Canadian Freelance Writing Jobs

If you are a freelancer looking to fill up your schedule with something other than underpaid CraigsList gigs, there are a few places that you can look.

1.  Other Freelancers

Believe it or not, us freelancers are a busy lot right now.  Take the time to craft a tailor-written e-mail to other freelancers that you find through their websites or other means and offer to take a load off if they find themselves to be too busy to take on a project.  Expect to be paid less than your going rate as they have essentially “gotten the job” for you, and be prepared for some freelancers not being too cozy about this particular tactic.  Just like cold-calling, you will get people who don’t want your services.

On the upside, you will most likely make new friends and may even form some working relationships that will last for years.  You’ll need to have a strong portfolio to sell yourself to an established freelancer, and don’t send form e-mails.  Your peers can see right through that in about two seconds.

2.  Advertise on Craigslist

Maybe it was just blind luck, but I nailed a great client the very first time I advertised on CraigsList.  Make sure that you are posting in the proper category so that your ad doesn’t get flagged and removed.  If you live in a huge area, such as New York City, go back and repost your ad once every few weeks and be sure to post in surrounding areas, where your ad is less likely to disappear.

3.  Spend Time on Marketing

Build your website, set up a Twitter account, create an e-mail newsletter.  Do everything you can to further your marketing efforts in any “off-time” that you may have and you won’t find yourself having off-time for long.

4.  Follow Up With Leads

Did you put off a potential client because you had too many projects on the go?  Revisit them and see if they still need your services, even if it is way after the fact.

5.  Local and Government Directories

Advertise your business on free local directories, as well as any federal directories that you can join.  In Canada, if you have a business you can register with the CCC database (Canadian Company Capabilities) database at no charge.  Government agencies and businesses actually do use this database to find suppliers.  It can be found here.

Tags: freelance writing projects, getting jobs as a freelancer, how to get freelance writing jobs

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 at 3:05 pm and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.