If you have a way with words, you may assume that everyone else does as well. Being a talented writer is often an innate skill that you either have or you don’t. That isn’t to say that every good writer was born that way, and being able to write effectively takes practice and patience. Still, much like singing or being an excellent chef, some people are just gifted writers. If you fall into this category, it might just mean there’s a world full of freelance writing jobs where people will pay you good money to help them write.

 

Email Writing

Does it take you just a few minutes to put together a clear and well-organized email? Well, count yourself lucky. It might seem simple but stop and think about emails you’ve gotten in the past. Have you ever noticed that people frequently struggle to make their points, or they just never get to them at all? As society shifts from phone calls and face-to-face interactions, text based communication is taking the spotlight. This transition is great for some people, and stressful for others.

Emails can hang over people’s heads for days or weeks until it’s been so long that they’re not sure the appropriate timeframe for a response has passed. Think this sounds a tad dramatic? Well, it’s the truth. As a freelance writer, there are tons of great opportunities for you to turn this email angst into a lucrative component of your career.

Typically, this type of writing will come bundled with other things such as being a virtual assistant or an editor for an executive. You’ll usually get some bullet points describing what they want to say and who the audience is going to be for the message. If it’s a new client, it is typically helpful to draft the first couple of emails in a few different styles. Once you find the right tone and wording that reflects your client, email writing for them will be a snap. Not to mention the thanks you’ll get when you expertly craft a critical email they have been putting off for fear of saying the wrong thing.

 

Social Media Management

For some people, tweeting and Facebooking are daunting tasks where a short message can launch their brand into fame or fall onto deaf ears. It can even create huge PR nightmares if the social media account is mismanaged or tries to get in on a joke without truly understanding it first. There are countless brands that have been publicly ridiculed for their social media mismanagement, and this makes companies fearful of hitting the “Tweet,” or “Share” button.

You can take care of that for them, because in the end social media management is nothing more than good writing coupled with brand and audience awareness. Know who you are representing, who they want to talk to, and how to write that message well and you’re all set. Taking the burden off of the company can earn you a lot of praise, and even give you great references. It’s helpful to brush up on your Google Analytics knowledge, or whatever metrics the company uses to understand customer engagement. This will allow you to give them reports where they can actually see how your posts are driving new sales and interest in the brand.

 

Presentation Writing

Another huge pain point for a lot of people is writing an effective presentation. Whether they’re expected to speak in front of an audience of dozens or just the management at their company, most business people fear presentations. It’s pretty common to cram everything onto one slide or overdo it with the cheesy animations, and a bad presentation can haunt people for years.

This is where you can save the day. Good writers know that presentations are pretty simple to create. Freelancing can mean there is some distance between you and your client, so if they’re worried that you don’t know them well enough to write for them offer to set up a video chat and get their thoughts. Honestly, you don’t even need to know the speaker very well to write an effective presentation that will leave your client thrilled. Really, all it boils down to is putting simple language and nice visuals together with clean transitions.

If you want to make you client’s day even easier, put together speaker notes. You can just put them in the notes section of every slide, telling the presenter where the statistics came from or which points seem most important for them to highlight. Since good presentation writing means not overloading slides with tons of text, context and extra details are typically greatly appreciated.

 

Resume and Cover Letter Writing

Freelance resume writing is an excellent way to make extra money with side-projects. While it likely means you won’t get repeat business from clients (if you do your job well) you can make decent money and make people’s career dreams come true.

So many people have great skill sets that make them perfectly qualified for the job they want, but when it comes to putting them down on paper they draw a blank. This is especially true with the cover letter, because a lot of people see it as an awkward mashup of bragging and persuading a company to hire them. If you can help them sell their skills and write targeted content to land their ideal jobs, your clients will be extremely thankful.

Ask your clients for their current resume, cover letter, letters of reference, and the job postings they want to apply to using the materials you create. You also might want to chat with them about what they are passionate about or past jobs they have enjoyed. Clients will be surprised to open a cover letter that includes details from your talk, and thrilled that you were able to translate their ideas into an impactful cover letter.

A lot of freelancers are expected to also create visually appealing resumes that pop. This can be tricky for some people, so consider investing in a template package or making it clear that you only do content creation from the outset.

 

Customer Service is Key

Remember, when you’re freelancing customer service is more important than ever. Your clients will appreciate your skills even more if you’re prompt and responsive to their questions and requests. You can easily turn an unhappy client into one who is singing your praises by making a few changes to your writing and responding to their issues quickly. Clients will appreciate your efforts and see your dedication to your craft, which will translate into great reviews and even more work.

Do you know about any more jobs where clients are happy to have you take the writing burden off of their shoulders? Share the knowledge with your fellow freelancers in the comments below!