Two years of freelancing – what have I learnt? The good, the bad, the surprising (and the downright ugly).
I remember setting myself up as sole trader like it was yesterday.
Putting together my little website and announcing to the LinkedIn world that I was now a freelance copywriter! Fear of the unknown questions whirred round my head like how on earth would I find clients and if I did, would they actually pay me. Spoiler yes, I would, and yes they would, even if a few invoices needed a nudge…more on that later.
Announcing to the world, well LinkedIn at least, that I was a freelance copywriter available for hire!
I remember the mix of excitement and anxiety in equal measures, and I remember seeing others post about how they’d been successfully freelancing for two, five, ten years or more. It seemed almost unachievable at the time and yet here I am, writing one of those ‘what I’ve learnt as a freelancer of X years’ posts. I personally loved reading these, they gave me that bit of hope along with a reality check that it wouldn’t always be a bed of roses. And I’m very much a knowledge-is-power type person.
Now it’s not the copywriting that I’m new to having been in the game for almost two decades - see my previous blog post ‘My journey from inhouse copywriter to Freelance Copywriter’. But people aren’t lying when they say freelance is a whole different kettle of fish!
A few things I was prepared for, a few genuinely surprised me (and still do!) but two years in, what would my advice be to new copywriters considering going down the freelance route?
Let’s start on a high. There are so many of these to be said for freelancing.
THE GOOD
I personally love working remotely, writing at my laptop in my comfies. Taking a lunch or cuppa break when it suits you. No more stressful train commutes or being stuck in traffic. All of these home comforts have still not gotten old for me at two years in. More of the freelancing ‘good list’ for me include:
The variety is great
Having stuck around far too long at one of my inhouse copywriting roles, I lost a bit of my marketing mojo. I knew I needed to mix things up and I can safely say I’ve got my creative juices back as a freelancer. Some weeks writing about dog coats, some weeks CBD lotions, then others luxury rail travel. It’s been very hard to get bored. I love researching new topics, delving into a new subject is one of the best things about copywriting. And adapting the way you write to suit a brands’ identity gives you the chance to write in different tones of voice. Every time I’ve come up against a challenge, I feel I’ve come out the other end of the project a much better writer.
Good clients are gold
The ones the keep up the lines of communication, give you the best brief and plenty of background, and never micromanage (they know you’ve got the expertise – it’s why they hired you, right?). Oh, those clients are a dream to work with, and I’m pleased to say I’ve had more than a few of these ones over the past couple of years. The majority have come back for more, hiring me on a regular basis and I’m always so chuffed to get to work with them again. Oh yes, and they paid your invoice on time, hurrah!
Hello work/life balance
I’ve found the flexibility as a working mum of two primary school age kids an absolute godsend. Walking them to school (whilst getting in my steps – bonus) then getting back to log onto my laptop by 9am to do the job I enjoy, really feels like the best of both worlds. Being able to work school hours suits me as I’m at my most productive during the day anyway. I have some long days thanks to afterschool club that are perfect for when clients book you in for a full day. Christmas just gone was a big reminder of what being freelance has given me as a mum. There was no stressing about asking my boss to take an extra morning off here for a nativity play or an afternoon there for the carol concert. I simply scheduled my work around these in my diary. The result being happy clients, happy kids and happy me!
As I said up top though, it’s not all been rainbows and sparkles in my freelancing journey so far…
THE BAD
Newbie client fear is real
Why is it that I feel a bout of panic every time I start a job for a new client or send the copy over to them for approval? I don’t know but I do know it’s not just me, I’ve spoken to other copywriters and they’ve all said the same. Maybe it’s the perfectionist or people pleaser in me, I care about doing the best job for the client and I want them to be happy with the copy I’ve produced. Still holding out hope that this fear starts to subside over the next few years…
Finding retainers are hard
When I started up as a freelance copywriter, I naively thought that nabbing some three-day-a-week gigs with a business would be easy. This has not been my experience. A big percentage of my work has been made up by one off projects with an agency or writing a website for a small business owner. It’s not very often that these have progressed into anything more regular. A lot of the time budgets or timings seem to get in the way. I have had a few retainers for blogs, emails or newsletters over this couple of years, but good solid retainers are harder to bag than you might think. Fellow freelance copywriters have assured me I’m not the only one facing this challenge. Particularly at the moment I think a lot of companies and business owners are hesitant to commit to long term payments. Or worse still, commit to long term marketing full stop.
