Jasmeet: The Journey From Passion To Profession!

Jasmeet is an introvert who found his solace in writing and turned his passion into a profession. Freelancing since December 2019, he is a content writer, storyteller, and a personal brand builder. The three best words to describe him are Mysterious, Sarcastic, and Passionate!

From skills to productivity to pricing to lead generation to isolation, he talks about all the major aspects of a freelancer’s life. He is a freelancer who trusts in the process. He started with breaking the stereotypes surrounding masculinity and later moved on to optimizing LinkedIn to generate leads. As a freelancer, he enjoys that it is about being your own boss, however, also acknowledges the uncertainty that comes along with it. 

Calling his journey a roller coaster ride, he is now a different and more composed person. His biggest learning is “Don’t let someone else’s expectations define your life”. We surely believe he stands out from the crowd and is determined to his craft. We can’t wait to hear his stories and we wish him success for the future. 

Read Jasmeet’s inspiring journey: 

1. Introduce yourself to us?

Hey! 

I’m Jasmeet Singh, a freelance content writer and a storyteller. I write relatable content and help brands target the right audience leading to more conversions. I’ve been writing since the age of 13. In all these years, reading and writing were my only best friends. I found it difficult to relax and be myself around people, even with the family I have known for years. All because of my introverted nature. 🙂 

Wait! Did I tell you I’m a trained classical singer and a part-time poet too? Haha, that’s me.

Today I’m a proud freelance content writer and storyteller.

If you have a story to tell, I am all ears! 

2. Why did you choose the field of writing? How did you get introduced to this field? What fascinates you the most about your career choice?

I didn’t choose the writing life, it chose me.

Jokes aside, that’s truly how it feels. As I mentioned about my introverted nature, writing came as a blessing to me. 

“Oh! Jasmeet, you like music, not cricket. Boys don’t cry. Don’t behave like a kid!” Yes, I had faced bullying for a long time. I was so naïve back then to break the stereotypical image of toxic masculinity; I decided to write my story. 

After my graduation (In 2019), I was blank. Didn’t even know what to do next in life? One day, I reopened my LinkedIn account, optimised my LinkedIn profile, attended a bunch of webinars to see how the platform works and started creating content and talking to people there. 

Slowly, I started getting leads, and I haven’t looked back since then.

Being a camera conscious person, I fell in love with the process of content creation only because social media gave me the platform to stand out from the crowd. 

It’s been a roller-coaster ride with so many twists and turns.

3. Why did you choose to freelance? When did you begin to freelance? Were you planning it, or how did it happen?

I didn’t even know what freelancing was until I started creating content on LinkedIn. It was accidental, not intentional, but if it hadn’t happened, I would have missed out on so many wonderful opportunities. Freelancing taught me – confidence, time management and conflict resolution. Today, I’m a totally different person. More happy, calm and composed. 

4. How did you approach the first few clients? How do you find leads organically?

Initially the content I used to post on LinkedIn helped me to find leads and most of my leads are inbound. Getting clients is one of the topmost challenges freelancers face. As a freelancer, you’re going to come across 2 types of clients:

1. Inbound clients are those who reach out to you. They can reach you through a reference, after reading your article somewhere, or maybe after seeing one of your social media profiles.

2. Outbound clients are those you acquire when you reach out to them. Say you want

to work for a specific agency, and so you reach out to them through maybe cold

emailing or through network building.

Here’s what you can do:

Pick a social media platform, preferably LinkedIn, because it’s a professional platform. As you move forward, you can also expand it to others like Facebook and Instagram. 

Consider following these actionable steps:

1. Optimize your profile
2. Connect with your target audience
3. Start creating content around your niche
4. Network + Collaborate + Celebrate 

Build your brand. It takes some time, but it’s worth it. Over time, while you’re being

consistent with all of this and especially about creating content around your niche, people will start recognizing you and eventually reach out. 

