How Ademilade Shodipe-Dosunmu Built a Thriving Freelance Writing Career and Outranked His Father

‍Who is Ademilade?  

I'm Ademilade Shodipe-Dosunmu. I've been a freelancer for about six years. In terms of overall content, I've been doing that since I was in nursery/primary school.  

I come from a content-centric background. My mom is an associate professor of English, and my dad has been an editor for various newspapers in the country. He's also the author of the book From Johnson to Marwa. My parents have been my two biggest sources of motivation in terms of content writing.

Would you say that caused you to go in this career direction?  

I think one thing that stands out for me is that I have parents who have never really forced anything on me. You would think that having two parents in the arts would sort of force you to go in that direction as well. But, I’m about to finish my bachelor's in mechanical engineering.  

I didn't plan writing as a career. It was more of a subconscious influence. I had spent a couple of years writing content already, and one day I was like, wait, I actually know this thing. I did a bit of introspection and realised, this is actually where this fire is coming from—my parents. 

After I realised that, I decided I wanted to surpass my parents. My dad has always said, “I want you to be better. I want you to go further than I've ever been.” So I took that to heart. One of my goals overall was to surpass my dad in terms of SEO. Since he and I share the same name, now when you search for our full name, my name pops up before his. Little wins, right?

Who then inspired the engineering part?  

I'll give all honour to whom all honour is due. That would be my older brother. I always hated maths as a child. My brother just sat me down one day and told me, “You have to do maths.” He said to start by solving every single thing in the textbook, and I did that. And just like that, I started doing great at it. 

But aside from the mathematics aspect, I would say I've always been interested in technology. I was that kid who, if a visitor came to the house, I’d ask if I could check their phone for games. If something went wrong with my phone, I’d already be diagnosing the problem. 

I wanted to go into piloting because I saw a flyer in nursery school class with a pilot on it, and he looked pretty cool. As I grew up, I figured my family would be worried every time my flight took off, wondering if it’d come back down. So I thought, instead, why not be the person who makes sure every pilot goes home safely? So I decided I wanted to become an aerospace engineer. But then I realised that the only place that offers aerospace engineering in Nigeria is a school in Zaria. The other option was to leave the country. But in the end, I made it to Unilag and switched to a more general engineering course where I can pivot to anything else later. That’s how I started studying to become a mechanical engineer.

So how did you start freelancing as a technical writer?  

When I went on holiday during my first year, I didn’t like the idea of always depending on my parents for money. I asked myself, how can I be independent? I knew it’d take me some years to start making money from what I was studying. So I thought, what else can I do to scale up? And I remembered, people are always telling me that I can write. So maybe that could be it. 

I started researching how to make money from writing. I found a blog post saying you can start a blog, gain some publicity, and start freelancing from there. So I started a blog at the end of my first year. From that blog, one of my friends referred me to my first job in an agency. That was how my content journey started.

What things were you writing about?  

I wrote about everything. I wrote about relationships, lifestyle, and sports. The first sports article I wrote was actually published on the UK's official esports news website. I didn't even know they were the ones I was writing for. I got the project through the agency. I just sort of tracked the content that I wrote and saw it. That gave me a bit of validation.

How are you combining school and freelance work?  

It’s crazy. I started freelancing right from my first year. I took a break at some point in year two after I fell ill. Then I came back in year three with full force when I recovered. Balancing freelancing with school was difficult at first. I think one thing that's helped me is my friends. We help each other out. We read as a group a lot of times and teach each other.

Another thing that helped me was my good time management. I learned how to manage my time well. There was a time when I would work on content throughout the week. I would attend classes then come back home to write content for clients, from Monday to Friday. Then on Friday, I’d log off from content and start reading for school all through Saturday and Sunday. Then Monday I’m back to content. That used to be my schedule.

Walk me through what a typical day would be like for a freelance technical writer today.  

A typical day in my life looks like me waking up to a text from my woman or I'll probably call her or text her when I wake up. Then I’d do my morning devotional. Then have a shower. Then get to work. I check my email first to clear that out, then check my Slack to see if there's fire on the mountain. Next, I check my productivity apps, whether it's Asana or the Trello board, to see what I'm supposed to work on that day. Then I do some research. Sometimes, my work schedule involves a bit of editing because I'm now in a senior role. So I do a bit of editing and content management, checking in on writers that work with me, assigning tasks to them, or answering some of the most random questions. 

I try to close out of work around 4 p.m. so I can hit the gym. Then I go home. In the evenings, if I'm not going out with a friend, I'm probably watching a movie or I'm playing a game like FIFA, Hogwarts, or Valorant. That game brings me more pain than joy right now. But we stay playing.  

That's pretty much the flow of my day. It changes sometimes. Sometimes it’s not as busy, and that actually allows me to focus on personal projects. For example, now I'm working on my entire content essentially for my personal branding. I started creating video content earlier this year. I'm putting them up on my Instagram. It’s a video series that provides resources for content writers. I didn't find lots of African creators making content for content writers, so I started creating content about that. I wanted to fill a gap. And it's been good so far.

For a field as complex as technical writing, how do you ensure that your content is clear, informative, and ticks all of the boxes that make a piece of content good?  

One of my lecturers always said, if you can't explain something to a 10-year-old, then you don't really know it. I think that’s the principle of technical writing.  

You are demystifying complex concepts, and you can only demystify what you understand. That’s where research comes in. Find out what people actually say about the topic. What did the creators of the tool have in mind when they were releasing the tool? How is the reception? Research is actually testing the tool, figuring out how it works, and reviewing it for technical content. Research is reaching out to subject matter experts when you don't understand concepts, and getting more information to make your work solid.

