#1: How do I get started in the industry when I feel unqualified?

Sit young grasshopper. I have much to tell you.

Over the next few weeks, I will be publishing short articles that answer the top questions I get asked repeatedly on content marketing mentorship calls. In issue #1, we’re tackling how to get started when you’re a total newbie 🚗

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In 2018, I got my first writing gig when I was asked to write three articles for an edtech company. The person who referred me for the role was a lady who helped set up a WordPress blog for me. She had read all the essays I created and thought I might be a good fit for the role.

I wasn’t writing serious articles. I was just creating random essays to express myself, and it landed me my first gig.

I opened with that story to show that you should get started by making stuff (by stuff, I mean articles, social posts, or whatever content format you’re interested in).

Of course, there are several obstacles to this:

• You might not know how to write well

• You might know how to write well, but not understand how content writing works. For example, you’re good at creating research papers for university students.

• You might know how to write well, understand content writing, but be unsure of how to make your work visible

Luckily, there are solutions for all three scenarios.

⛺️ Camp one & two

All you really need is to learn how to write and then practice a lot. We’re making this super practical, so here’s what you should do:

• Take a free writing course to understand how to come up with ideas, express and structure them. I recommend The Writing Well Handbook by Julian Shapiro, which is a masterclass on non-fiction writing.

• Take an SEO writing course like Ahrefs Blogging for Business. For an even deeper dive, consider taking a content marketing course so you understand how content writing relates to supporting marketing goals. I recommend Content Marketing Principles for Business by Chima Mmeje.

• Pick 2-3 business blogs in the industry you’re interested in, read their articles, taking care to note how they are structured, and rewrite them by hand. (Sounds super medieval? Yes, that’s the point.)

  I used to binge read the Doist blog in the day and I know some articles by heart (I dunno why I said “back in the day” but I can feel the years 👵🏾) By now, you should be familiar with how good articles are written and the different types that exist. Pick 2 topics when you feel more confident and create an article on them.

• Share your articles with a mentor. If you don’t have one, DM 5 established content writers on LinkedIn and ask them to review your pieces and give you honest feedback. If you don’t know any writers, book a call with me here to review them.

⛺️ Camp three

If you skipped the section above because you’re looking for more advanced stuff, here’s what you need to do:

• Get an internship with a small business and write for them. It could be someone you know, like a family member or a total stranger. They might not have an existing content program, so you can experiment with starting up a blog, newsletter, or social page for them. The most important thing is that they are letting you write and publicize your work for free. If they’ve a good editor or at least someone who understands good writing, you might also get feedback that will help you improve.

  Not sure how to find an internship? Joy Ogide, a freelance writer, has some helpful pointers in this video -> Where to find content writing internships in 2025

• Join a community and volunteer your time: Most communities have a content program. And because they run on donations, they might be unable to employ people to create content for them. That’s perfect for you because you can volunteer some of your time and improve your writing/marketing skills.

• Intern at a company: Some businesses offer internship programs for recent graduates and people within a certain age bracket (typically early twenties). You can keep a running list of companies that offer such opportunities and apply when they open. You get paid to learn on the job, and they get an extra pair of hands on their team. Here’s one I came across recently:

  

  
  

• Publish your writing on sites like Medium, HackerNoon (preferably technical articles), Substack, or LinkedIn. All these are places you can publish for free. While an audience is not guaranteed, people can publicly access your work, and you can add it to your portfolio (if you don’t have one, I’ll teach you how to build one in the next chapter.)

• Reach out to 10 content marketers on LinkedIn every week for a month, asking if they have work they’d like to outsource. If you know someone who writes, that’s even better. I did a lot of outsourced work when starting out.

• Share your articles in a community you belong to and ask for feedback (if you’re not in any, I’ll provide a list later). Alternatively, you can send them to 5 content writers you know and ask them to review your work. Someone’s bound to answer. If they don’t, book a call with me to give you feedback.

In total transparency, content writing is just one of the skills you need to get a foot in the door. There are many other skills you need now that you wouldn’t have needed in 2018 when I started. However, writing is also fundamental to marketing because you need to be good at expressing yourself in order to communicate with prospects. (Even if you go into video marketing, you’d need to write scripts, so you can’t escape this 🙂)

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Head over to the next chapter