Howdy Reader!

We’re so excited to introduce you to Contena Superstar: Tim White. He’s had fast success after signing up with Contena Acadmey so we asked him to share his best tips. One thing we want to tell you: He was hesitant to join, which is part of why we wanted to share his story with you.

In January 2018, Tim began his full-time, professional writing career. Prior to that, he spent most of his adult life in medicine as a paramedic and a nurse, starting a dog training business in 2016 after he left medicine.

He said, “I would occasionally find opportunities to write about medical things, sometimes paid, sometimes unpaid. But, I never actively looked for it…I got a few short stories and things published and I’ve always written just for myself.”

As a professional in the medical field, that’s where Tim focused his energy.

Even though people would tell him he could get paid for his writing he’d always say “Well, I love writing, but I love medicine a little bit more.”

Eventually he decided to leave the medical field and “writing was the next obvious choice, because you gotta love what you do.”

To get to where he was in his first profession, he obviously spent a lot of time studying. So, it’s no surprise that when he decided he wanted to shift gears to writing, he took a similar approach, learning as much as he could.

Tim says, “I started doing research on how to actually make money writing, what kind of writing is profitable and what is not. I realized the kind of writing that you need to do to make any kind of significant money is not the kind of writing I had experience at.”

Some people would be discouraged by that, but instead, Tim dug in, “and started to look at other freelancers and their personal websites,” learning from each one and paying special attention to the people who had careers like the ones he aspired to have.

It was during this research that he stumbled onto Contena Academy.

Guess what?

He says “I back-burnered [signing up for Contena] for a while because the price tag kind of scared me away.”

We love this honesty. We know there can be sticker shock.

But, he told us, “I’ve always been an investor; you’ve got to invest or spend money to make money kind of attitude. I kept seeing reviews from other writers who said they don’t use Contena anymore, but that they did. Or that they hadn’t used it, but had positive impressions. And when I saw that there was a 30-day guarantee and you could get your money back, I said ‘Screw it, let’s see what happens.’”

And what happened is impressive!

Very quickly, Tim was able to go through the training lessons in Contena Academy, work with his coach Amanda, and secure several lucrative contracts.

While Tim is the first to tell you that there are many ideas of what success is (the idea of success is actually a topic he loves to write about), we’d say he’s been quite successful.

So, we decided to round up some of his best tips and share them here. You might want to print this out, or take some notes, because Tim told me “In the first major round of pitching 8 or 9 clients, the three main clients I wanted to work for all ended up eventually hiring me.”

See?

Total gold.

Tim is obviously passionate about writing and sharing that information with others.

Before we wrapped up our conversation, I asked him “If someone was skeptical to join Contena Academy, like you were, what would you say?”

For me, the 30-day refund period was instrumental. I doubt I would have signed up without it. You really have nothing to lose. I don’t think I would have been unsuccessful without Contena, I would have eventually gotten here anyway, but it’s a question about how you want to spend your time. It saved me a tremendous amount of effort and saved me from doing a lot of trial and effort. Not everyone will think that’s worth the money, but I certainly do.

Thanks, Tim!!

Meet Contena Superstar Kenzie Bradshaw, a 20-something who has been growing her business as a freelance writer since 2017.

Before starting her freelance career, Kenzie earned a degree in Soil Science with a specialization in soil physics, and she had jobs ranging from snake handling with the Fish and Wildlife Service through the AmeriCorps program to helping create new flavor profiles for Sargento cheese.

She discovered “the reality is that many traditional professions would rather hire a specialist over a generalist.” However, as a freelancer, it has helped to have a variety of areas she’s knowledgeable about and comfortable with.

Her love of travel and freedom along with a 3-month trip to Thailand encouraged her to shift away from the traditional workforce and try her hand at getting paid to write.

However, before she started with Contena, she’d “been on those other websites. I’ve been there…” (We’re going to spare you the details of the first job she was offered- it’s not good), but she says, “I turned it down because it was so creepy and I had so many questions. I got all kinds of red flags.”

Kenzie quickly learned that signing up for Contena Academy and working with her coach, Amanda, provided the support and quality that other sites couldn’t provide. The extra eyes and ears were especially useful for a new freelancer.

"Amanda was so encouraging to me. I had no idea if my writing would be commercial enough to be worth anything, and I was worried that my lack of a single area of expertise would put me at a major disadvantage.

Kenzie was hired for a regular gig quickly after starting as a freelancer: “I landed my first position with Wide Open Spaces with a minimum of 12 articles a month” which isn’t surprising for someone who says, “I’m a fight to the top, butt-kicking, ‘watch me rock this’ kind of girl!”

Confidence, like Kenzie's, can help freelancers when they’re first starting out.

Though Kenzie still has a part-time job, (which we think is a great way to supplement your freelancing career when you’re first starting out), her goal is to “make [writing] my sole job.”

There’s no shame in taking your time to transition to full-time freelance writing, and we asked Kenzie about what has helped her grow her freelance business so far.

Here are Kenzie’s top tips for freelance writing success:

Though freelancing can work for just about anyone, we’re strong believers that there are specific reasons why she's perfect for freelance writing.

Kenzie is tech-savvy, able to multi-task, and understands that the job market is evolving. She also pointed out that due to her age, with less responsibilities like kids and a mortgage, she can make the jump into freelancing. She says, starting freelance writing as millennial, “There’s more flexibility to take a risk earlier on.”

So, what’s next for Kenzie?

She’ll continue to create content for her anchor clients, further develop her e-commerce store, and she’ll take what she’s learned through Contena’s training modules and keep applying for more work.

We’re confident that Kenzie will continue to grow her freelancing business and, when she’s ready, ditch the part-time job and work 100% for herself.