In this day and age, it’s tough for freelance writers to find alternative ways to make money. Yet, I have found one source that is serious money for beginners and experts alike. LinkedIn is a largely untapped platform with plenty of potential for making money, the trick is how to get it right?

Wrong! Well, kinda.

So many executives, so little time. With all the companies and high-powered people on LinkedIn, it’s astounding how many of them have profiles that for all intents and purposes, suck.

Right Kevin, where is this gold mine, you ask?

-Resume Services

-Profile rewrites/Upgrades

-Ghostwriting Published Posts

Take one look through your LinkedIn connections and their profiles and it becomes increasingly clear how bad some people are in the English language. Someone should help these folks and straighten out their grammar and their, they’re, there’s.

What I’ve figured out through some inquisition and experimentation, is that most business people would gladly pay to have us professional writers rewrite their profiles and even ghostwrite their published posts for them.

 

Finding The Money:

First things first, we need to find the people who are willing to pay us to give their resume and profile a working over. Not everyone is wholly keen on being told their English skill is comparable to that of a 6th grader so it takes a little finesse to find the right clients who will want to pay for your services.

1. Start by looking through your connections. Eliminate anyone who makes less than, say $40k/year. This will most likely wipe out the friends or school chums you have on your profile who should already know of your writing prowess, but it should also remove the homemakers, unemployed (*more on these folks in a minute), and those that either can’t or won’t afford your service.

2. Start off by selecting a pool of 10-20 possibilities based off of their income and also their position or status within their respective company. Obviously, we’re looking for anyone in an executive role and most notably those with obvious mistakes on their profiles. Also be on the lookout for those profiles with apparently out-of-date resumes and published posts that were obviously never run through a spell checker.

I mean, seriously people – Grammarly has a free version that works fantastic for this. And for us professionals, there is a premium version as well. I’ve used both, and I swear by it.

*Sidenote: It’s possible to aid in the employment searches of the jobless through creating their resume and a “proper” jobhunters LinkedIn page. Although, getting paid for those contracts is harder and definitely less lucrative. For those contracts where the person is out of work or looking for work, I generally will rewrite their resume and update their LinkedIn profile for 50% off or approximately $25-$50.

Now then, after you’ve sought out a good sample of prospects it’s time to make contact.

 

Cold Emailing Your Prospects:

After you have found your desired lead base, it’s time to reach out and provide value for them.
Introduce yourself with an email. Be professional, be concise, be nice! Most people don’t take criticism well from strangers, so we have to take some time to make nice, but we also have a limited chance to grab their attention. Your email headline & introduction need to be worded carefully so as to not chase away the prospect, but also in a way that will urge action.

1. Introduce yourself and mention their successes first off. Business folk love having their horn tooted, and noting their accomplishments will garner you a bit of favor and give you the faith needed to pitch your value to them. Once you’ve made them warm and fuzzy, then it’s time to crack the nut.

2. Mention that while reading through their profile you caught a few grammar mistakes and/or some confusing descriptions, any run-on sentences, or obvious mistakes they’ve possibly overlooked. Suggest that they hire someone to rewrite their bio for them, then offer to be that person for them. Continue on with a suggestion or two on how they could add some class and personality to their profile.

3. Be ready to write quickly. I can usually turn someone’s profile around for them in an hour or two if they’ve delivered all the pertinent information up front. I pride myself in having a prospective clients page updated and error free within 2-3 hours, but feel free to set your own timeline. However, quicker is better.

 

Getting Paid:

This day and age, almost everyone has a PayPal account, and if not, I am 80% positive your client has a facebook page and can transfer money that way, or any other method you choose to work with.

I prefer PayPal simply because it’s easy, immediate, and deposits straight to my bank account. Less muss, no fuss. They send it, I get it, they get their new swagtastic profile befitting of a business professional.

If you’re like me, you’ll want an invoice option for your clients. It’s good business to have a clearly defined record of service rendered and terms, and it makes everyone involved more comfortable with the arrangement.

In most cases, you can charge them anywhere from $50 for a personal page and $500 for a brand page. The trick to this game is adding value to their pages and to their posts. If you’re just going to hammer out the kinks and provide simple edits, you will not be able to charge nearly as much and most people would just shrug you off.

However, if you are truly writing the brand or persona manifesto for your clients while creating an A-list profile, then the sky is the limit. The key is to take mediocre and make it magnificent, drab to divine, and ordinary to- well, you get the point.

 

Trial and Error:

LinkedIn Profiles are a largely untapped marketplace. In addition, you can do the same for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. The essential job is the same, the details are slightly different along with the pay scale.

If you’re a blogger with an innate ability to create awe-inspiring graphics as well, you get the prize for being able to offer even more services to your new clientele. I’ve even found success creating tweets and simple facebook posts in blocks of 4 for $20-$40.

Get out there and play around with different formats and platforms and I’d love to know what works for you. Happy Writing…err….Rewriting.

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Kevin MacConkey is the Lead Writer/Editor of TheDailyKickstand.com and ContentCollectiveLLC.Blogspot.Com as well as a contributing writer on BayArt.org and has been a highly sought after freelance writer for the past 3 years. As a Writer/Life Coach/Public Speaker, Kevin has captivated and inspired many to reach outside of their comfort zone and try something new to better themselves.

Facebook: Facebook.com/ContentCollectiveMarketingLLC
Twitter: @ContentCollLLC
Gmail: ContentCollectiveLLC@Gmail.com

 

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