Musings of a Gen-Z Freelance Writer
Earning a livable income on your childhood passion sounds like a pipe dream to most.
And who could blame us for thinking that way?
We’ve been indoctrinated into believing we can only choose practicality or passion.
While some dreams aren’t always feasible, we sometimes forget to give our passion a fair chance.
Mind you, I thought that as well. But one thing led to another, and, from unemployment, I plunged into a successful freelance writing career as a fresh graduate from the Philippines.
Here’s how.
(And no — I won’t be flexing my earnings nor selling a course in this article. Rejoice!)
Gen Z Freelance Writer’s Story
Newly graduated with a business degree, I thought finding a good-paying job was the only way forward. I had terribly wet ears, but I was optimistic to land a job soon, even sending out multiple resumes during my career fair for extra measure.
What could go wrong, right?
A lot. I was hit hard by reality very soon.
- Job interview failures
- Questioning my career
- A life-altering bout with the virus
- Self-doubt and worn-down confidence
I didn’t have a winning resume — nor did I have many transferrable skills. I wasn’t a charismatic leader; in fact, quite the opposite, really. My grades weren’t terrible, but they weren’t great either.
I was not on the shortlist for first pickings essentially.
Two job interview failures later, I started panicking
Failure. I thought I was a complete failure.
Two months after graduating last year, I got my first job offer for an online merchandising role. The job interview went on for three rounds. I failed.
Then Covid happened, stopping me for a while.
In December that same year, I had my second interview as an operations analyst. It lasted for just one round before they ghosted me for a month. They did tell me I failed it a month after. So… yay?
But at that time, I needed to make money. The rejection drove me to hunt out more opportunities, full-time or otherwise.
Anything to pull my weight in my household.
How My Freelancing Career Kicked Off
I connected with my inner child.
I was mindlessly scrolling past Reddit when an interesting post popped up. A long-term position for a Pokemon Writer — at a $50 for 1,000 words rate.
It sounded fantastic.
I was no freelancer back then. But I did write a couple of competitive Pokemon articles when I was much younger. I also still felt the pang of stinging rejection from my interview, so I went in burning to impress. Even if 7 or so applicants stood before me.
Surprisingly, he responded to my message. He said my articles were dry, but he’d make me do a fun trial article on Pokemon and Pokemon moves.
I even remembered researching at 3 AM whether letting him give a 50% DP was reasonable.
A friendly internet buddy told me it was, and the next day I woke up with $40 in my Paypal account. I was stoked!
But at the same time, I was terrified; I didn’t understand content optimization, SEO keywords integration, heck, even proper header format.
What I did? I just free-flowed my way to 1,700+ words with a list of 15 Pokemon that I knew close to heart. It was a blast to write.
How it ended: He said he enjoyed the article, but it wasn’t what he was looking for. He paid me in full and we cordially parted ways.
While I didn’t score a long-term relationship with the client, I scored the most important thing that pushed my freelance writing career even further: Confidence.
Upwork Time
Scoring clients was now a possibility, I thought. My next best option was finding work through Upwork since I already had an account there.
I grinded, sending cover letters and offering competitive rates, like a $1 / 100-word rate for cryptocurrency. I did eventually back out of that deal after realizing the sheer difficulty.
Until, finally, someone offered $25 for me to write a 1.5k word web hosting affiliate article. Smaller than my first client, but I was happy.
Then, more clients came in like clockwork. A Japanese manga startup, a vegan product startup, a T-shirt website — my portfolio padded bit by bit, and my money and skills alongside it.
The business was growing, but it wasn’t sustainable long-term yet.
Outside of Upwork — More Opportunities
Despite dedicating most of my humble beginnings to Upwork, I didn’t want to rely solely on that website. That decision paid off.
Today, most of my income stream comes from clients that I work with independently.
My first interaction outside of Upwork after the Pokemon article was with a large YT channel.
By large, I mean absolutely monolithic — 5 million subscribers and counting.
I sent an actionable pitch and a completely unrelated article as my portfolio piece and hoped for the best.
Surprisingly, they gave me a chance. When I wrote them the script, they really liked it and extended an invite for me to join them long-term. Sweet!
But that’s not my only client.
I slowly joined international Facebook sites that sought out writers for their businesses and blogs.
Due to the amorphous nature of price-setting in an international space, I could more confidently and successfully score higher rates here.
Currently, most of my clients connected with me from Facebook.
Who did I write for?
SEO content agencies, some independent business owners, even a top local feature magazine at one point. I valued them all the same.
For the past six or so months, from absolutely zero earnings, I now gain constant invitations and leads from Upwork, emails, Linkedin, Facebook groups, and client referrals.
I don’t have the bandwidth to write for them all, and I wasn’t ready to outsource yet either. But still- for six months of dust and barren inboxes, this was a pleasant upturn for me.
Where I am Now
Nowadays, I work 6–7 hours a day six days a week on my own hours with 7–9 clients. I write between 2000–3000 words a day.
Although that sounds terribly busy, I’m incredibly lucky that I have control over most deadlines and that my clients are the nicest people.
This arrangement is more exciting for me too — I get to learn about so much more things compared to just one employer.
Every day is a new challenge, a new scope to research, and a new voice to take up. I love it that way.
No deadline has ever crossed me yet, and no angry client has berated me yet either.
Overall, I’m pretty fulfilled and honestly really damn lucky with this career.
Although many people in my batch are climbing ladders and I do get ever-so curious about that progression, I’m content with where I am and my journey.
Cheers!
Interested in learning more about my Filipino Freelance Writing Services? You can book my writing services by sending a message to the link above. QUOTE absolutely free! 📩
Reach out to me on Linkedin too. Would love to connect!
Also, check my solely-recreational blog out for some dumb and fun takes.
