How to Get Work as a Freelancer Living in a Rural Area | How I've Been Getting Orders Through Blogs and Social Media Without Sales Outreach

Is it difficult to get freelance work when you live in a rural area?
I'm sure there are quite a few people who feel that way.

I myself didn't aim to be a freelancer from the start.

After moving from the Kanto region to Toyama, I initially changed jobs and worked as a company employee.
However, I ended up resigning due to harassment.

After that, I couldn't easily find a new job in the countryside, and the writing work I started as a side job became my path to freelancing.
(I have summarized the details of how I became a freelancer in "My Story: Failing to Change Jobs After Moving to the Countryside and Choosing Freelancing.".)

At first, I was full of anxiety.
Even though I had started it as a side job, I spent a while feeling my way through whether I could continue and keep getting work.

But in reality, I barely did any sales outreach, and I managed to keep going by receiving work through my blog and social media.

Of course, it wasn't all good things.
There were times when I felt the disadvantages of living in a rural area, and the loneliness of a way of working where I didn't meet anyone gradually crept up on me later.

In this article, I will share how I have worked in a rural area as a freelance writer specializing in the real estate genre, and the reality of it.

I hope this will be of some help to those who are curious about what it's actually like to be a freelancer in a rural area.

How I Got Work While Living in a Rural Area Without Sales Outreach

The reason I was able to get work while living in a rural area is that I created a state where I could be found, rather than actively pursuing sales.To that end, I first polished my profile.

1. Specialized in the real estate genre and aimed to be the person people think of for this field

When I first became a freelancer, I wrote anything if I received a request.
Job changes, part-time job experience reports, point-earning activities, romance, stock investment, qualification study, etc...
I didn't narrow down the genre, and I just accepted any work I could write.

The turning point was realizing that it was better to make use of my original experience.
Before becoming a freelancer, I had worked in the real estate industry for a long time and held qualifications such as the Real Estate Notary (Takken) and FP Level 2.

If it's real estate, I have the experience and knowledge.
There is less effort in researching, and I can be confident in the content.

As a result, I started to please clients and readers more often, and I began to think, "I should actively write in the real estate genre."

From there, I gradually increased my real estate genre work and started calling myself a "real estate writer."

Instead of saying "I can write anything," I aimed to be the person people think of for the real estate genre. Little by little, I also built up my track record.

Living in a rural area with no connections, work almost never comes through "someone's introduction."
That is precisely why I clearly highlighted my title, track record, and areas of expertise so that people would think, "I want to request this person."

2. Cultivated my blog and social media as "sales tools"

At the same time I narrowed down my niche, I decided to cultivate my blog and social media as gateways for work.

I started my blog using Hatena Blog with a custom domain.
I migrated to WordPress halfway through.
I focused on updating content related to real estate and writing.

What I was conscious of was creating "articles that only I could write."
I felt that articles based on my own experiences would lead to differentiation, as they contained content that couldn't be written just by researching.

I operated my social media with the same mindset.
Rather than just broadcasting information, I used it as a place for people to get to know "what kind of person is writing this."

With search in mind, I made sure to include the words "real estate" and "writer" in my blog title and job title. This was a strategy to get found.

The same went for my name.
Since my real name has a rare surname and uses old-style kanji, it wasn't suitable for searches, so I decided to use the pen name "Eri Kobana," which is as close to my real name as possible.
As a result, this was the right choice, and I started getting direct searches for my name.

Everything I did was a strategy to "get found by the people who need me through searches and social media."
As I continued steadily, I was sometimes evaluated in unexpected ways.

I received 3rd place in the overall category at the A8 Media of the Year 2021, and I also started receiving requests to speak at seminars.

Although the speaking engagements were online, I believe that being able to get these opportunities while living in a regional area is a result of having cultivated my blog and social media.

Almost all of my inquiries came from my blog or social media.
I believe that the reason I was able to get work without cold calling is because I cultivated these two as "sales tools."

Disadvantages and loneliness felt while living in a regional area

I feel that the method of cultivating a blog and social media to connect to work is highly compatible with living in a regional area.
However, it's not that there weren't times when living in a regional area felt disadvantageous.

The thing I felt the most was that I couldn't easily go to Tokyo.
Most of my work was completed online, but there are certainly situations wheremeeting in person leads to work, such as networking events, seminars, and meeting clients.

Since I am raising children, I cannot leave my home for long periods of time.
In those times, the sense of distance of "not being able to go easily" would gradually work to my disadvantage.

Before I knew it, I had almost no opportunities to meet people in the same industry.
In my case, connections between freelancers were almost exclusively online.
There were aspects where it was harder to get information or where job referrals were less likely to occur.

And then, there was the loneliness.
I'm the type of person who doesn't mind being alone, so working from home was actually quite comfortable.

However, since I had moved to a regional area, I didn't have any original acquaintances.
When you work at home every day, your new human relationships don't expand either.

Before I knew it, I was in a state where I had almost no one to talk to nearby, even outside of work.
It felt like the loneliness was catching up with me later on.

An online-only way of working is certainly a strong ally for freelancers living in regional areas.
However, it is also the truth that there are jobs and opportunities created by real-life connections.

That is why I have come to think that I want to consider ways of working that do not rely solely on online methods from now on.

The potential of online-only work and the future

Working in an online-only capacity is a major weapon for freelancers living in rural areas in the sense that it is location-independent.

If you can create a situation where you can be found without being in Tokyo and without having to do sales, it will lead to work.
I believe this mechanism is sufficiently reproducible for those considering moving to rural areas or those who have difficulty moving around due to raising children.

However, I myself had to significantly cut back on work starting in 2023.
This is because I gave birth to my second child, who was diagnosed with a designated intractable disease, and our life of battling the illness began.

There were periods when I couldn't update my blog or social media as I wanted.
I felt anxious, as if everything I had built up until then was coming to a halt.

So, I looked for something I could challenge myself with while staying by my child's side, and I took the Administrative Scrivener exam in November 2025.
Thanks to everyone's support, I passed, and I am now preparing to open my practice.

Honestly, I don't think my previous methods will work exactly the same way now.
Both the environment and I have changed.

From now on, I intend to explore ways of working that do not rely solely on online methods while leveraging the expertise I have cultivated so far.

Formulate a hypothesis, execute it, and if it doesn't go well, revise it.
As long as I continue to be a freelancer in a rural area, I believe this will continue to be a repeating cycle.

Thank you for reading until the end.

I will continue to update my note magazine "Work Records of a Freelancer Who Moved to a Rural Area" with my daily life as a freelancer working in a rural area, how I get work, how I work, and how I plan to build my career in the future.

I would be happy if you could like and follow me!

★ I also write articles like this

• The story of how I lost my communication skills and became afraid of talking to people after moving to a rural area and becoming a home-based freelancer.

• Freelance Blog Strategy | My failure story of how my personality died when I switched to a specialized blog, and what's next

• How a Rural Freelancer Fights | Differentiation and the idea of getting work from cities