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Hello all,
My name is Alex and I am a Copywriter through and through. My degree is in Advertising from Temple. I’m not new to the freelance world as I’ve attempted before but was discouraged from doing so; a professor said freelancing wasn’t for junior copywriters. That was 6 years ago, so now I’m back again because I know I have the capacity to freelance even if I have to start from scratch. A youtube video about how freelancing is more profitable than starting a Youtube persuaded me to give freelancing another go this summer.
I’ve been filling out BF workbooks and worksheets for a couple days now. I found you on Saturday, May 5th. I have my Upwork profile up and running. I’ve sent out two proposals and have been saving jobs that light me up, even if I know it’s out of my league at the moment.
So far, I’ve dwindled my niche down to Copywriting in Advertising, Health/Fitness, Personal Finance, and maybe the natural hair community(I know, I know the potential is insane). I had a bitter experience years ago trying to break into writing for the natural hair community but that’s whole ‘nother topic, a youtube video and a thinkpiece. Nonetheless, I learned a freelance lesson: never give out blog topics upfront even if the site asks on the application.
Currently, I’m just working to see which will pop out of Advertising, Health/Fitness, and Personal Finance. In the meantime, I’ve decided to specialize my Copywriting skills by dedicating a month to learning E-Commerce (thanks to the Upwork research on freelance skillsets). Product descriptions and email campaigns are my jam. *Shoutouts to Morphe Cosmetics and DevaCurl*
My goal is to create another stream of income alongside a full time job to eliminate debt then generate wealth. It would be dope to make at least $2k a month but first I’d like to make that $100. Achieving that would really boost my confidence.
Hello everyone,
My name is Taylor and I am a Freelance Video Editor. I graduated from Ithaca College almost a year ago now with a Bachelor of Science in Cinema and Photography. I did not really expect to jump into freelancing immediately after college, but after many rejections and over 200 applications, I found myself getting more luck with freelancing than traditional work. I am new to the freelancing world, but so far have worked with web series, social media clips for feature films, and reels. I have not yet figured out my niche, but I most certainly figured out some videos I do not like to create.
I am currently a Flight Attendant and would love to merge my love for travel with my video editing skills whether that be through travel videos or documentary (which even those overlap). Through the Academy, I want to learn how to get more clients and the legal side (contracts, taxes, etc…) of freelancing. My ultimate freelancing goal is to make my freelancing my main job while still keeping my travel benefits from being a Flight Attendant.
Hi Alex!
That’s WILD that your professor said that! I know so many people (myself included) who started copywriting businesses with NO business experience. (I didn’t even know that there were ranks until recently!) The writing world’s just so much bigger than that.
One of my favorites to follow, Ed Gandia over at High Income Business Writing regularly coaches people to pull in over 6-figures, so you can definitely do the $2K per month. Have you found anything in personal finance?
Also, if you ever want to talk in real time, come on by the Skype group…and welcome!
Megan
Hi Taylor!
You sound like you’re in a really cool position to specialize. Have you tried to connect with any travel and hospitality advertising or marketing agencies?
I found a couple jobs like article writing for mortgages and stuff like that. But I’m more into credit cards, student loans, and budgeting. As of now, most of the jobs I’m finding and applying to are in line with my degree; web copy for a Credit Union, About me pages for an animation studio, product descriptions/meta descriptions. I even found a project for an Asian sauce company that needed branding. I wasn’t eligible to apply the last one but that’s the type of project I would love to do.
I’m downloading Skype now, I’ll be sending a request soon. š
So glad you came over to Skype!
If that’s the kind of project you’re looking for, I’d try pulling a few similar companies and sending a warm email or two to their marketing directors (LinkedIn’s good for finding them) to see if you can’t get something going.
Hello everyone,
My name is Megan and I’m a freelance writer and researcher focusing on equity in education pertaining to the experiences of Black students, faculty and staff. I’m very new to freelance and am really still in the stages of learning what it is, how to navigate it, and develop my own niche.
I’m a PhD student in Higher Education at Indiana University, and I’ve recently realized I don’t want to pursue the academic career that I originally was striving for, as I prefer to own my time, life and identity. I realized I’ve been doing writing for administrators and organizations under the title of a “graduate assistant” all along and would like to take the skills and experience I’ve gained doing it and claim my independence so that I’m able to live the life I want and deserve. Specifically, I want to engage in more art and travel, and being able to be myself in every setting. My goal is to merge my passion for blogging, equity in education, and research through work with Black administrators and HBCUs.
Let us know what you do, what you specialize in, where you are in your freelancing journey, and what you hope to achieve working independently. Thanks for stopping by!
