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I Almost Gave Up On Freelancing During My First Gig

Brad Bartlett
3 min readAug 15, 2022

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Every freelancer has to break through the challenging first client to find their flow. Here’s how to find yours.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

I’ve been a full-time freelance writer for nearly 3 years.

However, I started working on writing as a side-hustle a few years before I went full-time.

But here’s a secret to my success: I almost gave up after my very first client.

My first freelance writing gig was a doozy. The pay was low, and the client offered little direction and expected me to read his mind.

His constant revision requests bordered on jerk-level arrogance.

It’s hard to recall the project’s specifics at this point, but I remember one thing — he wanted me to promote his product (which didn’t yet exist) in a way that “went viral.”

A tall order for anyone, let alone a new freelancer.

I worked my tail off for little pay and felt like I was constantly swimming upstream. Every time I sent him a new update, he had a litany of revisions. Most of them were regarding “the vibe” or “the feel” of the article — things that were difficult to put into words, let alone change.

Throwing In The Towel On Day One

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Brad Bartlett
Brad Bartlett

Written by Brad Bartlett

Professional Freelance Copywriter. (www.bradleebartlett.co) Musings on #freelancing, #productivity, #self-development, and more!

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