How to Earn Your First Dollar as a Writer Online

On Fiverr, I earned my first $1 in freelancing. I looked into other ways to make money online with my words over the years and discovered a couple of fantastic ones. Here's a list of the most popular:

1. Independent work

2. Ebook sales

3. Manage Paid Newsletters

I understand that most of you are probably preoccupied with your lives. However, even 1-2 hours spent writing online can change your life. For the Record.

When you make your first $1 online, you'll be able to make your next $10 online. You'll quickly reach your $1000 goal.

Let's delve into each of the topics I mentioned above.

Freelancing

This revenue stream peaked when the Pandemic struck. Here is a checklist to help you land your first freelance client.

Check out the Freelance Writing Hub to improve your writing skills.

Create a free Carrd or Super portfolio.

Make writing samples on topics of interest to you. (to demonstrate your writing style and abilities) [Add them to your Portfolio website]

To generate inbound leads, set up a free LinkedIn or Twitter account. Show up every day with content focused on solving problems that irritate your future clients.

Get outbound leads by using Fiverr and ProBlogger.

Don't make it too complicated. For beginners, freelance platforms are a great place to start. You can also maintain a Personal Branding account on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Ebooks for Sale

Writing blogs is one thing, but writing Ebooks is an entirely different experience. You get the "Author" title, but the best part is the money. Here's a checklist to help you sell your first $1 ebooks.

Create a free Gumroad or Payhip account.

Create a free Twitter account. Begin by creating content for a specific niche.

Find and validate problems related to the niche by asking around in FB Groups and other relevant online communities such as Discord, Reddit, and Quora.

Write your Ebook in response to the solutions to those problems.

Make a free ebook using Canva or Notion.

Fill out the details and upload it to Gumroad or Payhip.

Begin promoting your Ebook on Twitter.

[Tip: Make it free to attract more leads. You can later sell a paid product to these people directly from your email list.]

Maintaining a Paid Newsletter

If you don't have anything to offer, building an email list is pointless.

Create a newsletter to share your knowledge and resources with people who are a few steps behind you

With just over 3 months of experience running a Newsletter, I've discovered that people prefer to consume bite-sized, mostly skimmable information.

A Newsletter can serve this purpose admirably. So here's a Checklist for Starting an Online Newsletter.

Create a memorable name for your newsletter.

Choose from the following free newsletter platforms: Beehiiv, Substack, or Revue. [I make use of BeeHiiv]

Create your own Content or curate it from other Internet Creators.

Make a free account on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram.

Prepare 2-3 newsletter issues for publication.

Share your Newsletter on your social media profiles.

Most social media sites allow you to link a URL in your bio. Include a link to your newsletter in there.

Begin creating content for your preferred social site that is tailored to the topic of your Newsletter.

Introduce a Paid Subscription Tier in your Newsletter once you've reached 1000 subscribers. [This is available on the majority of newsletter platforms]

Other methods of monetization include affiliate offers, running ads, promoting your own e-products, consultations, and so on.

Running newsletters is one of the most popular side hustles today. Test it out for yourself.

What Comes Next?

There is literally no reason not to make money today.

Everything I've mentioned above — every tool, platform, strategy, and method for generating traffic — is completely free. All you need to invest is your time and efforts.

So here's a quick rundown of the three methods for earning your first $1 online:

Selling Ebooks as a Freelancer

I'm running a paid newsletter and I'm passing it along to you right now. Which one are you going to go with first?

In any case, please leave your preference in the comments section below.