Help! I don't know what I'm doing
Hi freelance writers,
I'm just starting out and I've come to the realisation that I don't know what the hell I'm doing.
For some context, I do currently have a full-time job but I've always wanted to be freelance. In June/July I'll be going down to three days a week in my current role so that I have more time to commit to freelancing. This was recently confirmed which is really exciting but, since then, I've been freaking out a bit.
I'm totally new to the freelance world. I've been working on a small magazine for the last three years (one year as the editor), and I was previously an EA and did some voluntary writing on the side. But have I actually freelanced? Never. I'm starting to think this was a stupid idea.
I'd love to hear any advice, success stories or general encouragement that you'd be willing to give so I don't give up before I've even started! In particular - what is the best way to find work? I've signed up to some substacks and newsletters, but a lot of content is behind a paywall. I'm happy to pay for some, but it's hard to know which ones are actually useful.
Some more useful info - I'm based in the UK and have written mainly in the food & drink/lifestyle/travel space which I'd love to continue doing (and which I obviously have skills in), and I have experience in feature writing, blog writing, copywriting, product descriptions and a smattering of SEO, with the obvious copy-editing, proofreading etc. in there as well. The end goal is feature writing but I will literally take anything to start with!
I've been finding time every day to get the ball rolling as much as possible (not always easy with a pretty hectic full-time job) but I don't feel as though I've made much progress.
There's so much information out there - it's overwhelming! I'd love to hear any and everything other freelancers have to say, even if it's "yeah this is a really stupid idea."
Thanks in advance!
Signed,
A very scared freelance writer xx