Starting out is scary as a professional business content writer, no matter how dedicated you are to making it work.  I decided to look back to my own beginning and share some tips and suggestions on how I got used to my professional writing career without taking on something that I wasn’t ready for.

Top tips for starting out in business content writing

Most of us would like to know at least a little bit about what we’re doing before we start, right?  Here’s what I did, and it really made a difference in my professional attitude.

• Learn the trade: Just like novel writing and technical writing are a trade, so is business content writing.  Take a course in it, or at least read a book or two on the topic if you can.  You’ll want to learn the basic concepts of what to do and what not to do as early as possible.  Also, make sure that you learn the lingo for basic terms so that you aren’t instantly reaching for a dictionary!

• Start with small projects: If you’re nervous or want to “get your feet wet”, start with something like a blog post or a small website page.  It will help you get used to what it feels like to write according to a brief and get a few jobs under your belt.

• Don’t let the bigger guys bully you: There’s always someone out there who’s going to scoff at the little website that you just finished, or make some sort of off-hand rude comment about some mistake that you made.  Perhaps it’s the customer and perhaps it’s a competitor.  Just shake it off and remember that if you keep your head down and stay focused, you’ll be the big guy before too long!  We all have to start somewhere, so take pride in your mistakes and learn from them!

• Find your niches and stick with them: Business content writing has niches.  Some you’ll be better at the others, and some you’ll like other than others.  Take my professional writing for instance.  I’m really good at writing web copy, and I LOVE writing product descriptions.  I’m not great at writing content in an auto niche, and I HATE writing biographies.  Knowing where I’m most useful, professionally speaking, is important and helps you enjoy what you do a bit more.

Professional writing is just like riding a bike

Cliche, I know.  But once you get used to the idea of writing business copy, it’ll become a second habit.  You’ll be able to anticipate a customer’s need and help fine-tune vague blog post briefs, etc.  You get experienced and that experience (as well as confidence) will win you bigger sales with better customers.

Starting out as a business content writer takes time, patience, and education just like anything else out there.  But it’s doable and you don’t need to necessarily go out and get a full degree in it, unless you have the idea of being a “jack of all trades” in business content writing, graphic design, SEO, and more.  These tips will help start you out just fine. 

Have any tips that you’d like to share with potential newbie business writers?  Go ahead!

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