I'm still studying copywriting, however:

If you can't get any clients to gain testimonials, you could always write spec pieces. You may already know, but these are basically mock projects to demonstrate your abilities.

Again, I haven't gotten to this stage yet, but I thought I would offer the suggestion based on what I have read.

There are probably better options that I'm sure others will chime in with.

Good Luck,
Mike

Also, there is a book that you might be interested which touches on the basics of starting your own freelance copywriting business. It has a good amount of info, although some is dated.

Example (in referrence to building an online portfolio): "A domain will cost you an upfront registration fee of $100 and a yearly charge of $35". Ha!

Here's the book:
Amazon.com: Start & Run a Copywriting Business (9781551806334):…

Hey Eric,

I suppose it depends on the type of work you're looking for. Are you just looking to do ads?

When I got started in this about 8 months ago I had myself spread pretty thin testing all the waters. Articles, PR, eBooks, Website content, Product descriptions, etc. Not only was I an ugry rittle cockroach trying to scrape money together wherever I could I also wanted to get my portfolio built up.

I threw myself into freelancer.com and took the best of what I could find there, along with stuff on Elance.com Through those two sites I found a lot of great work and still work with a handful of a high profiles. I'm not sure if that's what you had in mind or not, or if you're looking to work locally.

Try contacting some Real Estate agents. They deal in ads both online and in print, and there are few things more difficult than trying to sell someone on parting with $140,000-$300,000 for a home. Many of them also create multiple neighborhood listings on their sites for geo-specific SEO and to help sell the community.

As an extra oomf, content marketing is growing in popularity so if you don't mind blogging for bucks and slipping a few toes into the content marketing side of things it can help you get established.

Good luck though, I've had a blast trying to get my 10,000 hours in. If you ever wanna shoot the breeze and talk shop feel free to add me on Skype - "thunderbaymedia"

Get some sample works done for people to see what you can do even as you wait to get the testimonials from real clients.

I strongly suggest you get a website or a blog where peoplcan find you. Then advertise or go to sites like freelancer.com and elance.com and see what you can find.

Troy White has a great little ebook on writing classified ads and stuff on space ads too, hes also a great copywriter. Google for his site, books like $20 ish

Eric,

Can't reply to your PM unfortunately - WarriorForum says I'm not old enough to play outside. I've got you on added on skype and my lines always up for the most part (save for Saturdays - family day) so feel free to contact me.

Hey Eric,

Good for you!

My advice to you on getting more display ad work is simple:

First, follow the advice above and contact some real estate agents. In most cities real estate agents and car dealers buy the majority of the ad space.

Once you have done that...

Phone the paper, ask for the person who sells display ads and offer to take him/her out to lunch. At lunch tell them you are a copywriter who wants to do more local display ads and ask them how to get that accomplished.

They will likely throw business your way from people who are actually asking for someone to write ads for them--it's a win/win for the salesperson. They want to make a sale, but they can't make a sale unless there is an ad to run. By offering the ad space PLUS giving them someone can create a killer ad for them, they are more likely to make the sale.

That covers only display and classified ads, but it works.

Personally I wouldn't recommend you spend time trying to convince people who don't believe they need copywriting to hire you. Sure it's ego-affirming when someone DOES hire you, but the time you will spend trying to see all kinds of people who DON'T want to hire you and CAN'T be convinced would be better spent on people who already know they need copy.

If you can't come up with people who are ready to hire you, choose an easy to reach market and write some copy for yourself. It's good practice and you can add it to your portfolio.

Another option is to contact someone who is established and offer to write some copy for him/her for free. They will likely give you some small projects and will give you feedback on how you did and how you can improve. They may even pay you a portion of their fee, though they may not. It will depend on the quality of the work and the job you do. Still, it will help you to get future jobs.

Hi Eric,

Don't worry about this. What important is not whether you have any experience, it's whether you have any talent. That's something only you know in your heart. If you do, then that's your ticket to sell yourself. Just come up with a unique angle to set yourself apart from the crowd, whip up a page, and go. It doesn't have to be perfect - and it's not going to be. But it will give you a start.

I second the recommendation to try sites like eLance. Many of the clients on there are cheapskates and you'll be competing against lowballers, but it's still paying work that gives you a start in the pro ranks. It gives you real experience working with clients - and the low price clients are some of the toughest ones to work with, so you'll learn to deal with challenges right out of the gate.

If you have talent and you're confident in your abilities, then you don't need to spend forever debating how to "break in" to the field. Just make a website and go get some work (from someplace like eLance, this forum, or wherever else) and start delivering results. That's the way to break in.

Eric-

If I were in your shoes, I would find a website online or ten (yes, really), check out their copy, and if it has holes in it, FIX IT FOR THEM.

Contact them directly then, via e-mail, and tell them something like "hey, I was on your site the other day. I think your copy is great, except for X, Y, and Z, so I did a complimentary critique for you that I'll give you for free in exchange for a testimonial and a place in your contact list for consideration for future copy you may need written"

This should work most of the time ( and not for anything, but you're playing into a very basic human psychological trigger, being the "i owe you one" principle. ) You can feel good about it because you're not being a sketchball about it, you're really helping them out!

You should be able to snag a few testimonials AND contacts to boot.

Stick with it. Everyone starts somewhere.