How to Travel Continuously As A Freelance Writer (2023)

Have you ever dreamed of being able to travel continuously while earning money online? One way of funding your travels is to start freelance writing.

For many travelers who love writing, the ultimate job is that of a travel writer. What’s better than combining your two passions and earning a living from it?

But in today’s world of digital nomads and online work, it’s not only travel writers that want to be traveling.

There are many different types of writers, from marketing and advertising copywriters to health and niche travel bloggers, and there are many different routes toward freelancing in the writing arena.

To help you to find your passion and to get your freelance writing career off the ground, here are five great ways to start earning money and building clients, no matter what niche you want to delve into.

5 Ways to Kickstart Your Online Freelance Writing

From building a portfolio to leveraging social media, here are 5 ways to kickstart your online freelance writing career:

1. Build Your Portfolio

The never-ending Catch-22 that all freelance writers will inevitably find themselves in, just as in many other careers, is the need to have experience before you’re given a chance.

While this can be frustrating and in many cases, counterintuitive, there are ways around it when you first enter into the freelance world.

The most important thing to do is to demonstrate that have you the ability to complete the job at hand, and the first step in your career is to create a portfolio website to direct any potential clients to.

While you may not have had any prior gigs, you can start by writing on your own website. Develop this into your portfolio to demonstrate your talent.

Equally, you can guest post on other websites or blogs, and while you may not get paid in the first instance, it could be invaluable when you need to provide bylines and examples of what you are capable of to secure work in the future.

It takes time, but focus on building your portfolio from the ground up and before long, it will be much more substantial than you could have imagined in the beginning.

2. Upwork and Content Mills

In the online world, there are plenty of platforms available that help to connect freelancers with clients, from the well-known Upwork to other more niche content mills that are specifically aimed at writers.

While these platforms generally pay low wages and are not a long-term way to secure work, when you are just beginning your freelance writing career they can be a great way to get past the experience obstacle.

Upwork technically has no requisites for joining, but you will need to slowly build a portfolio here, and all of this will give you more experience to land future clients outside of the platform.

While most content production platforms – for example, CopyPress, which employs freelancers to produce articles for their clients – will sign up anyone, you generally have to pass a writing test that weeds out those who aren’t cut out for the work.

The content mills will usually help you through the process and once you are in you will have the opportunity to land work, even if it is low paid.

Content production websites and freelance platforms are great ways to get your freelance writing career off the ground, but from the get-go, you need to already be looking beyond these to secure the future of your business.

3. Cold Emailing to Find New Clients

Once you have a portfolio and have gained some experience working on content production platforms and your own website, you need to look at expanding your work to gain not just more clients but better-paying clients.

There are lots of businesses out there in need of freelance writers to beef up their websites or to produce great content, and one tried and tested method of finding those potential clients is to send out cold emails.

With your portfolio ready, craft an email explaining what you can offer and how you can help, but most importantly of all, narrow down your writing niche to be able to target the most appropriate businesses out there.

It will take a lot of work to start with, but nothing ever comes easy. Focus on sending out a set number of emails a day to targets, keep at it and before long you will start to get some positive replies that will form the basis of your future freelance writing career.

4. Leverage Social Media

Another great place to find potential clients and leads for writing opportunities is social media, particularly Facebook. Within your chosen niche, be it travel writing or finance writing, you can join groups of like-minded people offering both advice and potential leads.

Within Facebook writing groups, clients will even post job opportunities and work they need to complete, and you can find some excellent chances to connect and secure clients.

Although the best-paying clients won’t be found here, when you are starting out, it can be a simple and effective way to secure work.

5. Start Small But Dream Big

The biggest priority when starting your freelance writing career is to build your portfolio.

This is an industry that takes time to work your way up in, but the harder you work, the more results you will see, and quicker.

At the start, don’t be afraid to work for lower pay to get your name out there, but don’t get stuck in this pay zone.

Always, always, have one eye on the bigger picture and while you are working on smaller projects, take the time to work on securing bigger clients off the back of the experience or contacts you might gain.

READ MORE: How to Start a Niche Travel Blog

How to Travel Continuously as A Freelance Writer

So there you have it – five great ways to get started as a freelance writer.

If you’re looking for a way to travel the world and get paid to do what you love, freelance writing could be the perfect career for you.

Of course, it can take some time to build up your client base and find regular work, but with a bit of perseverance and these handy tips, there’s no reason why you can’t achieve your dream career as a freelance writer.

You need to start small, but just make sure that you always dreaming big to really ensure you have a successful freelance writing career in the long term.

Have you started freelancing as a writer? What has been your experience so far? Let us know in the comments below.

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