It's an interesting time to be a professional writer for sure.
AI is everywhere. But while that seemed like a death knell for the writing industry at first, the truth is much more complicated. The more and more AI has been used, the more and more its serious deficiencies have come to light. The main one is, of course, humanity.
The increased usage of AI-generated text has only underscored the need for good quality human writers. It's a little like translating from one language to another. Simply understanding vocabulary and the basics of grammatical construction does not in any way mean that you could translate a Portuguese paragraph armed only with an English-Portuguese dictionary. Are we talking UK-English, United States English, or Australian English? How about the Portuguese of Portugal, Brazil, or Japan?
I won't belabor this point except to say that only a living, breathing human with cultural and idiomatic understanding can effectively communicate in a way that not only makes logical sense but also resonates emotionally with an audience.
By virtue of being human, you're already ahead of the game!
When I was starting out, I had confidence in my talent, expertise, and knowledge. What I did NOT have was samples, other than academic samples (some of which, with some tweaking, were definitely usable for the purpose).
My route was to first offer writing for free to people, companies, and nonprofits I knew. The goal: samples and referrals. I gave these projects my all, as the saying goes. I said no to nothing, no matter how big, small, weird, or niche. I waited tables at a local steakhouse for a year, but on the side, I built my portfolio and earned the right to charge fairly for my work.
Soon, I had a sustainable and profitable business.
I'm not sugarcoating it — the year was difficult almost beyond endurance at times. By putting all my efforts into delivering exactly what my clients wanted and not giving up until they were satisfied — even when I made exactly zero dollars — I achieved a body of samples and a good number of referrals who were thrilled with what my work had achieved. I also taught myself about all kinds of different writing, which made me versatile and knowledgeable.
Today, with technology, being able to "learn on the job" is far easier than it was for me. But the process is still the same. Volunteer to write for people you know and local nonprofits. Consider what kind of writing you want to eventually be known for and reverse engineer the routes to experience. Exceed their expectations. Gather samples and referrals.