We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Taneia Surles. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Taneia below.

Hi Taneia, thanks for joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

It wasn’t easy, but I have been able to start freelancing full-time for about seven months now. When I started freelancing, it wasn’t my goal to make freelance writing a full-time career. Initially, I was just looking for a side hustle to make some supplemental income while job hunting for a full-time job in public health. In May 2020, I signed up for Upwork and began submitting proposals to attract clients.

Over a few months, I had five to seven clients whom I took on projects writing press releases, blogs, quizzes, and social media content. I started as a generalist writer, covering culinary arts, education, Medicare, and the automotive industry. As many may know, projects on Upwork are typically within the lower range. So, after working with Upwork clients, I started looking for other areas to find freelance gigs. I came across ProBlogger, where I landed my first client outside Upwork. The writing gig was for a true crime website, which is a personal interest of mine. So alongside Upwork, I was submitting articles weekly to my true crime client.

I worked with my Upwork and true crime clients for several months before I started to create a social media presence on Instagram. From there, I found a freelance writing gig for a women’s health website. This gig paid the highest rate I’d seen so far and I was super excited to get an opportunity to use my public health background to cover health and wellness topics.

I started getting more creative with finding writing opportunities by using hashtags like #freelancerwriterswanted and connecting with other freelance writers to see who they were writing for.

It wasn’t until the summer of 2022 that I began to get higher-paying gigs that paid between $300-$1000 an article. After transitioning some of these clients into regular gigs, I started making $5-6k monthly.

Once I hit my third $5k month, I put in my two weeks’ notice and have been working for myself ever since.

If I had stepped away from Upwork a little sooner than I did, I could’ve accelerated my freelance writing career to what it is now. However, I appreciate all the clients who gave me a chance when I had no portfolio or testimonials to prove my talent.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m a freelance health and wellness writer and public health professional. I’ve been professionally writing since the summer of 2020. I have a bachelor’s and master’s in public health from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. I have a strong interest in sexual health, and I aspire to become a certified health education specialist. I started as a generalist freelance writer, but since 2022, I have niched down to health and wellness. My goal is to produce health content that is SEO-friendly, backed by research, and easy to understand for lay audiences. I offer services like blogs, long-form articles, social media captions, newsletters, and special projects upon request. I have written for publications like Healthline, Health, AARP, Insider, mindbodygreen, and others.

As a public health professional, I like to bring my education and experience into my work. Also, as a sexual health advocate, I’m not afraid to talk about topics that may be taboo to some audiences. I think it’s important to share as much information about sexual health as possible to encourage the public to lead healthy sex lives.

The project I’m the proudest of is my Healthline article on parents helping their children cope with the other parent’s suicide. My father committed suicide in July 2022, and I can’t begin to understand how much of a challenge it has been for my mother to help my younger brother navigate his untimely death. It was a difficult piece to write, but because discussing mental health in the Black community can be challenging, I thought it needed to be talked about on a large platform.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

It’s the freedom that pushes me every day. I’ve tried a few 9-to-5s and never felt truly satisfied with what I was doing. While these careers were somewhat tied to public health, I wanted to do more with health education, as that’s a true passion of mine. With freelancing, I like creating informative health content on my own time and choosing which clients I want to work with while doing everything from the comfort of my home (or the library!). Also, I have the freedom to pursue my health education interests across various aspects of health, like sexual health, chronic diseases, nutrition, and more. I’ve really enjoyed the flexibility of freelancing and knowing that I can pivot to other interests whenever I want to.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I had known how beneficial Twitter can be for freelancers earlier in my journey. Since I joined Twitter last year, I’ve landed so many writing opportunities, such as the Healthline article I mentioned. Also, I’ve met some amazing freelancers and found tons of writing resources like advice threads, newsletters, and webinars that have helped me elevate my career.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.contentbytaneia.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CrgH5OROK1m/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taneia-surles/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/contentbytaneia
• Other: Portfolio: https://taneias.journoportfolio.com/