How to Start a Successful Writing Business – 5 Key Tips
Starting a business of your own can be a great idea if you want to sell products, but you can also start a business for offering services.
There are many writing business ideas you can use for your startup, but before you decide anything, you need to prepare well.
Consider different types of writing, develop your skills, write a business plan, etc. before you can finally launch your writing business. Without further ado, here are the five key tips for starting a successful writing business.
Pros and Cons of Starting a Writing Business
Before you make the decision to start a writing business, you should first consider all the pros and cons of this kind of company:
Types of Writing and Their Application
Another aspect of a writing business to consider is the type of writing you will specialize in. You can either use writing marketing to promote your company as one that works with all kinds of writing or specializes in a specific selection of types.
Some of the most common types of writing include:
You can either open a writing business that only offers one or two types of writing or a company that offers a complete range of writing types.
Some types of writing such as copywriting are considered to be more lucrative, so keep that in mind when deciding which types of writing you want to offer in your company.
5 Key Tips for Starting a Successful Writing Business
1. Develop Appropriate Writing Skills
Once you decide which types of writing you want to offer, you will need to develop appropriate writing skills. Of course, this is necessary if you decide to be the one completing the orders you get from your clients instead of having a team of writers and editors.
That being said, even if you won’t be doing any actual writing work, you should still be fairly familiar with what good writing looks like to determine whether your employees are doing a good job.
In case you decide to start a writing business where you are the only employee or where you are a part of the writing team, you will need to spend time developing your skills. If you have some writing experience already, you might not need any additional training.
But if you are new to writing, then you should definitely find some ways you can get relevant professional education.
One of the easiest ways to develop your writing skills is by enrolling in online or offline courses. You can even find some free online courses as well as courses that offer official testing at the end and a certificate to confirm your qualifications.
You can look for courses on dedicated platforms like Coursera and edX. Similarly, look for other resources that you could use to hone your writing skills such as books on writing, blogs where writers explain their routines, and so on.
It is also a good idea to develop your business writing skills that will help you in organizing and manage your writing business successfully.
Business writing is used for documentation, but you might also need it for other official-related purposes. In any case, it will be a valuable skill for you when you first start your writing business and even going forward as it expands over the years.
2. Create a Detailed Business Plan
Next, you will need to create a detailed business plan. Having a business plan will help you ensure that you plan ahead how you will organize your business before you launch it.
You can’t just start a company without knowing what to do with it, so a business plan will give you a straightforward step-by-step outline to follow that you can stray away from time to time. In other words, it will be critical for your writing business.
To create your business plan, you should first analyze the market by looking at your competitors and target audience. Your competitors are other writing businesses similar to yours that are competing with you either on the local or the global scene.
And your target audience is the potential clients that you want to target with your marketing and advertising who could become your customers.
Ask yourself questions that will help you create your business plan and cover every aspect of your writing company:
Think through every aspect of your business. For example, you can choose between different types of pricing (i.e. per hour, per piece of content, per word, per page).
Charging per word (or per page) is probably the best route to take because most clients usually have a specific word count in mind.
When setting your prices, make sure that they are competitive by taking into account several factors:
Keep in mind that you will likely need to have a safety net during the first few months (or for as long as a year) after launching your business. It will take time for you to find enough clients to have a steady and high income.
You will need to have a full-time or a part-time job for the time being before you can quit it and focus on your writing business entirely.
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3. Take Care of Business Documentation
Now, you will need to take care of business documentation. Starting a writing business is just like starting any other business which is why you will need to make sure that you have any relevant documents ready.
One of these is your business plan which you already created, but you will now have to register your business and make it official.
If you already developed your business writing skills, you can take care of all your documentation yourself. On the other hand, if you need professional help, you can hire an experienced writer from the writing services review site Rated by Students.
They will have the knowledge, expertise, and experience necessary to write any official documents you will need to register your business correctly.
4. Set Up the Practical Aspects of Your Business
After registering your writing business, you will need to set up the practical aspects of your company. In other words, this is when you actually start executing your business plan in practice.
Here are some practicalities you need to take care of:
5. Promote, Network, and Find Your First Clients
Last but not least, finalize the launch of your writing business by starting your promotional cycle, networking, and finding your first clients. It will take you some time to build credibility and establish yourself as a legitimate writing company, but it will be worth it.
The more happy customers you have, the more new customers you can attract who will be more eager to trust you and work with you.
If you have a small budget, you don’t need to hire in-house employees. In fact, you can have a freelance writing team that will be handling your writing orders while you promote your business.
This way, you can save time and money while completing orders on time and delivering consistently high quality to your customers. It’s a great solution for those who are just starting their writing business and don’t have many resources available to them.
To attract clients, launch a PPC ad campaign and promote your business online in different ways. You can also promote your business locally with offline marketing techniques, but you have more chances of finding clients online.
Make sure to target the right audience with your advertising and marketing to convert more customers. In addition to promotional activities, start networking to connect with people in the industry.
Even though you are competitors, you could become partners and benefit from this relationship in the long run.
Conclusion
All in all, opening your writing business can be a bit challenging during the planning and preparation stage, but once you launch and pick up speed, your business will continue growing. Use the tips in this article to help you open your own writing company and start earning money with writing.
Author Bio
Cynthia Young is an academic writer with a wondrous love for business literature and travel. She starts her day reading articles in her favorite business magazines and ends up writing her own. For several years he has been working with a team of writers Top Writing Reviews.