In December 2020, I landed my third freelance writing client. Having been the freelance editor of a martech publication since 2017 and a newsletter writer for an edtech startup since early 2019, I hit about $8k/month in revenue with this job, which entailed writing a dozen blog posts for $2k/month for a proptech startup. 

It took me five years — from the summer of 2015 to December 2020 — to get from $0 in freelance writing income to about $100k/year. Then, over the next 18 months, I actively sought out content marketing clients, started to build an agency by launching the brand Sharp Pen Media, delegated work, and hit $60k/month in revenue. We’re about to sign our largest-ever client, which will take us to seven figures. 

Obviously, it’s impossible to explain everything I learned in that period, and even if I could break it down into an exhaustive list, my experience wouldn’t be perfectly replicable. Like anyone who’s grown from a freelancer to an agency owner, I’ve experienced a great deal of luck and have advantages that have allowed me to launch and grow my business. I don’t mean to suggest that it’s easy or that you merely need to follow a logical code to accomplish the same. 

That said, there are concrete lessons from my own experience that I can pass along to help freelancers grow their businesses and possibly start agencies. Here are five (in greater detail than I shared on LinkedIn, where a version of this post first appeared).

1. Establish recurring revenue

The most important step a freelancer can take to achieve sustainable, growing revenue is to transition from ad hoc projects to recurring offerings. This requires understanding how you can frame your service as one that provides value on an ongoing basis and contributes to your clients’ strategic objectives. If you just execute against briefs that an assignment editor sends you, it’s hard to make the case for a considerable monthly fee for your services.

For example, in that first content marketing gig I got from a referral, I was just writing blog posts and a newsletter that the company’s CEO asked me to produce. The industry also wasn’t my niche or one that I knew especially well. So, my rate was naturally much lower than the one I charge now: $2,000 for about a dozen articles.

My next content marketing job entailed coming up with four ideas per month for a martech company and advising them on how to use content to grow their business. This time, I brought vertical expertise and content strategy advice to the table. I was able to charge about three times as much: $2,400/month. 

As time went on, I charged more for my increasing understanding of content strategy. I wasn’t just coming in and executing a strategy someone else had laid or providing some thoughts. I was partnering with content strategists and CEOs on the discovery call to understand and explain how content could make a difference for their business. This, plus vertical expertise, is what allowed me to get to the $5-10k/month rates that allowed me to build my agency in its current form.

2. Get social proof

When you have happy clients, ask them for testimonials. In fact, go one step further by systematizing the testimonial process. Send your customers a short survey after 30 days of working with them or once per quarter. This should provide a goldmine of feedback that you can use to improve and market your business.

Early on, I would have been afraid to solicit customer feedback. I would’ve worried that things weren’t going optimally and that asking for feedback could illuminate that, endangering the relationship. I worry about that a lot less now because I have sharpened my ideal customer profile and the positioning of my service. I understand whom we’re best fit to serve (companies looking to scale and elevate the quality of their content programs), and I’m not afraid to ask how we’re doing because I’m confident we’re being paid to do exactly what we excel at.

3. Develop a primary marketing channel

Many freelancers just depend on referrals. Referrals can get you far. But if you want predictable, long-term growth, you should take proactive steps to grow your business. In my case, creating daily content on LinkedIn has helped a lot in this regard.

You can read all about my LinkedIn strategy here. One point I’ll add is that I’m just beginning to experience the wondrous snowball effect of organic content marketing. I started posting daily on LinkedIn in May. It took seven months for me to gain an additional 1,000 followers (going from 1,000 to 2,000). Since early December, my following has nearly hit 3,000. This suggests that I’ve hit an inflection point and that 2023 will be a year of massive LinkedIn audience growth, which, if I’m running the LinkedIn system right, should also drive business growth.

4. Learn from senior peers

You may be doing this step right now! It's hard to grow if you don't know what growth in your industry looks like. For example, in between those first and second content marketing gigs when my rate jumped more than threefold, I asked a senior content marketer what he thought I should charge the client. He told me about $600/article. That’s what I asked for and what I got. I would not have been bold enough to raise my rates so much if he hadn’t given me the confidence to do so.

Of course, this applies not only to rates but also other freelancing issues like business development, boundaries, and ultimately hiring your first freelancer (if you have agency ambitions). You can find senior peers’ advice on blogs like this, LinkedIn, and podcasts.

5. Raise your rates consistently

If you're starting at $100/article and senior people in your industry charge $1,000, and you have happy clients at $100, ask the next client for $200. Ask the next one for $400. Overcome the discomfort of asking; it's the only way to advance.

That said, getting the happy clients first is key. If I had come out of the gates asking adtech companies for $1,500/article, I’m not sure I would’ve been able to deliver value commensurate with my rate, and I probably would have missed out on clients who would have been a good fit otherwise. 

It’s also important to gauge the norms in your industry and consider whom you’re asking for money. If you serve small businesses, you’re probably not going to get the same rates you’ll earn from venture-backed startups. Public companies are also generally more generous than early-stage startups.

I share these insights constantly on LinkedIn. Connect with me there for more content on content marketing and freelance writing.