My 3-Year Freelance Writing Journey And 30-Day Freelancing Challenge (Last Trial)

The mistakes I made and how I’m going to fix them this time

Table of Contents:

∘ February 2020 ∘ The mistakes I made ∘ The biggest mistakes are ∘ 2021: ∘ 2022 ∘ 2023 ∘ How I’m planning to get away from this situation ∘ → Clear goal with freelancing ∘ → Habits for a mindset shift and more focus ∘ → My roadmap and to-dos to achieve my goal in less time ∘ → Keep going with personal branding ∘ → Public accountability and not giving up

Well, I made tons of mistakes. Let me remind myself about the timeline of when I started and how I went through it.

February 2020

I purchased a domain name for my blog and transferred it from Blogger to WordPress.

I purchased a domain from GoDaddy. And I fell into the trap of a quick automated blogging gimmick in a Udemy course.

Result? I had a useless domain, whereyou.xyz, and I needed help finding a way to go with the automated blogging thing.

Then, I thought of transferring my Blogger blog to WordPress. I researched and came up with the idea that I needed to purchase a domain and hosting.

I have saved a few thousand rupees for my college study tour. I invested in a domain from GoDaddy, healthytarika.com, and hosting from Reseller Club, as it was providing quarterly packs.

I felt broke to repay for my hosting, and it has lots of issues as it was connected with traditional cPanel. Somehow, I learned it.

However, I was stuck in the design, technical SEO, and planning circles.

I couldn’t move the needle a little bit.

One thing I was sure of was that I could earn after a year of consistent efforts from my blog. But I needed to be more consistent. I was learning content writing at that time, and it took my focus away from my blog.

I was too excited every day to wake up and start working on my blog. It was my passion back then. It’s still my passion. I’m feeling skeptical as I’m going broad.

One day, my father asked me, “What are you doing, Barsha? Can you earn money online quickly?”

I said yes. I can do it through freelancing.

Before I started freelance writing, I actually tried my hands at many other types of freelancing, including video making.

In the case of videos, you need to write the script first, and I wasn’t aware of copywriting back then. I didn’t know that writing wasn’t my work.

It’s the work of a copywriter, and I’d receive my script before starting to make the video.

I felt it was too difficult to write and create a video at the same time. And neither of my Fiverr gigs gained traction.

So, I left videomaking.

Then, after the question from my father, I actually felt curious if I could really make money from freelancing.

This time, I made a Freelancer profile from scratch. I targeted “writing” as my skill as I was learning to write for my blog. I applied for a few gigs, showed my sample blogs, and got my first gig that day.

It was a gig that was paying me 10 paisa per word, which is about 0.19 cents. I knew it was too low. But I was excited, as it was my first gig online. And I was about to get paid for the first time.

I received my first paycheck after 15 days of work. But I wasn’t too excited about it.

The first paycheck I got from another client made me realize the real possibilities. It was about 1.71 cents per word. Again, it was low but better than the first client.

The first client was herself, a freelancer. After my first project, I couldn’t get another one. When I asked for more projects, she refused.

I asked what she was working on, and she said it was a 5 paisa per word project.

I asked if I could get more.

So, I reduced my payment from 10 to 5 paisa — half. Months passed by. I started looking for more clients on Telegram. I got a few, but I messed up and couldn’t get paid. I received the second client then. He was one of those clients who was too good to be true. And he was a direct client (he owns a website with earth science, environment, and animal niches).

I got bulk work, but with lots of agreements.

I was still obsessed with my blog, and he proposed an idea: give me 15 blog posts, and I will give you one premium plugin and a theme in exchange.

I refused the first client any projects and started working on this one for 15 days straight. Actually, I have written 17 contents for free — two as a bonus.

Such exploitation!

But he wasn’t a scam or something. As promised, he designed my blog with a premium Jannah theme and set up the premium WP Rocket plugin.

Back then, I wasn’t aware of lots of things, and I was fooled, to be honest!

Afterwards, I got another offer. He offered digital marketing services for growing my blog in 3 months, and in exchange, I’d write 10 blog posts each month.

I agreed and worked for free (not technically for free). This work, I’d say, was valuable. I’ve got some branding for my site. I received premium images from Freepik. My site’s DA has increased from 1 to 7 within 3 months.

But I also learned I’m burning myself out for the low pay rate.

I also learned that I can get paid more if I do things differently.

I left work after that agreement for a few months. And I kept writing on and off for the second and third clients once in a while when money was my bare necessity.

Then, I learned about specialization and authority building through Jorden Roper’s YouTube channel.

I took out some money as a loan and purchased hosting from Hostinger. It was around $30 for a year with one domain free. I purchased the business plan and migrated my other blog from ResellerClub to Hostinger.

I set up my website as described, learned the complete framework to succeed in freelance writing from the “Writer’s Incharge” blog, and started working on the steps.

However, I was stuck with self-doubt and inconsistency in the portfolio (guest posting) stage.

The mistakes I made

Mistake 1: Working at a meager rate or for free for the first 6 months. And it burned me out.

As a result, I couldn’t work with that punctuality again.

