The 5 Habits of Highly Successful Freelance Writers in 2025

By 2027, half of U.S. workers could be freelancing. That’s a wild number, but it’s a real Statista prediction, according to Forbes. The number of self-employed knowledge workers rose sharply between 2021 and 2024—and freelance writers were among the top categories. More people are getting in. Competition is up. But that’s not the full story. If you’re like me and you’re a former journalist, then you know a lot is changing (and quickly). In my 20+ years working in media and comms, these are the habits of highly successful freelance writers that I’ve seen most often.

As the writing landscape continues to change, here’s how you can separate yourself from people who just “freelance” and become a person who runs a writing business.

A quick note before we dive in. I’m covering habits of writers who are already working with clients and want to scale. That said—if you’re still building your foundation, mastering these skills now will put you years ahead of the curve. Let’s get into it!

1. Prioritize Ruthlessly

Top freelance writers aren’t working more hours. They’re working on the right things. Here’s a real-world example: Before I had systems, it was typical for me to be up half the night working on deadlines, scrambling to make ends meet, and generally being a hot mess every week. Sure, it was nice to get to the gym when everyone else was at work. And who doesn’t want to hit the post office when no one’s there?

I prioritized the wrong things and ended up “never having time.”

Successful freelancers know the difference between “busy” and “profitable.” They map their goals, define their offers, and spend their time accordingly. That means cutting distractions, ditching low-paying clients, and protecting deep work time like it’s a VIP guest list.

Try this:
Try the Eisenhower Matrix to sort your to-do list into urgent, important, both, or neither. Then nuke the “neither.”

Tools that help:
Sunsama for realistic daily planning, and Notion for managing client projects and templates.

2. Create Content Strategically

Posting every day on socials? Optional. (And my fellow introverts, take heart. I don’t log into socials or post directly; I use schedulers like Later and Canva’s content scheduler.)

Creating content that positions you as an expert and attracts high-quality clients? Mandatory. Even if you aren’t a social media person, you’ll still create content for yourself.

Successful freelancers publish with purpose. Think: writing blog posts that rank. Posting clips and publishing posts on LinkedIn or Medium that show real thinking. They understand it’s more effective to produce one strong piece of content a month, not fifteen fluffy threads.

The goal:
Be discoverable and trustworthy by sharing content that shows you know your niche—and proves it.

3. Be Intentional About Client Acquisition

The best freelancers don’t wait around for referrals or spend their days scanning job boards. They treat marketing as part of the job.

That doesn’t mean spamming Upwork or sliding into cold DMs with “Hey boss” messages. (Please don’t be that person, even thought we’ve all done it at the start.) It means building systems: a high-signal newsletter, a lead magnet that converts, and participating on one or two platforms where your ideal clients hang out.

Think:

• Guest posting on industry blogs
• Participating in high-level communities (not generic Facebook groups)
• Creating permission-based marketing funnels that solve a problem for your ideal clients

This is where you level up from gig worker to independent expert.

4. Systematize Your Workflow

Every high-level freelancer I know has systems for everything. Ask me how many project management platforms I’ve tried. (All of them.) Research? They have a tool for that. Revisions? There’s a process. Client onboarding? Template. Invoicing? Automated.

When you treat your writing like a business, repeatable systems free up creative bandwidth—and make you faster, better, and more profitable.

Pro tip: large language models (LLMs) are excellent at creating customizable workflows that adapt as you grow. They’re not just glorified search engines, they can point out the holes in your systems and help you fill them.

Start here:

• Document your writing process, then refine it. (Yes, that means writing out every step of what you do and looking for places to create systems.)
• Use tools like Trello for project management, Grammarly for line editing, and Loom for async client check-ins.

5. Always. Be. Upskilling.

The best freelance writers are students for life. They don’t just level up their writing skills—they learn their clients’ industries. Read B2B marketing blogs, skim trend reports, listen to the top podcasts in the field. Go deep so you can write better, pitch better, and price higher.

Your edge is what you know.

We’re in a world where AI can spit out passable drafts. A lot of companies are trying to use AI to generate content (and many are failing). Subject-matter fluency is what sets human writers apart.

A Final Word on the Habits of Highly Successful Freelance Writers

Being a successful freelance writer in 2025 isn’t about chasing trends. Or using AI to churn out slop. It’s about building smart, repeatable habits that scale your skills, your income, and your time.

If you want help implementing these kinds of systems, check out the LWP Freelance Writing Blueprint. I created it specifically to help people turn their knowledge into a writing business. Until the next post—keep expanding and refining your skills.