Finance chat can be awkward
Especially in the beginning this was heightened. Having never quoted for jobs before, I honestly felt like a rabbit in the headlights. I’ve over quoted and under quoted more than once before I had a grasp of how long certain copy would take to write. Sometimes I quoted far too early in the process – before I’d seen a brief or understood the full scope of the project. But hey, it’s a learning curve and I definitely ask a lot more questions now. I’ve finally got to the point now where I’m fully comfortable quoting for a copy job. Why? Well firstly, because I know my worth, I’ve got 20 years of marketing expertise to offer. And secondly my day rate at £350, actually sits under the average UK rate of £480 (according to the ProCopywriters Survey 2025) so I can feel confident that I offer good value for money. Let’s face it, if a business can’t afford to pay a freelance copywriter £350 a day anyway, they’re more than likely to be the ones to use Chat GPT to produce their content. One aspect of finances I still struggle with is asking to be paid. You’d think you can just email an invoice and the money will appear in your bank but you’d be wrong. On many occasions I’ve had to send chaser email after chaser email to get my invoice paid and it always feels uncomfortable.
THE SURPRISING
What has surprised me the most was how little I’ve worked with sole business owners. Originally, I just envisaged myself working with lots of them, writing their website copy, helping with branding and so on. What I have found is that actually they want to do it all themselves – for better or worse! I guess for a lot of them, their business is their baby and they find it hard to outsource anything. It’s not just copywriting either. I see them designing their own graphics on Canva, running their social media channels, doing their own financial accounts. A lot of them don’t see the value in hiring a copywriter, especially if they haven’t got a marketing background. Because now they have the tools like Chat GPT to write their website copy and they’re happy with the results it gives them. I’ve learnt to accept this and shift my focus fully to companies who have marketing departments or agencies. They value the marketing experience I have to offer and they’re happy to pay for it. From my perspective the work is normally more fun and creative too!
Now it’s time for THE UGLY
Ghosting
People really do ghost – I thought this was just a dating thing but nope, it happens in the professional world a lot, and it’s just plain rude! If I’m honest it’s one of the things I really can’t get my head around still. It happens at various stages too. The initial query stage – ‘how much for website copy please?’ Then ghost. After a Teams call where you got on like a house of fire and sent the proposal they ask for. Ghost. Even after working with a client multiple times before and getting great feedback from them. Ghost. It never fails to shock me when a simple, ‘sorry this project is on hold’ or ‘we’ve gone with another quote on this occasion’ is all that is needed. Freelancers these days need a thicker skin than ever so I’m trying my best to grow one!
AI copy is becoming a bigger issue
It’s probably the thing I get asked most these days. Am I worried that AI will take my job? And my answer is yes and no. I think most people working in any kind of industry these days faces the future risk of AI replacing them. It would be naive not to be a bit concerned. Chat GPT is a very real threat to freelance copywriters like me. But for now, I’m still booking work with clients that want to hire a human. One they can interact with and trust has the experience they need to crack on with the job. I mainly get copywriting projects through referrals and word of mouth, so they are clients that have worked with me before or know someone who has. This is still valuable, people want to work with people and I don’t see that fading just yet. I also get a fair few jobs through where I’m asked to correct some terrible AI generated copy slop. It’s always in the wrong tone of voice and doesn’t match the companies brand so needs a human eye casting over it. For now it feels like the AI copy bots are a few steps behind me but I can hear them catching up one day.
Is ChatGPT, one of the most used AI tools to generate copy going to replace freelance copywriters?
My advice to any copywriters thinking of going freelance?
Hmm, now I don’t claim to be the freelancing expert and I’d never want to put people off going for their dreams…yes there’s a but coming. It’s gone a bit mad out here. AI, budget cuts, shifts to get people back in the office. It’s not the best recipe for success for a lot of freelancers. All of these issues were on the cusp when I went freelance too but I think they’ve accelerated at speed in just two years. I can honestly say if I hadn’t gone freelance already, I’m not sure I’d be taking the jump in this climate.
It’s also worth thinking if you can genuinely make a living writing. I’ve got twenty years in marketing under my belt, a portfolio of examples and loads of contacts from previous employment and I’ve still found it tough going at times. I think if you’ve not got a lot of experience (and therefore less contacts) in the game then you are taking a big risk leaping into the freelance world. Like I said earlier, the majority of my work has come from my existing network. There are a lot of us fighting for the same projects, LinkedIn is not what is once was and thanks to AI coupled with cheap ‘writers’ on platforms like Upwork, there are clients expecting copywriting tasks for very little money.
There is a feeling amongst us experienced copywriters that copy doesn’t have the same value it once did, which is sad. I could never advise starting out as freelance without working as a copywriter somewhere first and for a couple of years at least. I’d say going for an agency role over inhouse is more valuable as you’d get to write for different brands and learn your craft quicker. Plus you end up with a bigger portfolio of examples. My pre-freelance copywriting career was mainly inhouse and that is one thing I do regret.
Freelancing into the future – what’s next for me?
With AI and the current economic climate, it’s pretty hard to predict what’s to come. What I do know is that I love copywriting and there is nothing else I want to do for a job. So, for now I’ll continue to do what I do. Work hard for my clients to meet their brief, get copy to them on time and be an easy freelancer to work with. Hopefully this will keep me busy writing for the next two years. It will be interesting to see what freelancing looks like then and how it fits into the world of marketing.