Mistake 2: I couldn’t raise my price. And I needed to find a way to keep working with the same clients while looking for better ones. But, I left everything altogether to study and improve my skills.

Mistake 3: I never had a financial goal for savings or plans and always stayed broke without money.

Mistake 4: I had big dreams but couldn’t show the courage to fulfill them, primarily because of my social anxiety.

Mistake 5: Lots of self-doubt and imposter syndrome

Mistake 6: Inconsistent writing and no results

Mistake 7: Scattered focus (two websites, and hence, I couldn’t focus on the first one ever again).

Mistake 8: I never pitched more clients than I could handle and never actually focused on lead generation.

Mistake 9: Not knowing how to grow

• I never asked for referrals.
• I never reached out for testimonials.
• I never tracked the results my writing brought.

Mistake 10: Taking things personal

I got criticism and took it personally. I got feedback, took it personally, and thought, “I’m a poor writer.” I got a rejection and took it personally. It’s the worst mistake that I learned the hard way. But…

The biggest mistakes are

1/ NOT being consistent in writing or building my portfolio

2/ NOT pitching enough due to self-doubt and imposter syndrome

These two things cost me two more years of inconsistency and lack of focus.

2021:

In 2021, I worked for two second and third clients, worked on personal development (read books on nutrition, self-love, and habit building), and transformed my looks.

I started with LinkedIn, too, in 2021. I wrote consistently for 88 days and then stopped.

There has been no improvement in my financial situation!

I stayed broke and depressed!

2022:

In 2022, I joined a job in Pondicherry, worked there for 1.5 months, came back home, and worked remotely for another 3 months. Then, I was forced to relocate. As a result, I resigned.

Besides, I learned about “manifestation” and started applying for new jobs. I got another before I actually resigned. It turned out to have some issues, so I didn’t join. I started working on Upwork and pitched two clients. To my surprise, I got hired that day.

Those were my first times working with German and Nigerian clients. The German client was long-term; I worked for him till the middle of July 2023, when the contract finished.

I got paid better. I earned about $500 from this client alone.

Still, I kept making the same mistake of “inconsistency and not pitching enough.”

And the third BIGGEST mistake.

3/ Always switching my mind from writing to designing and from something else to something else. Not completely focused.

Lack of focus cost me three years.

2023:

Now it’s 2023, nearing the end. I left my obsession with design behind forever. I might design once in a while, but it’s NOT for me.

I started working on my blog. But again, I’m getting confused about “Should I continue or not?” These skeptics will kill me someday.

And still financially broke, with no active earnings from freelancing.

How I’m planning to get away from this situation

→ Clear goal with freelancing

My goal in the present tense is to earn $700 from freelance writing until the end of October 2023.

My goal for this is to replace my choice of doing a job with giving freelancing full-time my last chance.

I need to earn money because of my poor financial situation [I’m not, but my family is drowning in debt]. I was thinking about going back to college, but I couldn’t afford it right now. So, I need to choose an earning option for myself — either a job or freelancing.

Honestly, the jobs available are too low-paying for me to save for myself and my family at the same time. And that’s the reason I’m choosing freelancing after trying it last time.

→ Habits for a mindset shift and more focus

I’m going to work specifically on building an abundant mindset. Three habits I’m willing to build:

• Meditation: I will be meditating every day in the morning (no guided ones; I would love to hear my consciousness)
• Affirmations: I simply can’t put enough emphasis on how affirmations have helped me deal with adverse situations. And to change my reality, I need to affirm it. I will be focusing on affirming money, abundance, and business success-related affirmations. You can easily find them on Google.
• Visualization: Internal motivation is something I need to avoid getting distracted. And what’s better than visualizing my life after my dream income and everything that I want for myself?

→ My roadmap and to-dos to achieve my goal in less time

This is the roadmap for success with freelancing. I’m going to learn from my freelancing mistakes and focus on building good freelancing habits for a sustainable business.

One thing I’m thinking about right now is the economy. If there are still enough opportunities for freelance content writers. I have learned and practiced copywriting a bit. But that’s not going to be my main focus for this challenge.

I have doubts about the availability of quality projects. But I’m still going to try because, without trying, everything is an assumption.

Step 1: Positioning myself

I already positioned myself as a sustainability blog content writer due to my long experience in that field.

I have changed things on my LinkedIn profile and my website. Now, all that I need to do is change my other profiles as well.

To-do-1: Change positioning to {whatever you want yourself to be called}

After positioning, the next step is a portfolio. If you are sure about your services and positioning and already have enough samples (like me), you can skip this step. Otherwise, work on building a portfolio. Here’s how you can strengthen your existing portfolio.

Step 2: Strengthening your portfolio

Writing high-quality, SEO-optimized blog posts for guest posting!

If you are choosing a marketing niche, you need to pitch ideas first before actually pitching the entire content.

But as my niche is sustainability and here people prefer entire, well-written articles, I will write first and pitch next.

To-do-2: Write one well-researched blog post as per these steps and pitch for publication each week

After it is published, I will add that content to my portfolio.

