How to Use Your Blogging Skills to Kickstart a Freelancing Career

Becoming a freelancer is a phenomenal way to build a work at home business as a mom. If you’ve spent any time as a blogger, you are already off to a great start for building a profitable and satisfying freelance career.

From Blogger to Freelancer

When you decide to branch out into the world of freelancing, one of the first things you’ll need is a resume – whether in the form of a traditional C.V., to fill out a profile on one of the many freelance job websites or to create your own website portfolio.

If you are a blogger, you can use that experience to create a stellar resume irregardless of your education or previous work experience. And since getting started in the blogging world requires so many overlapping skills that companies look for in freelancers, the length of time that you’ve been blogging is really not an issue.

Let’s break down some of the skills you’ve learned as a blogger, be it newbie or veteran, and how you can turn those into experience for your resume.

Blogger to Freelancer – Writing Skills

Unless your blog is strictly visual, you’ve built up some pretty decent writing chops as a blogger. It takes dedication and skill to turn out new and useful blog content on a regular basis.

Here are some of the writing qualifications you’ve probably earned as a blogger:

• Social Media content
• Calls to Action
• Branding text (taglines, about pages, etc.)
• Short form content
• Long form content
• Blogging
• Email newsletters
• Review writing
• Comment writing
• Community Interaction
• Editing
• Ebook creation

Blogger to Freelancer – Design Skills

Unless you’ve hired out all of your design work (from blog template set up to individual post images), you’ve likely built up more design skills than you’ve realized.

If you are likely many bloggers, these are design items you’ve likely dabbled with:

• HTML / CSS
• WordPress management
• Creative image creation
• Header / banner design
• Website layout
• Ebook design
• Email design
• Social media images (creation of Pinterest images, Instagram images and/or Facebook images is a highly in-demand skill in the freelancing world!)

Blogger to Freelancer – Photography and Videography Skills

Whether you post food pictures in frequent recipe posts or “tasty vlogs,” daily selfies of your #OOTD, DIY photo tutorials, or pictures of your kids, you are likely very familiar with your camera as a blogger.

And honestly, “camera” doesn’t have to mean a high-end DSLR. It could just be your iPhone camera, web camera or even a simple point-and-shoot.

If you’ve gotten comfortable with using photos or videos in your blog and on social media, you can probably claim these skills:

• Photo and/or video editing
• Script writing
• Photo collage creation
• Photography / Videography
• Process photos
• Process videos

Blogger to Freelancer – Social Media Skills

If there’s one thing bloggers are comfortable with, it’s social media. And luckily for us, there are MANY companies, brands, and other bloggers willing to pay good money to turn over the management of their social media.

As you’ve worked to grow your social media community, I bet the following skills have become a regular part of your life:

• Social media management
• Social media scheduling
• Organic social media growth
• Social media ads
• Editorial calendars
• Social media strategy
• Community building
• Social media image and video creation

These are really just the tip of the iceberg. By and large, bloggers are a self-taught, scrappy bunch. The skills we learn as bloggers definitely qualify as “work experience” and should absolutely be included as part of your freelancer resume everywhere you share it.

Think outside of the box a bit and I bet you’ll quickly come up with many more acquired skills and experiences than what I’ve written here. Below are some other examples to get you started.

Blogger to Freelancer – Miscellaneous Transferrable Skills

• Virtual assistant
• Community management
• Marketing
• Blogger / Influencer outreach
• Podcasting
• And many, many more…

Transitioning from Blogger to Freelancer

You’ve likely heard that having multiple income streams is one of the smartest financial decisions you can make. With this in mind, adding a freelance client or two to your making money online repertoire is a great way to diversify your income.

If you’d like to delve into a freelancing as a full-time career, it is a phenomenal option that is perfect for any WAHM. That transition – from blogger to freelancer – is what allowed me to start making a consistent 6-figure yearly income. It is how I was able to retire my husband in 2011 and fully support our family of 7 as the sole breadwinner.

I’ll admit that my blog took a backseat as I focused on client work and building my freelance career, but I was able to maintain it as a very viable side hustle. As a work at home mom, this was a fantastic option for me!

If you’re ready to explore the world of freelancing and transition some of those skills you’ve learned from blogging, I wholeheartedly encourage you to go for it!

Here are some other resources you can check out to help you get started down that path:

• The Millionaire Mission Mom Podcast. This is my podcast where I dive into all kinds of freelancing and online money making topics for work-at-home moms. I share details of my personal journey as well as actionable tips and insight that you can start using right away.
• From SAHM to WAHM – Making the transition from stay-at-home mom to work-at-home mom. In this free ebook, I share numerous tips and ideas to help you step out confidently into your role as a WAHM.
• The WAHM Collective Facebook Group – Join our active community just for work-at-home moms and get support and encouragement for all aspects of your life as a WAHM while making some fantastic friends and connections.

If you decide to make the jump from blogger to freelancer (and you totally should!), you don’t have to do it alone! Let me know what questions or concerns you have and I’ll help you get started down that path so that you can successfully make the transition.