How I Found Free Tools for My Freelance Writing Business

How I Found Free Tools for My Freelance Writing Business

When I made the switch from writing for small local newspapers and websites to writing, editing, and proofreading documents and website content for businesses as a freelance content writer, I had no clue of what to do to get my freelance business up and running.

I can remember staying up until two and three in the morning nearly every night, searching the internet for tips and tricks for starting a successful service-based business with little to no budget, and only finding bits and pieces of information that could help me. I felt like I was putting a 5,000-piece puzzle together. Whew, chile, the frustration.

I watched dozens of YouTube videos, took free courses on Coursera and Udemy, and followed every social media influencer I could find who had something to say about starting a business. I attended countless webinars, joined every guru’s email list, and even checked out books at my local library.

The problem was there was no way to sift good information from information that would not work for me. I quickly found that the internet is filled with advertising disguised as educational and informational material. The lack of real usable information frustrated me to no end. Instead of giving up, I dug my heels in and pumped up my research.

I joined Facebook networking groups and asked a lot of questions, gathered tips here and there from reliable blogs and YouTubers who had built successful businesses, and I started looking closely at the websites I visited and the emails I received and searched for the names or logos of the service providers. I also began taking note of what popped up in my browser window when I clicked on sign-up pages or webinar links.

My research led me to quite a few free tools, and I even found that the ones that were out of my budget had free plans or that high-quality free or low-cost alternatives existed. After a lot of trial and error, I’ve found great free tools like MailChimp, Wave, Google Voice, Setmore, Canva, Pexels that I now use to help me automate parts of my business, keep my finances on track and help make communication with my clients super easy.

What are your favorite free tools and apps for business? Let’s talk about it in the comments. Follow me on Instagram or Facebook to join the discussion.

Author: Chanel Polk

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 1 Thing You Need to Be A Good Writer

Image
What’s the one thing you need to be a good writer? The answer may surprise you. You don’t need a college degree in English, journalism, creative writing, or communications to be a great writer. You don’t need to know all of the rules of grammar and speech by heart either. Believe it or not, the one thing you absolutely must have to be a good writer is confidence. You must believe in yourself. You must also believe in your ability to learn and grow. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with studying to make yourself a better writer and earning a degree while you’re at it. But if you don’t believe in your ability to apply what you’ve learned in a real-life situation outside of the classroom you won’t make it very far. In my experience, writers are notoriously insecure about their capabilities and instead of writing something and declaring “I know this is good” they’re more likely to say “I don’t know if this is any good. Let me find out what someone else thinks.” There’s
Read More »

3 Unethical Freelance Writing Assignments to Avoid

Image
Unethical freelance writing assignments require some sort of ambiguity, deception or dishonesty on the part of the writer. These assignments conflict with your morals and demand that you put your values to the side to get the work done. Instead of employing well respected traditional methods to complete writing assignments, unethical writing gigs cross the line and ask you to pretend to be something you’re not or to fabricate information.
Read More »

5 Tips for Finding Clients in Facebook Groups

Image
Facebook groups can be a great place to find clients for your freelance writing business or any other type of business. I've come across numerous leads and have made lasting connections with several clients through Facebook groups. I definitely recommend interacting with the members of Facebook groups as a way to network, increase awareness of your brand and grow your business, but it has to be done the right way to have maximum impact. Main points of this post: 1. Be Sincere 2. Join the Discussion 3. Share What You Know 4. Look for opportunities 5. Slide in the DMs 1. Be Sincere Dropping the link to your website, asking people to follow your social media pages, or posting a random comment about an event you're having, or your business's sale or upcoming promotion can get you started off on the wrong foot in most Facebook groups. If you don't want to give the impression that you're just looking for a quick come up and that money and followers or li
Read More »