Becoming a freelance writer can be rewarding for an ambitious individual like yourself. Within the U.S. workforce, it is predicted that freelancers will make up over 50% of workers by 2030. If you are a talented and inspiring individual, now is the time to start your path towards a successful freelance writing career.
However, being new in any domain requires you to know where to start. Unfortunately, many aspiring freelance writers feel lost. Still, you don’t have to be the freelancer who doesn’t know where to start. With the correct attitude and the right knowledge, you can thrive as a freelance writer in a couple of months.
The freelance writing market is a substantial part of the booming gig economy, with the overall freelance platforms market valued at over $5.6 billion in 2024 and growing rapidly, driven by high demand for digital content as businesses outsource to save costs on full-time staff.
In what follows, you will discover how to become a freelance writer. If you want to learn more about this world, we recommend reading our other blog posts. You can begin by learning more about what’s best for a beginner freelance writer. But until then, let’s go on with our subject of where to start as a beginner freelance writer.
The Basics of Freelance Writing
As a beginner freelance writer, the first thing you need to master is writing. The answer may seem blatantly true, but many do not understand what good writing entails.
Too many blog posts contain grammatical errors that shouldn’t appear, and too many online articles are written clumsily by people without much sense of style. To become a better writer, you must have a good command of the language’s grammar and punctuation, as well as develop a style of your own.
How do you develop a writing style that can become your online signature? By writing daily.
This is the second thing that you need to consider when starting as a freelance writer: write every single day. Don’t skip writing. Don’t postpone writing. Don’t find excuses not to sit down and write. Just as an athlete needs to train his body constantly, so does a writer need to practice writing daily.
This is the golden rule that sets professionals apart from amateurs: write daily.
Your daily writing habits must reflect your attitude toward the craft. If you respect the craft of writing, you will have a positive attitude towards it. And just like you have a good attitude towards writing, you should also have a good attitude towards freelance writing.
Assume the position of being a freelance writer. Once you assume that this is who you are—this is your identity—you can present yourself as one. The mindset is important here: as a beginner, you will need to know your boundaries and what you can offer to the people around you.
If you have certain expertise in a domain, you can start by seeking out clients who are looking for what you have to offer. Have you worked in the pet-shop industry? Then you can recommend yourself to people who need content on pets and other household animals.
On the other hand, if you lack expertise, you can always start your journey as a generalist freelance writer. While many are skeptical that you can make a career as a generalist, experience tells us that it is a good starting position for a freelance writer.
Write daily and embrace your new identity. This way, you know who you truly are. Now that we have these basics settled, it’s time to consider some more practical steps to take as a beginner freelance writer.
Strategies for a Lucrative Career as a Freelance Writer
Let’s go with the idea that you don’t have expertise as a freelance writer. You are starting your journey and want to make a living from writing.
First, you need to consider what you want to write, i.e., what services you want to offer to your future clients. This claim doesn’t contradict the generalist position. Yes, you can still write about anything in the beginning, but you do need to narrow down your services.
Here are a couple of services you can offer as a freelance writer
> blog posts
> newsletters
> longform articles
> landing pages
> sales pages
> press releases.
By narrowing the services you offer, you can improve your craft daily. Let’s say that you decided to become a blogger. If that’s what you decide, your goal will be to improve your blog-writing skills. You don’t have to focus on long-form content or on copywriting. Learn how to write a compelling blog post. Read bloggers that you want to imitate. Analyze the length of their articles, the length of their sentences, their word choices, and their diction. This way, you can develop a style of your own.
Why is this important? By becoming good at one type of writing, you will have something to focus on once you are ready to start searching for clients. In our example, you can present yourself as a blogger. No matter what the niche is, you can approach the prospect and present yourself that way.
By narrowing your options, you widen your opportunities as a freelance writer. The next step is to think about what you want to write about.
You can ponder what you are truly passionate about or what the writing markets demand. This leads you to a clear formula of success:
Writing service + Niches = Writing Opportunities
The more demand a niche has, the better. However, don’t try writing in niches that you are not passionate about and for which you have no spark. You may be tempted by the payment, but remember that you will have to do this for a long time.
