When I first decided to transition from writing as a hobby to writing for money, two thoughts entered my mind. The first was asking myself if I was crazy, and the second was where the heck do I start?

Like most newbies to the world of professional writing, I turned to the internet to try and find answers. I spent hours reading blogs, watching YouTube videos, and perusing digital magazines in search of sound advice from writers who’d been where I was and succeeded. It wasn’t long before I was overcome with information overload.

Everyone seemed to have a different approach; a unique experience of how they broke into the market. So much of the advice I read from one freelance writer would contradict the experiences and opinions of another. It eventually became clear to me that unlike other careers, writing offers no structure, no one standard career path, nor a common entry point. Most of it came down to talent, persistence, self-motivation, an understanding of just how tough the market truly is, and a dash of luck.

There was one piece of advice, however, that I came across time and time again — pick a niche. The theory behind this is sound and it can be easily understood why this is a common refrain within the writing community. The idea is you pick a few topics — usually three — that you have concrete knowledge of and build your writing samples and work search around them.

By focusing your work on a limited number of niches, the idea is that you’ll begin to build a brand as a leading writer in these areas. Ideally, you’d come to develop a solid reputation and build a large roster of clients within these niches.

While this is sound advice and does highlight the importance of a writer’s brand, it belies the barriers that new writers face when entering the freelance market.

It’s the conundrum of new workers in virtually every job sector that employers want to hire people with experience, so, just how are workers supposed to get this experience in the first place? This is particularly true in a time when the entry-level job has effectively gone the way of the dinosaur.

This is the case for new freelance writers. The highest paying clients, or those with solid reputations, look to hire writers with a solid portfolio of paid work behind them. So where does this leave the writer with little or no experience and a history of being paid for their work? Well, underemployed if we’re being honest.

When I began my journey in freelancing, I took the niche theory to heart. I spent hours brainstorm topics I felt I could write about with relative ease and minimal research. When I identified three niches, I spent all of my time studying statistics and rate guides in these areas. I continually asked if my niches offer viable writing opportunities that could generate a steady income?

I was worried because my fields of expertise rested outside of technology and business niches where much of the money and work can be found. I literally spent months in a loop of trying to settle on my niches and build a sample portfolio. In the first six months of my part-time ‘career’ as a freelance writer, I applied for only two or three jobs — I heard back from none of them. With the benefit of hindsight, this effort to build a career around my niches straight out of the gate was a big mistake.

While building up your portfolio is never a waste of time — you should be writing as often as possible, even just for exercise — my efforts would have been better spent just trying to get my foot in the door. Once I started changing my mindset from ‘niches first’ to ‘jobs first,’ things started happening. I landed my first job.

My first job was far from glamorous and paid very little. It was a ghostwriting piece for an adult-themed website specializing in women’s underwear. As a gay man, this was totally outside of my area of expertise.

Indeed, the client was slightly hesitant to hire me at first, despite a lack of serious applicants. While they liked the samples I provided them, they were worried that a man might not be able to resonate on the same emotional level as a female writer. I understood this concern since I shared it myself. So, I took a risk. I offered to write them a five hundred word post for their blog. If they didn’t like it for any reason, they would not be required to pay me and we would part company amicably.

Working for free is something I wouldn’t advise new freelancers to do, but there are moments — mostly fuelled by desperation — that you have to do what you have to do. It was a calculated risk, but I wasn’t earning any money as it was, so, I felt better to take a gamble and roll the dice rather than sitting and biding my time until something else came along — if it ever did.

The gamble paid off. The client liked what I wrote and paid me. In fact, I would go on to write several more posts for them during my first year of freelancing. It also opened doors for me as the client recommended me to a business partner who ran a blog in one of my actual niches. Had I stuck to the niche mentality, my job search would’ve continued for a prolonged period; perhaps indefinitely.

It would be lovely if all new freelance writers could just ease their way into the market in the areas they’re the most comfortable in. That is not to say this is impossible — maybe you’ll be one of the lucky ones — but this is far from the norm.

The bracing reality is that the freelance market is over-saturated with writers of all backgrounds and histories. I once had a client confess to me that for every job they posted, they received hundreds of applications many of which they simply ignored. While this client is well-established and has a very solid reputation, this is far from uncommon.

I’m not discrediting the validity of the niche argument, but they only truly work when you have some work experiences to back you up. You might have a wealth of knowledge in a particular field, but the largest stumbling block a new writer may face is their lack of professional writing experience.

By automatically limiting yourself to certain topics from day one of your freelance writing career, you could be blocking opportunities to get your foot in the door.

While it is true that clients wish to see samples of your capabilities within the niche they are hiring for, it has been my experience that they care more about your professional portfolio than your writing samples.

Your professional portfolio contains works that clients have paid you to write and as such, carry a lot of weight with a potential client. Writing samples are great and do highlight your abilities, but some clients turn their nose up at them. I’m not saying this is right or even fair — nor am I suggesting all clients are like this — but in my experience, I have found this to be the frequent truth. I sometimes use the analogy of work experience versus volunteer experience. While you can list both on your resume, employers are going to be more interested in the work you’ve been paid to do.

This is why when new freelance writers ask for my advice, I say worry about getting some paid gigs under your belt first, and then settle on your niches.

Never close any doors. When you’re applying or pitching to clients if you know you can write it, even if it’s a subject that you’re not well-versed in, just go for it! You never know where that might lead you.