Or go for outbound:

1. Find your ideal prospect. It can be an individual or someone working in an agency.

2. Research about the person and the company. Find some gaps that your expertise might fill, thus helping the prospect.

3. Skim through their social media profiles to see where they are most active.

4. Start interacting with their content, DM them to start a conversation casually. Don’t pitch!

5. Continue doing this for a few days, leaving thoughtful comments on their post and continuing the conversation in DM. Next, find the right spot and hit them up.

5. How do you price your services as a freelancer? Any essential points that a new freelancer should know of?

There are a lot of factors involved while determining the pricing for a project.

The type of project, the scope of work, the amount of research involved, the length of the project, the amount of time which I need to invest into the project, the experience I hold in the industry, and a lot more.

Since the requirements vary quite a lot for every project, the price is always customized and tailor-made accordingly. There are mainly 3 types of pricing methods that are followed–per word, per hour, or per project.

Every freelancer has their preference regarding the pricing model. The best way to go about this is to experiment and see what works best for you.

6. Throw some light on the importance of choosing niches and working on personal branding for freelancers.

When you niche in your work, you’re going to get a lot of projects and tasks within that niche. That will help you develop domain knowledge.

When you share that, over time, you will be recognized as a thought leader.

When you’ve established this thought leadership, you can do some wonderful things like speak at conferences, write a book, or do a podcast. The idea is to build credibility. 

Anyone with access to the internet and social media can build an audience, position themselves as an expert, and start attracting clients for their business. That’s exactly what many people are doing.

Your brand distinguishes you from your competitors, helping to form a lasting impression in the mind of your audience and customers. 

There are two ways to build a brand:

1. Churn out boring content or

2. Craft compelling story. Target the audience to drive more traffic, which in return will lead to more conversions.

7. How do you deal with writer’s block? Any productivity tips for other freelancers?

Things I usually do to get away from the writer’s block is to go out and see friends, and I love singing, even if I’m not good at it, I do it for fun—the main thing is to have fun. 

Productivity tips for freelancers:

1. Create a workable To-do list – Use Trello and Google Calendar to manage work
2. Create a working space – Get out of your bed and work like a professional
3. Take breaks 
4. Prioritise health – physical, mental and emotional.

8. What, according to you, are the most essential skills that anyone interested in this area of work should develop? 

As a freelance writer, work on these skills: 

1. Adaptability, research and originality
2. Time management
3. Networking and communication

If possible, learn more about budgeting, finance and taxes. These skills can help you stand apart from your competitors and even help you land high ticket deals.

For Tools, I recommend:

1. HubSpot’s blog topic generator
2. Grammarly, Hemingway or Pro-writing Aid
3. Copyscape
4. Hootsuite and Canva
5. Ahrefs, SEMRush & Ubersuggest

9. As a freelancer, what were the biggest obstacles you overcame? What were your worst mistakes?

I used to feel lonely as a freelancer and to solve this problem – I started talking to other freelancers and content creators, focused on building a healthy relationship and learnt the art of networking. Today, I’m part of 12+ communities where we meet, greet and storytell. 

10. What is the one major pro and/or con of freelancing, according to you?

The biggest pro would be you are your boss. Freelancing allows you to take on the projects you like and with people you like to work with. 

I think the biggest con is that there is no fixed income, the cash flow will highly depend on the work you take up. So, choose wisely!

11. What mission and vision do you have? How do you want history to look at you?

Currently, my mission is to scale my business from six figures to seven figures in 2021. Also, start my podcast channel where I can narrate some unheard stories. 

I’d like people to remember me as the “Successful Storyteller in the world” and I am working on this. 

12. What would you do differently if you had to begin your career again? What would you focus on once you restart?

If I had the chance to restart, the first thing I would focus on is gaining more solid information about the industry and how it works. Also, learn money management. 

Yes, I feel content with my journey and how things have turned out to be. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Looking forward to more opportunities and challenges.

Jasmeet can be reached on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

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