Writing might be one’s passion and limited to hobby. But, this young agency owner has proved over and over that you can make writing a full-time profession with hard work and perseverance.
This young agency owner is Shreya Pattar, also a content creator, and a coach to many young and budding freelancers who wish to build successful careers online. Shreya is also the author of three ebooks, and each of them have received rave reviews by freelancers across the globe.
Shreya was only eight when she started writing eight-line poems about how beautiful her mom is, or how much she hated math. But little did she know back then that those short poems and musings are her way into a completely new professional world that is all hers.
Except for her love for writing, Shreya didn’t know even the words “content writing” and “copywriting” for the longest time. When she landed in internships right after high school, she understood what these words really meant. “Copywriting” and “content writing” were the two skills she was honing and after a year, she started freelancing.
It wasn’t easy. But Shreya believes that one skill that helped a lot in this journey is her intense habit of reading. She says, “Especially in the field of content writing, reading will have a large impact on the way you write. When you read a lot, you think a lot. When you think a lot, you have too many ideas and opinions and arguments floating around in your head. And when you have too many ideas and opinions and arguments floating around in your head, the best way to organise and clarify them in your own brain is to write them all down.” This is the one habit that Shreya believes will change the game for young writers too.
Shreya’s freelancing journey started on an interesting note.
Shreya wrote her first post on LinkedIn back in September 2018, which went viral and garnered over 1.5 million views and 14,000 likes. Almost overnight, people started noticing her skills, and appreciated her narrative style of writing.
Within a few days, the messages poured in, “Loved your post, Shreya! Can you do the same for us?” That’s exactly how it started for Shreya, by saying “yes” to certain freelance queries and opportunities on LinkedIn. And this was the start of a journey that just got better with each passing day. Through the success of one LinkedIn post, Shreya understood the real potential of freelancing and how it could shape one’s career.
Talking about freelancing in India, Shreya believes that the game has changed since the pandemic, with people working from home and having the option to work for themselves and earn more money. While a lot of people start, only those who hang in there till the end will see the best of results. While freelancers cannot decide the future of a company completely, freelancers working with the experienced core team of the company to deliver what the company wants can bring the best of results, Shreya believes.
Freelancing is often deemed as unstable by most Indians, but Shreya believes that the lack of belief in oneself is what sets freelancers in the back seat.
Here’s what Shreya says about the instability of freelancing:
“Freelancing is unpredictable. You could make $500 one month, and $100 another month. But you could also make $500 one month and $5000 another month. So while freelancing can be unstable in the ‘downward direction’, it can also be unstable ‘upwards’. It depends on you and your hard work, which direction you wish to take your freelancing career in. The important thing to keep in mind is – once you figure out how to earn money through freelancing, then making more money will keep getting easier and easier. So learn fast, work fast, fail fast… and then succeed faster.”
Shreya has 4 suggestions for “increasing the sustainability” of freelancing:
- Become highly skilled in your core expertise and charge a premium (this can happen in as little as 6 months of focused work)
- Be professional in the way you create content, communicate with your audience & clients, and work on your projects
- Always look for more clients even when you’re fully booked (you can book clients a few months in advance and offer a discount for doing so)
- Save money every single month. And save more money in the months that you earn more.
And to do all of this, a freelancer must have emotional intelligence, resilience and integrity.“Focus on your present, focus on what matters most right now. You’ll figure the rest out over time,” is what Shreya advises for all budding writers and freelancers.
From interning right after high school to owning an agency that generates six figures, Shreya is an inspiration to many. Follow Shreya Pattar on Instagram and LinkedIn, and her curated content will be your ultimate guide to success!
Psst… Shreya’s new ebook Freelancing Freedom is meant to help new freelancers like you go from zero clients to your first client within 10 days (and from $0 to $1000+ per month, within 3 months!) Order your copy here: Freelancing Freedom
