Note from Bamidele: I discovered Jorden Roper a while back when I came across one of her income reports. I went through her site and couldn’t resist reading some of her insanely-practical and highly-informative articles, such as “How I built a $5,000/mo Freelance Writing Business in 4 Months (Month-by-Month Breakdown!).” I was impressed, and I immediately decided that this is someone I had to feature on Writers in Charge.
Jorden has a lot of great content on her site, and I’ve had people rave about her paid products in communities I oversee. Needless to say, this is someone you SHOULD follow! Check out our case study on her below!
Writing is a notoriously underpaid profession.
Many writers are struggling to make ends meet, and most never get to a point where they can make a comfortable living from their craft.
Meanwhile, Jorden Roper managed to make $5,000 in her fourth month as a full-time freelance writer. How did she do it?
Getting fired
Jorden has always been interested in writing, so when she saw a full-time copywriting job on LinkedIn she decided to apply. “I wasn’t really qualified for it at the time, but I just figured why not, I might as well give it a shot.” She got the job and joined the company as a B2B copywriter.
Soon, she realized that she didn’t want to stay there for long. “They treated copywriters as content mill writers, so it wasn’t the best experience…” She started researching what else she could do, and once she found out freelance writing was an option, she knew that she wanted to become self-employed. That happened sooner than she expected!
In April 2015, Jorden got fired from her job and had a decision to make. Should she look for another job or should she take a risk try to make it as a freelance writer? Jorden decided to take the risk.
“I will make $5000 per month by August 2015”
Most freelance writers start out with low-paying, content mill type gigs. But Jorden didn’t have time for that – she had bills to pay and money was running out. “I absolutely had to make it work, I didn’t have the luxury of building up my business over time.” So she set a bold goal: to make $5000 per month by August 2015.
She started by picking a niche. “I knew that high paying clients were typically looking for someone who specialized in their industry.” She already had IT B2B experience so she decided to brand herself as an IT B2B writer.
Jorden made sure that her website was appealing to potential clients. “I made it very clear that I was an IT B2B writer, I described my experience, I explained what results I could drive, etc. I made it a freelance writing business website, not just a portfolio page.”
Then she started looking for clients. She got some work from job boards (her favorite being ProBlogger jobs board) and some people contacted her on LinkedIn. However, what paid off the most was her cold emailing efforts.
“I used a service called LimeLeads to look up IT companies, then downloaded the leads, and started reaching out to them.
I remember that on the first day that I sent out cold emails, 2 of 17 emails converted to paying clients, which was awesome because I was a bit skeptical about the whole thing.”
Jorden worked like crazy. She was sending out lots of cold emails, tweaking her website, networking on LinkedIn… and, of course, doing the actual writing! “I was putting in long hours, trying to frontload all that hard work, so that I could set myself for success down the road.” And it paid off!
In August 2015, four months after being fired from her job, Jorden made $5,172!
$4000 – $8000 per month
Now Jorden is an established freelance writer who typically makes anywhere between $4000 – $8000 per month.
She has branched out into writing about marketing. “I have always been really passionate about marketing, so I started transitioning towards that once I realized that I didn’t want to do IT content anymore.”
She has also started her own blog, Writing Revolt, that offers “No bullshit, in-depth freelance writing advice.” What is her advice to our readers?
Jorden’s 3 Tips for Writers in Charge Audience
#1 Set a concrete goal. “Set a concrete goal, give yourself a deadline, and then always be taking action. When I started, I told myself that I was going to make $5000 by August 2015. It’s so much easier to make something happen if you go after a specific number and set a deadline.”
#2 Pick a specific niche. “Don’t be a generalist, pick a niche, and then market your niche expertise. That was really important to me when I was just starting out. I think that was a big reason why my income grew fast.”
#3 Keep improving your business. “Keep working on your business and never let it stagnate. There are so many things you can improve over time – design, portfolio, SEO, social media presence, etc. All that will help you attract better clients.”
What’s next for Jorden?
“I definitely want to keep growing my freelance writing business, but the main thing I’m focusing on right now is helping other people learn how they can make money freelance writing.”
If you want to learn more about Jorden Roper, visit her blog at Writing Revolt and say hi to her on Twitter: @JordenRoper
The post How Jorden Roper Went from Getting Fired to Earning $5,000/mo in Just Four Months appeared first on Writers in Charge.
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How Jorden Roper Went from Getting Fired to Earning $5,000/mo in Just Four Months
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