WorkToLiveNetwork.Net

5 Ways to Get Your Foot in the Door

Written on November 19, 2009 by Will Irvin

Filed Under: Working To Live

As the old Catch-22 goes, “I can’t get a job without experience, but how will I gain experience without a job?”  It’s a conundrum as old as time itself, but there are some ways to get experience, particularly as a freelance writer, that don’t require you to actually get hired by someone first.

1. Work for Free – When applying for a writing job, offer to write one or more (but make it a finite number, not open-ended) pieces for them at no charge to them.  Make sure, in writing, that you will get full credit for the work that you do.  It is a great way to get your name out there, and even if the potential client doesn’t hire you for that particular job, they may see fit to hire you for future work, or refer you to colleagues that need your talents.
2. Post on Article Directories – While many “serious writers” don’t recommend this tactic, I have written many articles for large article directories, such as ezinearticles.com and articlesbase.com.  It costs nothing to post on these sites, and you can add at least one link back to your own blog or website (see #3 for more on this).  It also provides additional relevant results when potential clients go searching for your name in Google or any other search engine.
3. Create your own blog or website – Having your own blog or website is a great way to showcase your writing talents, and provide examples of your work to potential clients.  There are many ways you can do this for free, the two biggest ones being blogger.com and wordpress.com.  However, I recommend biting the bullet and paying $10 for a domain name from godaddy.com and $8-10/month for decent web hosting and creating your own blog or website.  Most web hosts worth doing business with offer automatic setups for Wordpress (Publishing Platform, or blog), Joomla (Content Management System), or any other of a number of popular easy-to-use web platforms.  I also recommend using a domain that is easy to associate with you and your work, such as www.yourname.com or something similar.
4. Take jobs that aren’t ideal for you – There are many jobs out there that either don’t challenge you creatively, or don’t pay very much, or will take up too much of your time.  So what?  Everybody has to start somewhere.  It is extremely unlikely that you are going to get the best gigs when you haven’t established a reputation for yourself.  So, get over it, take some less-than-desirable gigs, and get your name out there, all while making a little bit of money.
5. Get lucky – Granted, this one is the longest shot of them all.  I just mentioned above that it is unlikely that you are going to land your dream gig when you first start out, but that shouldn’t stop you from applying for them.  There’s always the chance that your particular style and life experience will be exactly what the client is looking for.  You never know until you try, right?

It is difficult to get your foot in the door sometimes.  It takes trying, and trying, and trying some more.  But there’s a reason why they call it “getting your foot in the door.”  Once your “foot” is firmly wedged in the “door”, you are in.  All you have to do from that point forward is continue to produce high quality work on time every time, and you’ll have a successful freelance writing career.