So, yesterday I made my first post, introducing myself on the surface, but today I want to tell you a bit about my experience as a freelancer for the past 3 years, who knows, maybe one of you need to read this.
It all started in 2016, I had quit a big job (I had it for the past 5 years) and I was super scared of quitting because I was leaving behind a monthly, but I was burned out and I knew I had to do it, so after almost a year, I quit (talking about taking decisions on the right time, right)
Three months later I had my first interview to be a content writer, I learned a lot, but I scalated positions quickly and I became manager after 2 months of writing.
That was nice, don't get me wrong, it made me feel amazing because I was finally being noticed, but I ended up as a content manager for 14 people at the same time and I was going nuts, so after thinking it for 2 months, I quit (see that I reduced that first year of thinking about quitting to only two months)
Then I dived into the waters of Fiverr, an online platform for freelancers. It's full of different types of freelancers and you get to offer gigs according to what you do.
I also tried Workana at the same time, but here, instead of offering your services, you only create a profile explaining what you do and then you have to hunt for jobs.
I am a native Spanish speaker, so I thought that since Workana is mostly for a Latin American freelancers, it would work better for me, but surprisingly, pretty much every freelance job I got found it on Fiverr.
How Did I Make It On Fiverr
I started offering a regular writing style for blogs and marketing agencies, of course, I started with really low prices to gain attention from buyers. But don't worry, once you gain enough reputation you can increase them to what you think is fair according to your services.
I also created a Twitter and an Instagram account to talk about my gigs, but you see, is not only about saying what you do, it's also about giving something to your followers; for example: if you are a fiction writer, don't just post your gigs and your profile there, give advice, make some other fiction content reviews, recommend other writers or books.
After I did that, my conversion rate went up!
What Happened After
On December, two friends recommended me for different marketing agencies as a content writer and content editor.
Both jobs where home-office so I took them... at the same time. Big mistake. I was tired all the time and I wouldn't stop working until 7-8pm.
I did learn a lot from both jobs, though. I also got a lot of material for my portfolio, something many other recruiters will ask you to see how well you write.
So, to make it short, as an editor I lasted two months, because it was a terrible work environment and I didn't enjoy fixing other non-English fluent speakers, it wast terribly hard because I had a lot of things to fix and they didn't have the best attitude.
As a content writer for the new agencie, I lasted 6 months (I quit last month), because my boss was a terrible manager, he would pay us a misery, and he would take 2 extra weeks to do so, not even saying he was sorry. And in June he said "he was paying the writters too much", hence, "he was going to decrease everyone's salary".
I was already making enough money with Fiverr, so I told him those conditions did not work for me anymore. He payed me almost a month after quitting.
So, final advices for those new writers:
- Know the value of your work
- Don't give up, if one platform doesn't work for you, just try another
- Read a little about social media marketing, it will help you promote your work
- See how other writers are doing, don't fully copy their strategy, rather learn from it
- If you are not working on a freelance platform, ask for half the payment in advance
- Do not accept jobs you know you can't do
- When you stumble with annoying clients, breath deeply, and be polite, always (unless you are completely sure you won't ever work with him again and there is no way he can leave a bad review)
Here's my Fiverr profile, so go out there