In addition to time management and research, are there any other soft skills that you’d advise a newbie freelance writer to develop?  

I'll quote one of my favourite content people, Brooklin Nash. He's the founder of Beam Content, a content agency that I respect a lot. He says that “good content starts with great conversations.” So every content writer should know how to have great conversations. Learn how to connect with people. Learn how to gather data. Secondly, learn how to say no. That was a skill I learned very well last year. I was saying yes to many—not really opportunities per se, but just projects that at the end of the day were not going to add that much to me —and I’m not just talking about financially. 

The other thing I would say is collaboration. A lot of the work you're going to do in content is going to involve a lot of collaboration, whether you're working with the content team or talking to a subject matter expert. So it's good to learn how to work with people. 

Another thing I would say to people starting out is to treat freelancing as a business, not a hobby. Make decisions for the business. Client management is also very important. Always have a running list of places you want to apply to, clients you want to meet, things like that. Managing relationships well can get you referrals. I got my first job through a referral. I also got my biggest client through a referral. 

One more thing I’d like to add is knowing how to manage your finances. When you start earning proper money, you need to track it, because if you don't, you'll end up spending like a mumu.

You’re a senior technical writer now, and you’ve recently gone into video content creation. So what will you evolve to next? 

Evolution of Ade. One of my biggest problems is it feels like my life is left-right every day. Monday I’m doing Company A’s work, next I'm doing Company B's work. Tuesday morning, Company C's work. Friday afternoon, newsletter for Client F. It's a lot. Right now I'm sort of looking for full-time roles. That's where I’m heading. So, yes, Senior Technical Content Writer now, but in a year or two, you might see me as Head of Content somewhere.

Also, right now I’m focusing on personal branding because it's super important to let people know you for something. I invested a lot of time and effort in my LinkedIn. Last year I got the Top Writing Voice badge. I'm set on growing professionally and scaling up my personal brand. You know, really doing lots of content, and giving back to the African ecosystem, with videos, guides, mentorship, and stuff like that.

What's the biggest challenge you've faced since you started freelancing, and how did you overcome it?

More often than not, you will deal with difficult clients. But I've noticed a trend. Clients that typically pay the most actually stress you the least. The ones that are willing to pay more place a higher value on your work. So you can use finances to screen some of them out.

Another thing I've dealt with is clients that don't pay you on time. Some people run away with your money. I think there was someone that owed me, I think it was about $500 - $600. He owed me for like two to three months. I chased him though, and I got my money.

I've also had money delayed. I got sort of used to having delayed payments. So when everybody's like, ah, salary week, 20-something of the month. I know mine would be the beginning of the next one. In fact, it’s because of this reason I found Geegpay, and Geegpay helped my life. Before, payment processing used to be hell. For me to get my money from month to month, I would deal with a lot. Now, my payments are very prompt. It's been a saviour, especially for my gig payments. And I'm not just saying that because of this interview or anything like that. Even at Founders Connect, I genuinely just wanted to check out your stand. Because I've been using you guys for a while, and I didn't want to be that silent supporter. I want to be very vocal because this platform has actually helped me.

How did you find out about Geegpay?  

Ezekiah Olumide, my friend and another freelancer. He's the one that told me about Geegpay. He reached out to me to ask about something, and we just started talking about how to receive money faster since sending straight to my bank account takes time. He then talked about your platform and said one of his friends uses it. I checked it out alongside another app he talked about. I compared the exchange rates, and I think you guys were higher, so I started using it, and the product worked well. 

I have referred lots of people to Geegpay. I should be an ambassador by now. Literally, one of the agencies I work with, that has Nigerian freelancers, almost everybody there uses Geegpay because of me. My flatmates, who are also freelancers, use Geegpay. I love pushing your products. I know I'm not being paid to do it, but it's a product that works, so I don't even see it as stress.

So aside from writing good content, what other ways do you ensure that you're bringing value to your clients?  

Communication is very important. When people work with me, they never feel left behind on the project. I will update you at different stages and ask for your input where it’s required. You also need to understand the client, their work, and communication style. Some clients want updates every two days; some want it less frequently. Some want you to do the work, send it in at a good time, and then they pay you. Understand how each client works and follow it.

How do you stay up-to-date in your industry and continue to upskill?

I learn on the job. I’ve worked at pretty great companies, and my content has been on big sites. I also read a lot. I read articles on people further along the line than me, I read novels, I read updates from Google, Reddit, and Twitter from thought leaders in content. I follow the right people. I also love reading newsletters and random things like Zikoko stories. I attend Twitter spaces. I read from other freelancers on Geegpay Diaries. I’m also looking forward to attending your party and connecting with freelancers in this space.

If you could have only one, which of these would you choose? A job that you're deeply passionate about, $100,000 in cash, an all-expenses-paid trip to three countries of your choice, or instantly mastering any skill that you desire. 

Mastery is like 100 percent, right? It means you're the best in the world. Ah, it's got to be between that and the $100k. But based on what I've seen in life with my own skill, that money can easily be made in the space of a few months. So, yeah, I’ll pick mastery of a skill. If I had $100k in cash, just like that, I'd probably blow it. That's a possibility. I can also invest it, and it might not turn out as well. But if I have the means to get the money, then it's always going to stay with me.

That's why in terms of how I spend my money, I spend money mostly on myself. I use it to elevate my ability. If I hear of a new tool that writers should be using, I’ll pay for it. When you’re making money, invest in your quality as a person and your brand, and even if it doesn’t pay now, it will pay soon.

So that $100k cash is good, o. But let’s master the skill.