My exact strategy to go from earning $6,400 in Dec 2020 to $10,850 in December 2021 with content writing jobs

My last-ever corporate job ended in October 2020. Since then, I’ve gone all-in on my freelance content writing jobs, and the two lessons I’ve learned since have been the importance of diversification, and the importance of creating a plan. This article encompasses how I’m addressing both those lessons in 2021.

Creating writing content on a single platform is like sailing a ship, and you’re going super fast, and all of a sudden even though you’re rowing exactly as hard, you haven’t changed your skills, but you still slow down. And then, wait, you’re not just slowing down, you’re actually sinking. And there’s nobody you can ask or blame, and you don’t have a life raft. So now you’re just sunk.

That was me about six months ago, taking income from just a single writing content job and hoping my ship didn’t sink. I started taking my content writing jobs more seriously in Oct 2020, aiming to have not just one boat but actually a fleet of ships. To extend the analogy, if one boat slows down (or even — heaven forbid — sinks) it’s OK and overall I’m still getting where I need to go.

Recently, my usual blogging platform has been awful for me. I used to be able to crank out viral hits about once or twice a month, and even when I didn’t, my published blog posts still did well. Now, I’m lucky if I break 1000 views. Unfortunately, short of complaining vociferously about it, there’s nothing I can actually do. Maybe my blogging career and content writing jobs on that platform are over; maybe not. But while that ship flounders, I want to focus on what is under my control.

In 2021, this is my strategy to earn $10,850 a month with content writing jobs. Feel free to take notes, copy, steal, be inspired, borrow and forget to give back whatever you need. I genuinely and somewhat cheesily believe that if everyone followed their passion — if everyone who wanted to write, wrote — the world would be a more beautiful, honest, and wonderful place, so if this is the moment of encouragement you’ve been waiting for, take it.

My freelance income from content writing jobs breaks down into three parts: the money I earn on my own, the money I earn from clients, and the money I earn through platforms, like Youtube. I want to discuss my plan for each of these content writing jobs distinctly because each has its own caveats and conditions. Let’s dive in. 

Personal content writing jobs and projects: from $650/month to $1,800/month

My personal projects doing content writing jobs are income sources that are entirely under my control, from creation to marketing to distribution. Today, it’s just my subscription site (Patreon) and my website. 

I currently earn about $150 per month on average from Patreon, and $500 per month on average from my website, so an average of $650 per month altogether. I aim to triple that to $1,800 per month.

My subscription site: from $152/month to $300/month

In 2020, I earned a total of $1,825 from my subscription site, averaging $152 per month. In 2021, I will increase that to $300 per month by the end of the year. I plan to do that through a few methods.

Why I consider a membership site one of my content writing jobs: Well, again, I write content and this earns me money. In a meta way, I usually write content about earning money from writing content. In my opinion, it fits the brief.

First, I’ll be working on making sure the benefits are most appealing to my patrons, using research from Patreon themselves and personal experience. Office hours have been a hit, as have things like discounts and special events. I’ll be increasing and emphasizing those to ensure retaining my current patrons and attract new ones.

Second, I’m going to be more blatant about mentioning it — like in this article. I hate self-promotion, but that’s the reality I’m living in! To make money with your own content writing jobs, you have to be willing to holler about them.

My website: from $500/month to $1,500/month

This is a brand new revenue source. Again I consider this one of my content writing jobs, even though I’m effectively paying myself. It’s already sent over $500 my way in just one month. I am only selling my services on it (editing and consulting), and I only import existing content like blogs and videos, but I still firmly consider it to be a content writing job. I plan to be earning at least $1,500 per month from my website by the end of next year. Here’s how.

First, like my subscription service, I’ll be promoting the services more. Right now I only advertise my business on my Patreon and in a single line on some emails I send out. I’ll be mentioning it more explicitly in emails, offering discounts, and discussing it on my YouTube channel. 

Second, I will enable ads. I am slowly growing my traffic, and if it proves worthwhile, it might be an easy way to increase revenue. 

Finally, I will work on improving my SEO to ensure a rise in both shop purchases and ad revenue. This is again, a rather novel angle for me, but I’m learning nonetheless. This is something I plan to invest actual money into, choosing either a course or a coach to help me. 

My book: from $0/month to $0/month

This is one part of my plan that isn’t actually one of my planned content writing jobs. I have always wanted to write a fiction book, and I’ll never have a better time to try it. It’s a passion project, I know, but I feel it’s worth pursuing.

The aspect I believe will be lucrative will be the experience. People love to learn from folks who have done it, and right now, when I get asked how to write or promote fiction, I don’t know the answer. After this, I will.

This project is just for fun, but also to retain my sanity. I learned that with freelancing, there will be bad times, so it’s best to focus on the joys when you can. This is one way I’ll do that.

Freelancing clients: from $2,000/month to $5,000/month

This year, I’ve made nearly $8,000 from my freelance clients in content writing jobs, all just from September onwards, looking at an average of $2,000 per month. In 2021, I’m aiming to be making at least $5,000 per month from freelancing clients. Here’s how I plan to do that.

My ghostwriting client: from $1,600/month to $2,000/month

I can’t say who they are but I can say that this is the primary source of my freelance income from my content writing jobs to date, earning me an average of $1,600 per month. Thanks to my work, my existing ghostwriting client is very happy with our relationship, so all I have to do is continue making them happy to keep getting that sweet cash, and they’ve indicated they plan to scale my work up. 