Step 3: Make a list of prospective companies and agencies for pitching

So, now comes the most critical part, which I didn’t do consistently: pitching and lead generation.

I was too scared to try.

Firstly, I start thinking, What if I get a call booked on my calendar? How could I talk to a CEO or VP of Marketing? How can I establish authority as a simple girl desperate to earn money?

All the roots of negative thinking, and I get too stressed to try.

Otherwise, my thinking was like, “What if I never got a response back?”

These are the results of a poor mindset, low self-esteem, and negative self-talk.

And I’m working on changing that.

So, how do we make a master list?

1/ Visiting AngelList or similar sites which have a list of startups in my niche

2/ Making an Excel sheet to note down their information

3/ Visiting individual websites to collect information

I’ll expand it a bit. For specific information, you can visit the sites. Find their about page or team page. And see who is the CEO, CMO, COO, or VP of marketing or content. You can target these profiles, as they are the content-related decision-makers in a company.

If you can’t find a team section, visit the LinkedIn page of the site. Then, move to the “people” column. Here, you will find the right decision-maker.

Check the blog section or whatever writing service you want to provide (if they need it at all). Think about how your services can help them grow.

4/ Note down something remarkable about the company

Visit their press releases, milestones, or social posts to learn what remarkable things they have achieved. I will tell you how this can help.

To-do-3: Make a list of 100 companies for a week’s pitching target

Step 4: Sending cold emails

You can connect with the clients and pitch them on LinkedIn.

But I’d prefer to send a personalized cold email.

Read my format below:

Pitching strategy

• I will be pitching on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday due to a smaller crowd and the excellent work momentum of the clients. They are less likely to check their email on Fridays and Weekends. And our email can be buried if we pitch on Monday. So, the sweet spots are these three days.
• I will focus on early hours [note down the client’s time zone and convert it to yours] to pitch my content.

To-do-4: Write cold emails for each company and schedule sending on the appropriate days and time

Note: It’s more complicated than it sounds to send 100 cold emails each week. But we would aim for the moon and land on stars. That’s the target!

Step 5: Sending follow-up emails

I learned to write cold emails; I created the master prospect list; I wrote and pitched the clients…

Then crickets!

The reason was my fear or forgetfulness to send a follow-up email. But I won’t make this mistake again.

This time, my strategy is 3–5–5–5–5… until I’m blocked or booked.

What’s 3–5–5–5–5 after all?

The first follow-up would be on the 3rd day, next on the 5th day, next on the 5th day, next on the 5th day, and so on until I’m either blocked or booked.

“But what if the follow-up days are on weekends?”

This is my question. Well, I will try to choose working days and good timing for follow-ups, too. Let’s see if it’s working. If not, we will change the time and test.

Sounds aggressive, right?

But we have to. 🤷‍♀️ No more excuses!

Remember: The target of a cold email is to book a discovery call. And the more calls you get per week, the more chances there are that you can actually make a few sales.

To-do-5: Send follow-ups and get completely booked

Step 6: Sales calls

I’m too shy to advise on sales calls. But here’s what I will do:

• I will stay prepared with the right questions to ask. Try SPIN (Situational, Problem, implications, Need Payoff) for the right questions.

• I will avoid overexplaining myself and listen to the client.
• I will make up my mind by saying…

Even if you don’t get the deal, you will have a good experience to write about.

And each sales call will help you get better.

This can also help you do client persona research. So, no failure!

Let’s stop getting offended by rejections.

To-do-6: Learn about sales calls if you are booked and give yourself positive self-talk (if you are nervous, like me 😒).

Step 7: Client onboarding and excellent service

What will I explain about this?

1/ Make a contract.

2/ Make an invoice for receiving advance payment (I use Refrens for invoice making).

3/ Stay connected to the client and ask questions when in doubt.

4/ Submit work as suggested and ask for revision.

5/ Do revision work.

Give your best, ask questions in case of doubts, and work for a “good review.”

And be an active listener to hear the feedback. These will help you get better.

I used to argue over points with clients. But I stopped and learned a lot from my mistakes.

Step 8: Take payment and ask for a testimonial

I did indeed forget to ask for testimonials. And sometimes, I find it too awkward to ask after just one project.

It’s okay. But if it’s just a one-time project or your contract ends, don’t forget to ask for a review. It will determine your future trajectory.

→ Keep going with personal branding

I don’t know how the pitching is going to work. And if it’s actually helpful anyway.

So, I’m going to keep working on personal branding. Two places —

• My website: I will keep writing 1–2 SEO blog posts per week for my website.
• My LinkedIn profile: I will write one post each day on LinkedIn (simply to share my experiences).
• Commenting: I will be commenting on 5–10 posts each day on LinkedIn to get better exposure.

→ Public accountability and not giving up

Due to my ability to get distracted, I’m posting it publicly. After a month, I will update you on the results I got from these efforts.

So, in short, I’m NOT going to give up until I follow the entire process.

As it’s just for one month, I don’t think I have anything to lose.

Only one month of effort, and I can either leave freelancing forever or choose it for the rest of my life. Wish me luck, guys!

Do you want to join me? Send me a “hi” at [email protected]!