How To Become A Freelance SOP Writer?

Digitalization has accelerated globalization at a faster pace. Globalization has reduced the barrier to education. Now students from any part of the world can study at any college or university in any desired country. With the rising demand for education in foreign universities, demand for SOP writers too has reached a new peak. Freelance SOP writing has become a good career choice for those who aspire to help thousands of students to get admissions at the finest universities of the world. And if you are one of them, continue reading to know the steps to become a freelance SOP writer.

What is SOP?

SOP is an abbreviated form of Statement of Purpose. SOP is also called with different names such as personal statement, admission essay, or application essay. SOP is a written document that a student writes for seeking admission in the college or university.

It is written to convince the admission panel members to accept your admission to their respective colleges. It’s mandatory in many universities abroad to write an SOP for getting admission and nowadays few colleges and universities in India too, are seeking SOP for admission.

The SOP provides a glimpse to the admission panel about the student’s personality, interests, educational qualifications, professional achievements, goals and it also provides reasons why the student is interested in taking that particular course in that particular college. What made the student choose that college over other colleges.

Statement of Purpose is a gamechanger in getting admission besides students’ grade marks. Grade marks could not be changed by the students the only thing they could do is to write a powerful and impactful SOP to convince the admission panel. It decides the fate of the student whether he would receive an opportunity to study in his/her desired college.

Know about the SOP Writing Guidelines

Why become a freelance SOP writer?

In the above section, we read the importance of SOP. It’s a deciding factor in a student’s career. Many educational consultancies that facilitate admission to foreign universities hire SOP writers. These consultancies have a team of SOP experts who write powerful SOPs for the students across different fields.

They are hired on a high pay scale as they are in extremely high demand. They are great storytellers and through that story, they have to convince the panel members to give admission to the students. Freelance SOP writing offers everything that is needed for a growing career.

It ensures stable income and offers professional growth too. Many SOP writers get SOP writing work from thousands of students or companies dealing in education. There is quite a good amount of work to keep them busy. The flow work might fluctuate, like increase during admission time otherwise would be slow.

Apart from getting work and income, freelance SOP writing is a good solution to balance your work and personal life. It is difficult to ensure a work-life balance when you are a full-time employee. Though there is fixed income every month you cannot escape the work pressure.

Considering the fact that thousands of students apply for colleges around the world, it is quite a hectic schedule for the SOP writers working there. But when you opt for freelancing in SOP writing you also opt for flexibility in your work schedule. The flexibility allows you to work more efficiently without any stress.

Without any stress, one can solely concentrate on the work and yield better results. One could be able to deliver the best quality of work when stress-free. The monotonous life can be demotivating many a time while you are working as a full-time employee. You follow the same routine every day. It prevents you from doing those things you are passionate about.

In such a scenario, it won’t help in your growth or in acquiring different skills needed to sustain in the competition. There is no rigid routine regarding work you have to follow when you become a freelancer. As a freelancer, you could also focus on other professional growth options.

There is no geographical limitation when you work as a freelance SOP writer. As a freelancer, you can work from anywhere and for anyone around the globe. Your client could be an Indian who wants admission to Cambridge college, U.K or he could be an American who wants admission to a German college.

The work would ensure global exposure. It would also enhance your knowledge about the lifestyle of different people of the countries. By working for international clients it would build your resume stronger. 

Recommended Read: SOP Writing Services In Delhi 

Steps to become a freelance SOP writer

One may wonder Statement of Purpose being such an important document, the writer must be super intelligent and highly qualified. There is no doubt that it’s an important document and writers are also expertise but that does not mean an average person can’t be an SOP  writer and set up a business as a freelancer.

Also, there are no rigid qualifications set for this particular role. But companies who hire SOP writers have certain conditions like, they should be fluent in the English language or other foreign language, writing skills and communication skills should be exemplary and be able to write engaging SOPs, possess a great vocabulary.

Nowadays there are resources available for everything that you want to learn and want to become. You can use those resources but be sure to use the right resources. The resources available aren’t always what you needed. To find the resource is a daunting task.

To make it easy we have compiled information from various resources that would help you as a guide for becoming a freelance SOP writer.

1. Training for SOP writing

People may wonder why training for SOP writing is necessary when they have good writing skills. It’s not enough to have good writing skills to become an SOP writer. There is a rule for every writing and everyone has to adhere to those rules. Within those rules, we can write what we want to. We get to know about those rules in detail when we undergo training.

Training is the first thing you should opt for when you decide to become a freelance SOP writer.  Training helps you a lot. It will help in building a successful career. It is worth of money and time invested. It teaches you so many new things that you are unable to find on your own.

And getting trained under SOP experts or one who has good experience in SOP writing is simply good. After training, you can opt for internship classes. During the internship, you can practically apply what you have learned.

2. Read, read, and read

When it comes to writing there is one thing that cannot be left out from associating is – reading. To be any type of writer reading is a must. In an SOP the person has to tell about his educational background, interest, and goals like a story. The piece that was written should be engaging. For this SOP writers should be accustomed to reading. One can read a variety of genres.

By reading you get amicable with various styles of writing. You get to know how to narrate a story or how to explain.  While reading you come across life stories of quite a few people that may inspire you to write a powerful SOP. Also, reading builds your vocabulary.

As an SOP writer, you are supposed to write about individual personality and had to describe it with powerful words. You should be able to use the right word for the right person. Hence, reading helps you in all ways.

3. Write, write and write

When we read about famous authors or writers we think they’ve got the talent to write such a beautiful piece. But that’s not all. A writer doesn’t become a writer overnight. Besides talent, there are years of hard work. They keep on writing to sharpen their skills of writing. They follow the mantra ‘Practice makes a man perfect. 

