How to Get Freelance Writing Jobs Without Using Upwork: Step-By-Step

Morgan Williams — October 26, 2018 Follow @jddropout

— October 26, 2018

The best freelance writing jobs aren’t posted online. They come through inbound requests, and more specifically, referrals. But, if you have little to no experience and you don’t have the luxury of inbound prospects or existing customers, where do you start? A list of tactics is a start but it doesn’t really tell you what you should be doing on a daily basis to generate business. Here are some steps you can take to get started.

1. Define your Unique Selling Proposition and Positioning — What do you offer that other freelancers don’t? You need to identify your ideal customer and figure out how you can solve their problem better than anyone else. Don’t be a generalist. Be a specialist. This will help you stand out from the crowd of other freelancers.
2. Create an informative and professional website — Have a “home base” that prospects can use to learn about you before they reach out to inquire about your services. As soon as your website loads on their computer/phone/etc. it should immediately show your value (USP) and inform them of how you can help them. Work samples are mandatory and testimonials are very helpful.
3. Create a super simple sales funnel to build a reliable pipeline for your business — Prospecting is like shaving. If you don’t do it every day, pretty soon you look like a bum. What you need to do now is create and execute a simple system for getting clients. The simpler the better. All you need to do is two things. (1) Generate traffic to your website with cold email, social media, using job boards, etc. and (2) convert a percentage of that traffic into a phone call, email, opt-in, etc. You must have a reliable method (or methods) of getting in front of prospects and starting a conversation with them. The traffic generation strategy you choose is dependent on your skills, what you prefer, and ultimately what provides results for you.
4. Create an ascension and referral program — Acquiring a customer is the hardest part. Once you’ve gained that customer, you should offer them more expensive and more valuable services and preferably ones that have a continuity component, i.e., a retainer. Once your customer is happy, ask them if they know anyone else that could benefit for your service.
5. Rinse and repeat

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