If you wish to build your freelance writing portfolio from scratch, you first must create the universe.

Creating a portfolio ex nihilo, or “out of nothing,” is a hurdle every freelance writer faces at the beginning of their career. How do you fill a portfolio with professional writing samples if you lack professional experience? And how do you gain professional experience without professional writing samples?

Fortunately, building your writing portfolio from scratch doesn’t have to be such a Catch 22, as there are plenty of portfolio-building opportunities that require little to no prior experience. Sure, these opportunities aren’t exactly glamorous, but your goal isn’t to dazzle a potential client with New York Times clippings, it’s to demonstrate your writing abilities and prove your value.

To start building your writing portfolio, follow these strategies.

Dig Through Your Past Work

If you’re trying to be a freelance writer, there’s a good chance you’ve already done some writing. so grab a shovel and get digging. Whether it’s from last month, last year, or last decade, there’s bound to be something worth revisiting.

Past writing samples can include, but are certainly not limited to:

• Academic essays
• Personal essays
• Sales and marketing materials
• Blog posts
• Press releases
• Business reports
• Copywriting
• Newsletters
• Educational materials (syllabi, lesson plans, exam materials)

Once you’ve excavated your eligible samples, cherry pick the very best pieces. Your portfolio should be comprehensive, but it should also be curated.

Go Pro Bono

While past writings can make great portfolio lining, you want the meat of your freelance writing portfolio to contain more recent – and more relevant – writing material. Finding unpaid opportunities is one way to accomplish this.

Unlike most paid writing opportunities, someone hiring an unpaid writer doesn’t always have the luxury of being picky. Fortunately, the opposite holds true for you. With a broad horizon of unpaid opportunities to choose from, this is your chance to be discerning, so concentrate your efforts on pro bono opportunities that allow you to really flex your writing muscles. If you already know your writing niche, focus on niche-specific opportunities to enhance your credibility as a thought-leader in that niche. (If you haven’t chosen a niche yet, this might help).

If you’re not sure how to find pro bono gigs, here are some ideas.

• Nonprofits. There are over 1.5 million nonprofit organizations in the United States alone, and many need writers in a volunteer capacity. You can find nonprofit writing gigs anywhere from VolunteerMatch to Craigslist, or you can reach out to an organization personally. Perhaps you’re already involved, or know someone else involved, in a local nonprofit. Maybe you have a favorite charity or cause. Contact an organization that matters to you and volunteer your writing services. They will most likely welcome the help, and you could find yourself authoring anything from press releases and newsletters to donor letters and grants.

• Guest Post. Do you have a favorite blog? Contact the blogger and offer to write a guest post. Many blogs, especially larger ones, thrive on guest posts. It’s a way for both parties to mutually benefit, as the blog can generate more content with less effort, and the guest poster can garner publicity for themselves. If you don’t have a favorite blog, or your favorite blog isn’t biting, check out sites like Blogger Link Up and MyBlogGuest. These communities work to connect blogs in need of guest posts with writers looking to contribute.

• Unpaid Work: For every paid writing job, there are ten unpaid writing jobs desperate for applicants. Many startups, magazines, and web publications are constantly prowling for unpaid writers, and they’re not afraid to advertise. Again, Craigslist is chock full of unpaid writing gigs. Also visit JournalismJobs and other job boards like Indeed.

• Submissions. Have an idea for an article? Many websites take submissions, and the odds of being accepted are much higher if they don’t pay. Some sites to consider are Thought Catalog, Fast Company, and ViralNova.

• Write For Friends: Odds are that you know someone in need of a good writer. Maybe a friend could use a savvy wordsmith to craft their band’s bio. Perhaps a family member needs a strong mission statement for their new business, or a press release for an upcoming event.

Make Your Own Opportunities

You’d think that businesses would be chomping at the bit if a writer offered their services at no cost, but mankind’s capacity for flakiness knows no bounds. Sometimes, the only person you can rely on is yourself.

Here are a few ideas for the lone wolf in you.

• Start A Blog. Spend a few minutes tinkering with Tumblr, WordPress, or Blogger and poof, you now have your very own corner of the Internet. It might be tempting to treat your blog like a diary, but if you can, focus your blog on a specific subject. Give it a real purpose. Remember, you’re using it to build your portfolio, so it should be filled with more than just overblown Facebook statuses. It should showcase your skills, passions, and sense of narrative.

• Self-publish. Rather than starting your own blog, you can publish your work on a third party blogging platform such as Medium, LinkedIn’s Publishing Platform, or Storify. These sites allow anyone to publish their work, and your content will be attractively displayed and easily shareable.

• Unpublished Work. If for whatever reason you don’t want to self-publish, you can always include a Word document or PDF in your portfolio. It may not look as professional, but as long as you can make a compelling case for its inclusion, it’s worth considering.

Low-Paid Gigs

Just like unpaid writing gigs, you should approach low-paid (and we’re talking low-paid) gigs as merely a stepping stone, nothing more. These jobs are temporary, and if you truly want to make a career out of writing, low-paid gigs are not sustainable.

Still, as a portfolio-building opportunity, they are certainly worth the effort. Here are some low-paid writing gigs that even inexperienced writers can land:

• Fiverr. Join the legions of other writers who, for just five bucks, will pen original copy for paying customers.

• Elance, Upwork, and Freelancer: These platforms connect businesses in need of writers (and other services) with freelancers. Competition is high, and more often than not the freelancer who gets the job is the one with the lowest price, but there is enough work to go around.

• Content Mills: Constant Content and Writers Domain commission content from writers and sell that content to businesses. The pay is very low, but there is an unending stream of work.

Portfolio Builders

Hopefully you’ve now assembled a solid sampler plate of your best work. Maybe you’re keeping it in a folder on your desktop, maybe you’ve printed everything out and are storing it in an inflatable kid’s pool. Since the entire purpose of building a writing portfolio is so that you can show it to potential clients, it’s time to upload that kid’s pool to the Internet.

If you have a knack for web development, then by by all means go do your thing, but if coding isn’t in your wheelhouse, there are a number of writer-specific portfolio builders you can take advantage of. They may not be as customizable as website builders like SquareSpace and Wix, but they take care of the basics.

Below is a quick overview of three popular writer-specific portfolio builders.

Clippings.me

Pros

• Simple and intuitive user interface.
• Slick, attractive presentation.
• Capable of uploading PDFs and photos.
• Optional inclusion in media directory.
• Allows your content to be shared.
• Integrates your article’s social media share and comment metrics.

Cons

• No designated resume section.
• No designated awards section.
• No automatic portfolio backup.

Pressfolios

Pros

• Simple and intuitive user interface.
• Capable of uploading PDFs and photos.
• Automatic portfolio backup.

Cons

• No designated resume section.
• No designated awards section.
• No inclusion in media directory.
• No social media integration.

Contently

Pros

• Simple and intuitive user interface.
• Slick, attractive presentation.
• Capable of uploading PDFs and photos.
• Allows your content to be shared.
• Integrates your article’s social media share and comment metrics.
• Designated resume section.

Cons

• No designated awards section.
• No option to join media directory.
• No automatic portfolio backup.
• Difficult to organize content.

Conclusion

If you’re willing to work for free, building a writing portfolio from scratch is not only possible, it’s practical. The process will expose you to different types of writing, clients, and publishing mediums, and you’ll learn the art of the freelancer hustle while making valuable connections that can serve you down the road. Remember, unpaid and low-paid gigs are not the rule, they’re the exception, and with a rich and versatile portfolio in tow, you’ll soon be earning fair compensation.