3 Best Ways To Get Samples For Your Work
Happy New Year guys!
Welcome to the year of "no excuse for not succeeding as a freelancer". Make this your 2022 mantra!
If you haven’t followed me on medium yet, please do NOW.
The first problem new freelancers face is getting samples for clients. I have gotten questions like "how do you get samples for clients as a new freelancer"? Because you’re new to freelancing doesn’t mean you’re new to writing right?(for example).
If you plan to work especially for high-paying clients/companies, 90% of them will want samples from you. Nobody wants to pay high for work they haven’t seen.
I have a recent client on Upwork that asked me for " 3 self-help eBook samples". Imagine! But I have more than 3, so it wasn’t a problem for me.
1.. When I started freelancing last year, that was the first encounter that made me sad. I am just new to freelancing, where do I get my samples from? I thought I didn't have any samples until I got an idea one night. Why not just create the sample instead?
What I did was to pick a topic on self-help, (I picked meditation and affirmation because I love those two. You cannot pass through intentional self-development without those). Wrote on them in my tone, edit and saved as sample one. I also wrote a short eBook on habit listing different methods that had worked for me and wrote on it.
I knew I have this skill, I knew I was good but I needed one person to hire me. I refuse to allow something as little as "getting a sample" to stop me. So I created one! The sample is meant to let your client know your writing style and also the tone you use. You get?
The next client that wanted a 350challenges on self-help was able to hire me because he already saw some amazing exercises I put in the sample he asked for. Yes, you might be new to it all but that’s not an excuse for not having a sample.
How far is your pen from you now? Pick it! Open your notepad and write on a topic you want to go into.
If your area of specialization is not writing, maybe graphic design, animation etc, go and design something amazing and saved them as your samples. Never be caught without a sample. It drives your freelancing career faster (that doesn’t mean you won’t get hire without one but, it might be very SLOW).
2.. The second method is a common one that a lot of people still do not take advantage of. Write for FREE! There are lots of websites and social media handles that are looking for writers. Write for them and when the paying clients come, refer to those free works as your sample. Hausa will say "Shikena".
3.. This last method is also a method I have used. Before I started freelancing, my SM pages were full of short content on self-help that had helped me. When I post a picture, I write short/long catching captions on it. When a client wants something similar to that, I direct him/her to my page to see what I have done and if he/she likes it, then we start our work.
Also, I have saved some of my SM writeups as a doc that I can send to clients anytime they request it.
There are lots of ways to get samples. This shouldn’t be the reason you won’t monetize your skills in 2022.
Let me know if you have any questions in the comment session. Also, Let me know if you have any skills you want to monetize and don't know how to. I am here to help you as much as I can.
N:B, I am not an expert yet. Anything I put on my page are methods and tips that had worked and is still working for me.
Also, if you have any topic you would like me to talk about, let me know in the comment section.
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Regards
