How to Build a Freelance Writing Portfolio
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When it comes to being a successful freelancer, you need to begin by building a cool-as-hell portfolio that shows your range and depth of skills. Your portfolio can contain stuff you’ve written for clients, a poem you wrote to a long lost lover, some thoughts you scribbled on the back of your family’s banana bread recipe while you were contemplating life as the bread rose in the oven — whatever. Your portfolio should contain written work that shows people who you are and what you’re capable of.
But in an ideal world, your portfolio also contains something similar to what your ideal clients want to hire you to write — not just that novel that’s part one of a ten part series that you’ve been working on for ten years. (Don’t @ me we all have one of those!)
Practice in Public
I get a lot of questions from new freelancers asking how to build their portfolio if they don’t have any clients or experience. To be honest, most of the clients I’ve worked with hired me off of this here blog. That’s crazy considering I mostly write about that one time I failed a pasta making class in Italy. (Almost as embarrassing as the time I almost failed my pass/fail Geology class at USC because I was sleeping with my study partner. There’s a joke about rocks in here but I’m not going to make it.)
Anyways, when I talk about “practicing in public” I mean that no matter what type of freelancer you are, you should be sharing your skills and sharpening them on a public forum. I practice my famed witticisms here on my blog. You could also have a Twitter, or an email newsletter or Substack. Or, if you’re a freelance photographer you might have an Instagram where you share your work as well as the behind-the-scenes.
As a writer, you probably have ambitions of writing the next Great American Novel while also being a freelancer as your “day job” of sorts. That’s actually great, because you can show off your chops by publishing short stories. One of my short stories about how depressing being a Hollywood assistant is landed me a bunch of great clients. They didn’t just pity the past version of myself, they appreciated my pithy prose.
Another way to get your work out there is to submit your personal essays to publications. That’s what I did when I came out as bisexual through a personal essay in the LA Times. Just live your life online, y’all. As long as you’re staying true to you and sharing things you’re comfortable with, you’ll strike a chord with readers.
Practicing in public is how you get better and also show off what you’re learning to people who are looking to hire you. So start that blog or Medium account and get writing.
Landing Those First Clients
While having a lot of moody short stories and blog posts in your portfolio is a strong start (that’s what got me a lot of my early clients!) you may also want to offer discounted rates to potential clients in order to land more pieces that you can confidently tell someone you were hired to write.
You don’t even have to offer discounts: you could just set your rates a little lower, and then start charging more with every assignment. That’s how I began my freelance writing career: I started at $25/hr and kept increasing my rates with each job from there until I got to my rate of $350/hr as of the writing of this blog post.
When you’re landing those early clients, it’s imperative that you’re asking them if it’s okay to use the work you’re doing in your portfolio. If they say no, all good. Ask if they can leave you a review if you’re freelancing on a platform, or to send you a testimonial if you’re freelancing in the wild.
Not every client will be cool with you adding the work you do for them to your public portfolio, so just know it may take some time for you to build up to the point where you have a decent amount of material and social proof of your services.
Do a Portfolio Audit Every Six Months
As a freelance writer, I recommend you revisit your portfolio, website, and profile every six months and do an audit.
Ask yourself these questions:
Am I attracting my ideal clients?
Is there a freelance writing niche I want to move into but don’t have samples for?
What portfolio items should I generate next to get the type of clients I want?
Are there samples that no longer represent who I am as a writer that I need to replace?
Does my portfolio show my personality as a writer and a freelancer?
From there, trim and add to your portfolio accordingly.
How to Build Your Freelancing Portfolio: For Those with Imposter Syndrome
The only thing stronger than my imposter syndrome is my desire to Make Cool Things.
If you’re someone who (also) struggles with showcasing their skills, I’ve got news for you.
There’s someone out there that’s half as talented as you charging three times what you’re charging. There’s a shortage of skilled freelancers, and the world needs you. Seriously. People talk all the time about the freelance platforms being oversaturated. That’s not true (trust me — I hire freelancers all the time for my own work!)
So, don’t worry too much about whether or not something is good or not. Just post it. Keep refining your skills, but know that your skills get better by accumulating your 10,000 hours. You can always go back and edit your portfolio or your blog later (do you know how many posts I’ve deleted on this blog from back when I was 12? So many.)
Have the confidence to back up your work, even if you’re faking it until you make it. Just remember: we’re all living in a simulation, so just play the game and have some fun while doing so.
Freelance Writing: A Garden That Grows Over Time
I got very into gardening over the past two years. By “very into gardening” I of course mean the radishes I’m growing have been close to death several times but I have drowned them in water so I think they will actually grow now.
Gardening fascinates me because I can walk out onto my roof and see totally new growth of my plants that feels surprising and satisfying. I can also walk outside after neglecting them for a week and see that yes, plants do need water and some TLC to survive (who knew?)
I see freelancing much like building a garden. It takes time (and consistent watering!) to grow. I’ve been freelancing for around 5 years, but I really kickstarted my full-time freelance writing career in the summer of 2020. Before then, I didn’t take it seriously: it was a part-time thing I did in-between jobs.
But when I really committed to watering my own garden? It grew on a daily basis, and I’m able to grow some really lovely produce I can put on the table every night.
There’s something so satisfying about growing what you eat and being able to provide for yourself. That’s why I write articles here on my blog to help new freelancers, and created my Freelancing 101 guide.
Questions? Comments? Let me know where you’re at on your freelancing journey and what you want me to write a post on next below in the comments, or get at me on Twitter, Instagram, or Tiktok: @Sutoscience.