Hi everyone, I just joined the academy last night in a random moment of clarity…cheers to the beginning of a new journey. š
My name is Sydnee and I’m based in metro Detroit. I specialize in editing and writing for fiction and journalism (my full-time job is copy editor at a magazine company, and I pitch/write articles there too occasionally), but I also have a decent amount of experience in copywriting and other branding/marketing-related tasks like social media, reputation management, blogging, press releases, etc. Although the journalism and fiction is what I love the most, as many of you all probably already know, these fields are notoriously finicky. So for my freelance career I want to pivot more to B2B copywriting.
Currently, I have steady freelance relationships with one fiction publishing company and one marketing company ā these two clients/employers contribute the vast majority of my freelance income throughout the year, although I also have the odd individual client here and there, usually from referrals. My ultimate hope is to be able to make enough freelance income that I’m able to quit my full-time job and work remotely at home. Right now, that means I have to amass enough business to replace $55K/year gross (my current freelance income + my salary). My more realistic, short-term goal is to make enough freelance income to allow me to drop to part-time work. Looking forward to diving into those modules.
Hi Sydnee!
Your experience sounds awesome! I hear about people with your background and they tend to have an easy transition once they decide where they want to take their skills.
Your income goals are TOTALLY doable. Have you thought much about a niche yet?
Megan
Your income goals are TOTALLY doable.
Yay, I’m glad to hear that! It seems equivalent to learning to fly to me right now, haha.
Have you thought much about a niche yet?
I’ve given it a little thought, but I don’t think I know enough about the needs of the B2B space to be able to say with any certainty. For example, I’ve applied to full-time marketing jobs that wanted someone to edit branded content from executives and other entrepreneurs (the company’s clients or “members”) in order to help them advertise their own expertise and services ā basically blogging on a more focused, professional level. I feel like that’s something I could definitely do, and do extremely well. But is that a niche? Would it be better to, say, focus on editing/writing branded content in a particular industry, instead of just the hodge-podge my would-be employers were offering?
In my full-time job, I have become extremely good at adapting to different industries ā I work primarily in the custom publishing department, so we publish magazines and other periodicals on behalf of associations and governments and chambers of commerce. In a lot of ways, I’m already doing B2B copywriting work. I think ghostwriting for trade magazines could be a great fit, too. It’s just figuring out who to reach out to, I guess, which is why I’m here!
Would it be better to, say, focus on editing/writing branded content in a particular industry, instead of just the hodge-podge my would-be employers were offering
Focusing on an industry gives you a definite edge, but it sounds like you’re in a really good place now to just study multiple types of branded content and learn…maybe even find an industry you’re naturally drawn to!
In a lot of ways, Iām already doing B2B copywriting work. I think ghostwriting for trade magazines could be a great fit, too. Itās just figuring out who to reach out to, I guess, which is why Iām here!
I’m a BIG advocate of writing for trade mags because it establishes trust and expertise right off the bat. If you want to start now, you can start looking at a few you might be interested in (seriously you can just google “Trade magazines” and a niche, or even just “list of trade magazines) and start stalking their editors on social. That can be pretty educational on its own.
Hi I’m Nichole. I’m a poet and writer, and as a freelancer I’d like to get into freelance writing (consumer pubs, trade pubs, business writing, blogs), editing, research services, and eventually writing coaching and writing business consulting. My ultimate dream is to leave my full time career as a librarian to write/create content full time. I’ve freelanced before for a pub that focused on the hair care industry, and I’ve had a piece in ForHarriet.com and Huffington Post, but that was 10 years ago, so I need to get re-organized so I can freelance write again. I have a lot of big picture ideas (podcast, subscription site/brand for black women writers, literary lifestyle mag, long form creative writing/multimedia projects), and I see freelancing as a way to get started and build up the funds needed to launch these ideas.
I’m looking forward to meeting some great people and doing great things with the help of Black Freelance. I’m glad to be here!
Hello everyone! My name is Jamaal Williams. I am an newb content marketingfreelancer hoping to learn from those with more experience.
My niche is in the the preventive health market which includes like general exercise, yoga, and medicinal food.
I’m also in the alternative health such as herbal medicine and meditation.
As I said earlier I’m still new which means I haven’t landed my first client or set up my Writers websiteā¹ļø. However, I do have my own blog at http://www.diseasefreebody.com
Feel free to stop on by for some tips on how to stay healthy. I look forward to my experience here.
Welcome Jamaal!
Your blog is great! Have you tried setting up a profile on any of the platforms here?
Hi Nichole and welcome!
HUGE apology for my late response here, but I wanted to ask if you’d looked into focusing on the library space? I actually just met someone who used to do work just for library software companies and it was really interesting.
Megan
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