Welcome!

Hello and welcome to the course, Build Your Freelance Content Writing Business! I’m Leonie, director of Article Writers Australia, and I’ll be presenting this course, along with my colleague Andrew.

This course is designed for those who already have strong writing skills and want to undertake freelance writing work, but need to know more about how to establish an income, where to look for work, and what they might be expected to know about, but possibly don’t.

Asking questions

Although the course is recorded, If you do have questions at any time, you can use the comments section below a lecture to ask, and we’ll answer you as quickly as possibly, and typically within 24 hours. When you use the comments section, other students will be able to see the question and response. The comments are moderated, so please be courteous if you’re asking a question, or commenting on someone else’s question.

If you’d rather ask a question privately, you can also email your question to [email protected]

Feedback

We welcome your feedback on the course. If there are other aspects of freelance writing you'd like to see covered, let us know! And if you find the course useful and would like to earn commissions by promoting the course online, registering as an affiliate is easy. I'll talk more about our affiliate program and affiliate marketing in general in the final Part 4 module on creating other streams of revenue.

What the course will cover

As a writer, you probably know the upside of freelancing - from the flexibility of working from anywhere to the opportunity to work from home and fit work around family, instead of family around work.  The downside is, that being a freelancer, you’re basically a small business, and you’re responsible for everything, from finding clients and doing the work, to keeping accounts and paying your own taxes. It can also be a little isolating, and if you don’t know many other freelance writers, finding out what you need to know can be difficult, because as they say, sometimes, you don’t know what you don’t know.

The course covers ground from starting up a freelance writing business and finding work, through things you need to know and tools you can use, to deciding whether to expand or stay solo. There’s a ton of practical information, links to additional information and resources, and some free templates you might find handy.    

The course is delivered in four parts.

Part 1 will give you an overview of the freelancing landscape, and cover some of the basics:

In Part 2, we cover the many things freelance writers need to know about, but often don't when they first start freelancing. Knowing these things can help you to get and keep clients, so that's important. Modules in Part 2 include:

Then in Part 3 we get down to business. Because as a freelancer writer, you are running a business. You have to think like a business owner, and approach everything you do in a business-like way. Part 3 includes:

And in Part 4, we'll look at some additional aspects that can help you build your personal profile, improve your income and stay at the top of your game:

If you're new to freelancing, the amount of information might feel a bit overwhelming. But you don’t have to take it all in at once – you can work through it at your own pace, and even after you finish the course, you’ll still be able to login and access the course material.

By the time you complete the course, you should have enough knowledge to establish your freelance writing business and start searching for clients. And if you've already started but just aren't finding enough work, it's very likely you'll find the missing pieces of the puzzle during the course. Just add persistence and quality work and you should soon be on your way to successful freelancing.

So, again thank you for joining us. Let's start Part 1, and jump into the first module, which is an overview of the freelance content writing landscape.