But, of course, I can’t control if they ever drop me, or give me less work. So to combat that, I’ll be helping my other clients and looking for new ones. 

Other clients: from $800/month to $1,000/month

My other content writing jobs from various clients earn me much less monthly comparatively, but it’s more varied, and I love not needing to rely on a single client. I have one steady client who gives me about $500-$600 per month, and then in the past two months, I’ve had a few one-off clients give me between $250 and $300 on a single-project basis. I’d like to keep that up.

New freelance clients: from $0/month to $2,000/month

If I can get 4 more content writing jobs that pay $500 per month for a few pieces of work, I’m set to meet my goal and then some. I plan to acquire those clients in three different ways.

One, I’ve signed up to a few additional places to get content writing jobs like ClearVoice. This allows me to build a portfolio and have clients contact me with work. Two, I will continue prospecting on places like LinkedIn to secure work, especially now that I know how to optimize my LinkedIn as a freelance writer. And three, I will continue to write articles on my own blog geared to attract clients, as they’ve done in the past. 

I can also rely on places content writing jobs like Popsugar, that pay $50 a pop on articles. It’s easy, quick work for me and I could potentially rack up $500 a month there.

My main point here is that I have a lot of fail safes. Even though my goal is $5,000, it’s possible I’ll make slightly more or slightly less depending on how many clients come my way. 

Partnerships: from $2,250/month to $4,050/month

This year, partnerships for my content writing jobs partnerships only included blogging and YouTube. I made about $24,000 from blogging, averaging $2,000 per month, and about $250 per month from YouTube. Altogether, I’m earning about $2,250 per month today. 

Quick note: I consider YouTube to be one of my content writing jobs. Why? Because scripting my own YouTube videos is a job effectively writing content. Furthermore, all of my videos are about content writing. Hence, YouTube videos, despite the medium, are content writing jobs.

With partnerships, it’s a lot harder to control the flow of income from the content writing jobs. For instance, my Medium income varied from $400/month (April) to $4,000/month (October) this year. But I’d like to continue averaging $2,000 per month on Medium, and increase my YouTube income to $1,000 per month by the end of the year.

I also plan to add on additional content writing jobs from platforms called News Break and Vocal Media, aiming for a total of $4,000 per month from these combined sources.

Blogging: from $2,000/month to $2,000/month

I will continue publishing 3x per week on topics that have been popular in the recent past. Who knows — I sure don’t — but all I can do is keep trying!

I will submit once per month to the “big” pubs which pay a flat fee of around $200-$300, add visibility, and credibility to my blogging presence.

Vocal Media: from $0/month to $50/month

So far, I have posted a few pieces and earned just pennies really. I have not figured out how to get “featured” (their version of curation, basically).

However, I still plan to earn money from this content writing job. I will submit once per month to their challenges, which pay $250, $500, and $1,000 for 3rd, 2nd, and 1st place. Worst case scenario, I stretch my writing muscles and get more content to cross-post. Best case, I win some prize money!

News Break: from $0/month to $1,000/month

News Break is a very new monetized platform offering content writing jobs, and they promised me a $1,000 monthly minimum if I got 500 followers and published 12 x the first month. That comes in January, so we’ll see how that goes. So far, as you can see from my profile, I have just been republishing content and am well on my way to meet requirements. 

I will continue republishing content as well as posting fresh content specific to News Break once per month, which seems to prefer local, current events. 

YouTube: from $250/month to $1,000/month

As I explained above, despite being a video format, YouTube is still one of my freelance content writing jobs. YouTube has been the gift that keeps on giving for me. I love doing it, it’s sent work my way, and it’s just plain fun. Right now, I’m averaging $250 per month, which is fab. But I see there’s huge potential for more.

My plan is to continue posting videos 3x per week, including lots of live events like the Write With Me Lives, and potentially add in tiers for exclusive benefits. I’m also exploring potentials for merchandise and special videos. 

I also plan on widening my brand to include videos about all kinds of content writing jobs. Right now, I’m known as the Medium lady, which I love, but I have a lot more to offer. Widening my niche will allow me to appeal to a wider audience, without losing my core supporters.

From $6,400 in December 2020 to $10,850 in December 2021. 

That’s exactly how I plan to make $10,850 per month by the end of 2021 by doing freelance content writing jobs. It is optimistic in some areas, pessimistic in others, but it averages out to a very doable plan, from several different revenue streams. I can’t wait to see how it pans out.

The importance of diversification is this: maybe my online shop will earn a lot more than $1,500 monthly. Maybe YouTube will earn a lot less. Maybe my main ghostwriting client will drop me. There are a lot of unknowns in the freelancing business. But unless every single worst-case scenario comes to pass and all my content writing jobs fall through, I’ll probably be just fine, and land somewhere around $5,000 per month, which is where I (happily) am today. 

The importance of planning is this: if I continue spending 20 hours a month and earn $250 per month on YouTube, I can see that’s not a great way to be spending my time, and I can drop that pursuit. Likewise, if I see my website is earning more than I had budgeted, I can focus on that. The plan lets me study the deviations and course-correct from there. 

Focusing on freelance content writing jobs for my living has been an amazing adventure so far. I’ve already learned so much. I can’t wait to see what 2021 will bring.