Create Samples to Show What a Talented, Trustworthy Freelance Writer You Are
There is a dilemma in the world of freelance writing. Clients often want to see samples of your work, but if you are a beginner, you haven’t written for a client. Where can you get samples from?
The answer is simple: you will have to craft two or three samples. In other words, you won’t get paid for these samples.
You can find a website or a publication that doesn’t pay. Your payment will be that you have gained experience for you to show prospects, or you can simply write some samples for yourself—they do not need to be published on a website or in a magazine.
What is important is that the samples be in a relevant niche. If your client wants blog entries on pets and animal care, you better deliver two or three samples in that niche.
Some clients do not care that you haven’t written in the niche. In this case, all the best. However, keep in mind that having some samples to show in a particular niche raises your chances of landing a job.
If you write two or three samples specifically to show them to a particular client. You can use OneDrive or Google Drive to host the document. Permit access to your client and let them see what a talented freelance writer you are.
Set Up an Online Presence
To gain clients, they first need to know that you exist. That’s why now, your next step is to establish an online presence. We personally recommend that you create your own website, where you have your own blog. That way, you will look more professional. However, things aren’t always clear.
Nicolas Cole, the author of The Art & Business of Online Writing, says that you don’t need a blog to start writing. He personally developed his writing career on Quora.com.
If you don’t want to start a blog, you should at least have a LinkedIn profile. Be sure to make it look professional. Once you have completed your profile, write regularly compelling posts that make potential clients see your worth.
Besides that, you can always try hunting for your first clients as a freelance writer on platforms such as Fiverr or Upwork, popular freelancing platforms on which you can find clients as a freelance writer. While not everybody agrees with such platforms, the possibility of finding those first clients is quite high.
If you do not want to create accounts on freelancing platforms like Fiverr or Upwork, you have another option.
Like freelancing platforms, there are job boards for writers, the most famous of them being ProBlogger. There, you can find writing jobs posted regularly. Many claim that these jobs are more reliable and better paid. If you want, you can try finding jobs there, although most require some writing experience to take you into consideration.
Cold Email, the Most Recommended Formula to Find Clients
Besides these platforms, your chances of finding clients rest on the cold approach. What does this entail? That you send emails directly to your potential clients.
Many recommend having a professional email. However, you shouldn’t be discouraged if you don’t have one. Even with a simple Gmail account, you can find clients and land jobs.
How can you find clients for outreach?
Let’s say that you want to write about pets and other animals. With a search like “write for us pet shop,” Google should recommend websites that hire writers to write articles and blog posts related to the topic.
Click on the specific website and search for an email address on which to contact the website. There, you will write your query letter, in which you will tell them
-> who you are
-> what you know about their website or publication
-> what you want to write about
-> why you are the best man for the job
Do not forget to be as direct and concise in your subject line. If the website receives many emails throughout the day, you can end up in their spam folder or have your email ignored.
If they consider you to be the best man for the job, they will contact you. From there, it’s time to get started and show them what a competent freelance writer you are.
You can have a similar approach on LinkedIn. Not only is your profile your business card, but you can simply contact the publication or person through the messaging function. Go to the search browser, and search for the niche you want to write in. You have the options to select ‘people,’ ‘companies,’ or ‘jobs.’ Try them all because you never know where the opportunity will appear.
Just like with cold emails, you need to tell the person or company who you are, why you are the right person for the job, and what you want to publish. If the prospect sees your message and finds it persuasive, you will be contacted.
Becoming a Freelance Writer in 2026
With freelancing taking over the job market, becoming a freelance writer can be a good idea if you want work that is
> flexible
> rewarding
> well-paid.
In this piece, you had the opportunity to discover the fundamentals of freelance writing. Now, you should have an idea of where to start as a beginner:
> Write daily
> Have well-defined services
> Have the right mindset
> Create a website, blog, or have put-together profiles (LinkedIn)
> Create a portfolio of one or two samples of your writing
> Try searching for clients on freelancing platforms like Fiverr or Upwork
> Search for clients and approach them directly by sending cold emails to potential clients.
This is the formula that we at Thumos Writing believe to be successful for any freelance writer who’s just starting his journey.
If you want to find out great niche ideas, you can read on the most lucrative writing niches in 2025. We also have an interesting blog post on the most unconventional niches that you can write about.
