It doesn’t matter if you are a graphic designer. Or a coder. Or a ninja warrior for that matter.
The only thing that matters is that writing is your best bet to get your name out there.
Are you not a good writer? Then suck it up and still write.
Once you start writing about your niche, clients will come flocking to give you jobs, not the other way round.
I have accomplished a lot due to my writing. And even if you’re a blogger outsourcing some of your content writing, you need to be a great editor regardless.
From writing newsletters to blog posts or even a simple email to clients — it all starts with the written word.
I hope you get the idea. So get started with writing, and you will see a barrage of inbound clients coming your way.
Based on my experiences, I share insights about how I started out my freelance writing business in Kenya:
The great thing about the online freelancing industry in Kenya, and I guess the bad thing is that there’s not a whole lot you have to do to break into it. It’s not difficult.
You just have to get a laptop or smartphone, have a passion for some form of writing, and an internet connection – and boy, there are lots of providers with tons of internet packages then dive in.
What I mean by this is that there aren’t any formal education or training requirements to start as an online freelance writer in Kenya.
There are a number of blogs online with lots of free information such as this one; as well as tons of books on Amazon available for those who want to learn about the business.
But there hardly are any strict requirements.
In my case, for instance, I didn’t even realize that freelance writing was a viable career before I wrote my first wedding event planning business plan at grad school way back in 2002.
Starting an online freelance writing business in Kenya is easy!
My then professor gave us a marketing project to research and develop a marketing and business plan in an industry of our choice.
I got a straight-A grade for my project and never stopped writing business plans after that. Several years later, I signed up as a freelance business plan writer on the Upwork and Fiverr platforms and has clocked more than 800 UpWork hours with a 5-star client rating.
While it is true that while managing your online freelance writing business in Kenya or wherever else you cannot be all things to all clients, my advice is that you diversify your writing niches to maximize earnings.
This is where partnering with other freelancers or hiring a team of experts comes into play.
That is how I was born.
Many of my satisfied business plan clients wanted help with their other writing needs. I mainly work with small business owners and individual entrepreneurs with varying writing needs.
I have a team of three awesome folks that work with me.
We specialize in business plans, poems of all genres, short story writing, as well as medical writing.
Last but not least, you must market yourself and your business.
The largest number of clients come to us through UpWork and Fiverr and social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. To succeed in business, you need to network a lot. It’s the cheapest and easiest form of marketing. Use it!
If you’d like more specific tips either about what goes into online freelancing in general or simply how to start out a career in freelance writing, resources are available throughout this site.