Note from Jennifer: I think many writers overlook local companies and agencies when in fact they are often more willing to hire a local writer. When Alma-Jasmin told me that she found her first gig by starting local, I wanted to share her success with everyone since I think it is a great strategy. 

In 2009, while I still worked in the corporate world, I decided to pitch writing an article for a magazine. I googled magazines in my state and found a magazine in my area that I liked. I e-mailed the editor about my interest in writing an article for them, and bam! I was given the opportunity to write a one-time piece.

To this day, I cannot say why I even did that. After working in the same field for several years, I may have longed for some sort of challenge that my job just wasn’t giving me. Or maybe I was fulfilling some sort of longing to get my thoughts out on paper. Whatever the case, I landed the gig, got paid, and received a byline for my work.

To this day, I cringe a little when I think about the e-mail that I sent to the editor. After that, I wrote a couple more articles “for fun”, but let my writing hobby fall to the wayside as I focused more on my career and advancing my education.

I thought I wasn’t qualified to be a writer.

Fast forward a few years later when I quit my job in order to stay at home with my daughter, I thought about writing again. I quickly dismissed this thought, since it did not go hand in hand with my career, which I eventually wanted to return to. I remember thinking, how can I go from finance to writing?

One day, after reading a blog post by writer, Elna Cain, a light bulb went off for me. I could write about finance and business! I could write about my hobbies! Up until that point, I thought that a writer was required to write about anything and everything under the stars. It may seem silly to seasoned writers, but it didn’t occur to me to “niche down” to just a few topics. I signed up for the freelance writing course Elna offered in order to learn more about blog writing and I was on my way.

I thought building my portfolio was going to be easy.

Now that I knew what I wanted to write about, I thought that building my portfolio was going to be a piece of cake. After all, I published that first article years ago when I wasn’t even serious about writing. Now that I knew what I wanted to do, I thought this was going to be a breeze. I didn’t even realize that my first writing experience was the exception and not the norm.

Although I did manage to get a couple more articles published online and in another magazine, most of my e-mails went ignored. I was puzzled. I knew that I was still fairly new to freelance writing, but why was nobody responding? I even had professional experience on the topics I wanted to write about. I even had a few samples.

I had no idea how competitive freelance writing gigs were online. Clients knew exactly what they wanted in a writer and they could get it. There was no reason they needed to hire a newbie over someone who was a seasoned writer in the exact niche they needed.

Part luck, part strategy.

One day, after commenting on one of Jennifer’s blog posts, she responded to me that because I was a new writer, I should try reaching out to contacts and to people I knew locally. I thought about this. When I sent my very first pitch, it was for a local magazine, which was purely accidental on my part. There weren’t thousands of other people that I was competing against across the country, and I was writing about a topic specific to the state that I lived in. If I wanted to become serious about writing and build my portfolio, I had to think locally.

I searched for magazines and websites in my area and as luck would have it, my city’s tourism center was looking for a recurring blog writer. They needed someone local to write about events and places to visit for tourists. Once again, my location and knowledge of the area are the main reasons I got the gig.

It helped that I already had a few published articles and that I loved to travel. Other things that I mentioned in my application were specific to the area (like how tourists all tended to visit one location in the city and didn’t even know about other places that the city had to offer.) I also highlighted the fact that as a mom, I could write about places that would appeal to visitors with families.

I was honest, friendly, and willing to accommodate by saying I could write on weekends, if necessary. All of these things together landed me my very first recurring gig in something I was very passionate about!

My writing started off as kind of a fluke. However, when I wanted to get serious about building my career and portfolio, reaching out to local businesses and organizations was the way to go.

Have you reached out to local businesses and agencies? Any tips you want to share?