College comes with many challenges for any student. First, you will experience how it feels like to stay away from your parents and learn to manage your activities without too much help. You will be responsible for organizing your schedule, attending classes, or managing your monthly budget. Also, college is a period when you discover that you want to be more independent. You will even start developing your aspirations and start thinking about methods of how you can reach your goals. When it comes to independency, almost all students would like to receive less money from their parents. So, they start looking for income alternatives to help them become independent as quickly as possible. One option would be to become a writer. You can start as a freelancer and think of working with an agency at a later stage. Flexibility is one of the most significant advantages that convince students to consider becoming a writer. So, if you want to know how you can become a writer and become financially independent, then you should keep reading this article.
1. Start with the topics you are passionate about
When you decide that you want to become a writer, you should first think if you enjoy this activity. You won’t be able to produce engaging content if you don’t like what you are doing. Writing is a very demanding activity. You will need an intense concentration and imagination to deliver content. When you write a proposal to a client, he doesn’t care too much if you like the topic or not. The client expects high-quality content and on-time delivery. Therefore, you will need to be determined and passionate about writing to be able to respect the clients’ requirements.
If you don’t know where to start, starting with the topics that you know very well should be the starting point. All the knowledge that you gained so far is beneficial when you build your portfolio for the first time. Whenever you learn something new in college, you should use that information to land more gigs on that niche.
2. Research is fundamental
One of the basic rules that you learn in college is how to research a specific topic. Proper research is the rock of any excellent writing. If you think that Google is enough to become a well-paid writer, you should think of more than that. Google helps, indeed, but it is not the only source of inspiration. You should also read books or materials on the topics that you have to write about. Thus, the library is the best place where you should spend your time when you want to become a well-known writer.
Melanie Sovann, senior writer at Pick the Writer and Trust My Paper mentions that “you shouldn’t limit your research to Google and library only. There are many resources that you can try to exceed your clients’ expectations. You can also discuss with people or conduct interviews with your professors to find more information on a certain topic. The research options are limitless. All you need to do is keep your eyes wide open and think of alternatives.”
3. Don’t be afraid to start as a beginner
You don’t need an extensive portfolio to start as a writer. Indeed, many clients ask for portfolios or past work samples before deciding whether they should collaborate with you or not. But, this doesn’t mean that you should wait until you build the portfolio before you land the first gigs. The most important characteristic that a writer should have is adaptability. For example, when you are in college, you will receive various assignments. Thus, when you decide to become a writer, you already have some academic papers written on multiple topics. So, you already have a portfolio from where you can start. These papers can be a good starting point to decide which is your favourite topic and what type of documents you want to keep writing.
Moreover, if you don’t have enough papers to build your portfolio, you should still prepare to send proposals. For instance, if you discover an exciting job that you want to apply, you can develop some samples on the spot. You can carefully read the job description and prepare some targeted samples. Your client will never know that you wrote those articles just to win the gig. It is enough to respect his guidelines and write an exciting proposal.
4. Don’t get discouraged if you fail
Failure is part of the writing process. You won’t become a better writer if you don’t fail. It is perfectly normal not to be able to satisfy any client’s needs. Even though things look promising in the beginning, you will meet many clients who are very difficult. Therefore, there will be moments when you will fail in meeting their expectations and lose the respective contract.
There will also be moments when clients won’t reply to your proposals. This doesn’t mean that you should give up. Each feedback is essential, and you should learn from it. Each client who shares his opinion on your work will help you become better and write engaging content.
5. Use your best works to build a portfolio
Before they read your proposals, clients will check your portfolio first. Thus, you should invest your time and effort in making an attractive portfolio. If, in the beginning, you will include all your articles in the portfolio, you should refine it in time. Also, depending on the topics that your potential clients are requesting content, you should personalize your portfolio according to their interests. This is why it is always better to have a general and diverse portfolio from where you can extract information and adapt it to your clients’ requirements if necessary.
Conclusion
When you are in college, it is crucial to think of the future and start working on building it. If you decide to become a writer, you should start early. A writer doesn’t become successful overnight. You will need to work hard and do extensive research if you want to build a solid portfolio. On the other hand, writing will help you become financially independent and enjoy a flexible schedule. Once you have managed to build your portfolio, then it will become straightforward to ensure a constant flow of projects and income.