X. Look for people who are: running ads, selling a product, or have some sort of business. Interact with them and their content. Shoot them a message like:

“Hey X, I really liked your post about [ducks]. They are awesome, aren’t they.” — They respond

— Then you say — “Btw, I saw your [post, ad, product] about [X]. Have you considered [Insert your service]”.

And then it’s done. You just have to talk to enough people and you’ll get someone who needs you.

Pro Tip: Try promoting an AI to act like your customer and test your skills of closing beforehand.

3. Handling Inbounds: The more work you do this way and the better you do it, the more people are going to recommend you. Bonus points if you do free work in exchange for testimonials which by posting, increases the chances of being contacted by potential customers.

You’ll have either: a state of too many potential clients, in which case you just raise your prices, or an equilibrium, where you can handle everything without going insane or burning out.

Pro tip: You can actually squeeze in more work. The time needed to do a task expands with the time allocated for that task. But the reverse is also true. Shrinking the time allocated for a task will result in that task being completed faster.

This is called a forcing function when it comes to productivity.

But I am not a productivity guru.

I write articles about making it as a writer.

So If you want to learn more about:

• Becoming a better writer than you were yesterday,
• Ways to monetize your knowledge,
• The best tips and practices as well as trends in the writing online game

Then following Eduard Nicoara (Me) is for you. I post daily content on those topics as well as others. If you don’t want to miss any of this subscribe here to get an email whenever I post. ( I won’t spam you, I promise)