3 months with freelance platform — Pepper Content
Evaluation, learnings, and earning
I have been working with the writing platform — Pepper Content for three months now. It has been quite an exciting journey with them so far. From hoping to pass the test to staring screen for work, getting the first assignment, completing almost 30 assignments, and getting paid gradually.
Pepper content offers content writing, translation, editing, and designing services to clients across the globe. Pepper content started in a dorm room of BITS Pilani, India, in 2017–18 by Anirudh Singla and Rishabh Shekhar. What began as a side-earning hustle now turned into an IoT company with more than 100 employees and a pool of 1,00,000+ creators. Pepper content recently raised $18.7 million for its expansion in the USA and other overseas markets.
Evaluation of Pepper Content
Best thing about Pepper Content
Project Brief: Every project comes with a brief that makes the job bit easy in terms of formatting and sequencing. A detailed brief brings clarity to writing and helps in directing the research to the right path.
Deadlines with enough time: All the assignments by Pepper content come with a deadline. The best thing is that you get enough time to research, create, and edit the project.
Flexibility: You are in total control regarding the type of projects you want, when you want, write, and edit. You can choose up to three types of industries to get relevant projects with three types of content. You can set the availability for accepting projects and have the freedom to decline if you are busy or not interested. You can also pass the assignment in case of an emergency or something even after accepting it in the first place.
Although their internal metrics record all this information and it may impact future offers of assignments. So better if you accept an assignment, submit it within the deadline.
Pay per Word: You get a chance to decide the price per word for the assignments during the evaluation test to become an associated freelancer with pepper content. For beginner writers in India, their payout is fine. You will get assignments and clients that match your pricing.
Support: If you are stuck somewhere or want clarification on something, you can raise a query with their team. The response could be quick, but it is OK to get your issue resolved within 24 hours usually.
Cons of Pepper content
Inconsistency of Projects: Some days, you get three projects altogether, and other days you stare at the screen awaiting new projects. My second month was quite busier, and I got projects almost every three days. In the third month, the projects slowed down despite good performance and on-time delivery.
Initial Payout: The first payout take almost two months to credit into your bank; that is pretty unsatisfactory. However, a writer should focus more on writing consistently, especially in the initial years, rather than waiting for money and quick results. But, writers also have a stomach to feed, wish lists to fulfill, and places to travel. The initial payout period should be short to keep up with the motivation. Later, you will get a payout every 15th month for the approved projects.
Lessons I learned working with Pepper Content
Editors are friends: To be honest, initially, I was offended by the editor’s remarks. With time, I learn that editors are there to improve your content piece, and their comments help you do better in your further assignments. So, always take feedback from editors professionally.
Outline the piece to make it smooth: If you are working on long content, you may feel delusional about the flow and content. You may also feel overwhelmed with an assignment by looking at the word count. But, if you break the content by outlining major topics you want to write, it will be easy to reach the word count, maintain the flow, and ensure good readability.
Grammarly is not always right: I extensively use Grammarly and get the clarity that it is not always correct. Sometimes you need to use slang that would be apt for the targeted audience that Grammarly will find violating or improper. If you blindly follow Grammarly, it will reduce your readability. So be confident, and write the way we talk as that will grip the audience more than reading a robotic piece of content. You, me, and everybody else would connect with the way we talk more than the fancy formal tone.
Power of Simplicity: I until now worked with many prominent clients directly & also through Pepper content; I noticed that big brands focus on simplicity. Brands want content that is easy to read and understandable. Most D2C brands refrain the writers from using fancy & complicated words. In the case of B2B, you need to use fancy words, jargon, and terms used in the Industry.
Embrace the Deadlines: By working within deadlines, freelancers can build professionals’ trust and status. On any platform, whether Upwork, Fiver, Freelancers, or Pepper content, meeting deadlines would help you form connections with your clients, get more work, and earn more money. Start respecting deadlines, and ensure you complete the task within the project’s time limit.
Earnings from the Pepper Content
I started writing blogs and product descriptions four years back for my own company and gained interest in writing over the years. I did gigs for various other brands and big-ticket clients. I applied as a freelance content writer on pepper content to test the platform. In the last three months, I did 27 projects and earned over $500. I know this is not much, but a decent amount for a side hustle. If you are starting and testing the water, you can apply too for being a freelance content writer with Pepper content. You will gain experience, form writing habit, and earn money that you can 10X with time.
I’m sure this blog will inspire you to write more with conviction, as opportunities are endless.
Tell me how you liked it?
Happy writing!
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