If you want to become a freelance SOP writer it is necessary that you write consistently. If you practice writing SOPs regularly, in no time you will find SOP writing so easy. It will also reduce the time for writing and make you confident with all the rules and formats.

Recommended Read: Content Writing Courses in India

4. Create a Portfolio

A portfolio reflects your work. It is a collection of all the work that you have conducted earlier. A portfolio is important to build your career as a freelance SOP writer. A strong portfolio distinguishes you from many of your competitors. Anyone who wants to work with you asks for the portfolio.

Through the portfolio, they wanted to make sure that you have the required experience and ability to work on projects they are offering. The portfolio instills confidence in your clients about your services. There are many websites available where you can create an online portfolio.

You can have a strong portfolio by publishing on Medium or WordPress. The simple way is to upload on Google Docs. Any SOP writing work you have written a guest post or for a freelancing platform can be used to create a portfolio. 

5. Get a website

Your website is a point of contact between you and your clients. It has all the necessary information about you, your service offerings, and your price structure. You can also upload all the previous work you have done and also the client’s testimonials on your website.

This would help in convincing the visitors who visit your website that you are providing the best services that are worth of money they would invest and reliable too. The website should be updated at the regular time of intervals. Posting on your website is a good thing. Through the website, you could give voice to your brand.  

Also, the website is a good tool for marketing your SOP writing services. Post your writings on the website. Marketing is essential for your freelance business. It keeps the engagement levels high. Marketing provides valuable leads to you. 

6. Personal branding

As a freelancer, you have to start everything from scratch. You are the face of your brand hence you must start personal branding. Personal branding can be done by sharing your story and vision. It helps in connecting to the right client and building a good relationship with them.

Personal branding is important for gaining the trust of your clients which is the base for any business venture. Reach out to more and more people across the industries and connect with them. Expand your network. LinkedIn is one of the best platforms for personal branding.

You can connect with professionals around the globe. There are many social media platforms available through which you can promote your brand. This would be helpful in bringing business to you.

Recommended Read: Technical writing Courses in India

7. Decide on rates

While offering work you should also decide on the rates you charge for it. You can charge based on per writing or word. One can also charge for bulk projects at a time. The rates should be fixed after cross-examining all the factors. Without knowing your charges it would be difficult for the clients to work with you.

Your customers would only agree to work with you only after analyzing your price list so make sure that you have fixed the best rates and comply with the standard rates in the market. Also, make sure to break the price structure to make customers easily understand. Never charge too high or too low than the market rates. In both cases, you are the one who will lose.

8. Stay connected and accessible

One of the important pillars to establish yourself as a freelance SOP writer is that you have to stay connected. You have to keep in touch with your clients, fellow freelancers regularly. Good ways of staying connected are to participate in workshops, conferences, or online sessions.

Social media platforms are the best way to stay connected with your target audiences. Make sure you are easily accessible through phones or emails. Do reply to emails. This would signify that you are highly professional. 

You could also stay connected through your website. Where you can upload videos on SOP writing. You can also give insights into the projects you are delivering at the moment. 

9. Pitch for freelance SOP writing jobs

Writing is one such job you can do from anywhere, online or offline. With so many companies offering SOP writing jobs online, getting one of them is not so hard. Start pitching yourself for jobs at different companies. Focus more on educational and consulting companies.

Because they are the ones who need SOP writers. While finding freelance SOP writing jobs you should focus on the right companies. Randomly sending job applications to companies will not yield a positive result. Before pitching for a job study about the company and apply only if you are sure about it.

Research about their work condition and how they work with freelancers, whether they appoint freelancers for the job. Send your writing samples with the job application to help the companies analyze your work in a better way.

10. Keep improving

Have you wondered why companies like Amazon, Flipkart, or other e-commerce websites ask for reviews and also post reviews on their websites. Reviews help them to work on their weaknesses. Nobody is perfect. And there are no fixed rules for SOP writing.

Hence you have to keep improving yourself as a freelance SOP writer every day. The reviews by your clients could help you in this. The negative reviews are to be taken seriously. That tells you what are you lacking in and start by improving them right away.

Once you become a freelancer of SOP writing the journey doesn’t end there. There are a lot of other fellow freelancers who would be your tough competitors. Focus more on improving the writing skills that would eventually take you to the top spot. 

FAQ’s

1. As a freelance SOP writer based in India can I get clients from other countries for SOP writing?

That’s the beauty of a freelancer. There is a global exposure to this work. There are no geographical restrictions. You can get work from any client irrespective of geographical location.

2. On what basis should I charge clients for writing SOP?

For this, you have to research various SOP writing platforms and also check with the consultancies that provide SOP writing services. Study them and charge accordingly. Remember, you should charge according to the market rates. Higher or lower than the prevailing market prices will ultimately harm your business.

3. What are other ways to earn by being a freelance SOP writer?

You can post your work and get a project for SOP writing. In this way, you can earn. Upwork, Fiverr, Flexijobs are popular freelancing platforms where you can earn.

4. Is freelance SOP writing a viable career option?

Statement of Purpose is deciding factor while getting admission into foreign colleges. There is high demand for SOP writers. SOP writers are paid well. Besides, it helps in your career growth by exposing your talent at a global level. Hence making a viable career option.

5. On which platforms I could find work as an SOP writer?

There are platforms like Upwork, Fiverr where you can post work for SOP writing and get easily paid for the same.

Conclusion

SOP writing as a career has many opportunities to offer. One can get paid well and also get international opportunities for work. Apart from covering important aspects such as training, personal branding it also covers other important aspects. The article is helpful if you are planning to make out a viable career from SOP writing.