Freelance Writing 101: Start Your Successful Writing Career

The ultimate beginner's guide to building a successful freelance writing business from start to finish!

What's Inside

Welcome to Freelance Writing 101, a step-by-step beginner's guide to building a successful freelance writing business from scratch.

How often have you thought about becoming a freelance writer but just had no idea where to start?

You would love to work on your own terms, do something you genuinely enjoy, and build a business that supports you and your family.

But whenever you go to take the first step, you just don't know where to begin.

That's where so many aspiring writers find themselves. But that cycle ends today.

In this course, you'll learn exactly what it takes to build a successful freelance writing business.

In my career, I've found myself on both sides of the freelance writing table: I've made a living as a freelance writer, reaching millions of people with my work—but more recently, I've worked as a publisher who hires freelance writers. In this course, I use that experience to lay out a step-by-step roadmap that you can follow to start your business and get your first paid writing gig as soon as possible.

Here are some of the things we'll cover:

  • The mindset of a successful freelance writer: how to stay motivated and overcome fear and uncertainty
  • How much money you can make as a freelance writer
  • How to uncover your passions and find a freelance writing niche that is both profitable and interesting
  • How to break out of the "experience loop" and build a portfolio that will get you hired—even if you've never had a paid writing job in your life
  • Where to find paid writing gigs
  • How to craft an effective pitch that will help you stand out and get responses (template included!)
  • How to improve your writing and become a more valuable asset to your clients
  • How to be more productive and efficient as a freelance writer
  • How to handle client feedback in a way that's positive, healthy, and constructive

By the time we're finished, you'll be well on your way to building a successful freelance writing business.

I hope to see you inside!

Get started now!



Certificate Available
371+ Students
29 Lectures
0+ Hours of Video
Lifetime Access
24/7 Support
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Brad Merrill

Brad Merrill is the CEO of Merrill Media, a modern holding company focused on building independent, scalable businesses at the intersection of technology and media. He is regarded as an expert in his field, teaching business and technology courses to more than 100,000 students and providing marketing training to a number of prominent startups and Fortune 500 companies.


Merrill considers himself a passionate creative: he loves creating articles, videos, websites, companies, workflows, and new ideas. He has been creating things on the web since 2007, working on dozens of projects and reaching tens of millions of people in the process.


In 2010, Merrill founded VentureBreak, which became a leading source of news about innovation for forward-thinking entrepreneurs, investors, business executives, and interested consumers. Under his leadership, VentureBreak served more than half a million monthly readers, appeared regularly on Techmeme, and found itself cited by a number of notable publications, including the Wall Street Journal. While at the helm, Merrill personally interviewed hundreds of entrepreneurs and industry luminaries, sharing their stories with VentureBreak’s global audience. In 2015, VentureBreak was acquired by the organizer of Europe’s largest technology meetup.


Merrill still has his finger on the pulse of the industry as he works to build new properties in today’s evolving media landscape. One such property is GigaPress, a comprehensive source of free resources for WordPress bloggers, creators, and freelancers.


In addition to developing authoritative new media brands, Merrill leads mDash, an online education studio that specializes in condensing years of industry experience and extensive research into engaging, digestible online courses for students in more than 180 countries.

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