I’ve gotten several notes from new copywriters lately. One of the most memorable of late sported the subject “Eeek!” This writer had just received her first query about copywriting services from an ad the writer had placed on Craigslist.

Her excitement brought back so many memories of my first hours, days, weeks as a freelance writer. I placed my “I can’t do this anymore” call to my former boss in the beginning of July. I had no idea what my next step was going to be, but the idea to finally begin making my living as a writer bubbled to the surface within a week. By the beginning of August, I was no longer sleeping. I spent all night every night working on my logo, building a website, trying to determine who might buy my services and throwing ads up on Craigslist and Google AdWords.

I was very, very fortunate that one of my first clients was a longtime friend who already trusted my marketing knowledge and writing skills. He hired me as a writer and marketing consultant four days a week that first month. This saved my rear, boosted my confidence and gave me the much-needed extra month to get more of my own work going.

My first real gig came via email. I think he had responded to an ad on Yahoo, but I was so excited that I forgot to ask.

Hi,

We are a start-up instrumentation company in San Diego and our native language is not English. We need somebody specialized in instrumentation and flow control/meters to check our datasheets if they look/sound good in instrumentation English.

I was wondering if you do this and what are your rates.

Holy Smokes! I was so excited. I sent him a quote ($100 to edit TWO 14-page datasheets. What was I thinking???), and he accepted immediately, forwarding on the two documents.

I called my mother, my sister, my current (and future ex-) boyfriend, my previous ex-boyfriend, my former boss, my current one-and-only client, my father, my friends Raquel and Robin…. My script for each call was almost exactly the same, “Oh My Gosh! This is actually going to work! I can actually make a living doing this!”

I had estimated that each datasheet would take me about an hour to complete, but the project ended up taking about 8 hours. But realizing that I was making $12.50 an hour didn’t take the wind out of my sails because he actually paid me and he liked me and THIS WAS GOING TO WORK! I can remember waiting almost breathlessly at the computer for each of his responses: After I sent the quote (will he think it’s too much?); After I sent the edits (will he think I did a good job?); After I sent the follow-up survey (will he give me a positive review?). He ended up giving me a very nice testimonial to use on my website.

“Avenue Z worked fast and was passionate about the project. They even downloaded and learned new software package in order to better do my documentation. Great job. Thanks!” G Instruments

I’ve been very fortunate to have found several large jobs this fall, and I’m hopeful that I’ll be busy with them into 2008 and beyond. But that doesn’t mean I will ever forget that nauseatingly happy moment when the first person validated my decision to become a writer.