Thanks very much for taking the time to engage, Lyubov! Let me clarify the timeline:

• I re-wrote a few popular articles hosted on websites dedicated to helping people start and build their own blogs. I sent the polished content to the sites’ owners for free. I did this as a way to introduce myself and inquire into the possibility of working with these sites as their editor. This resulted in numerous email exchanges and one Skype interview but ultimately in no paid work.
• I then applied this same strategy to popular Medium articles on entrepreneurship, startups, internet marketing, etc. I sent the polished content, for free, to the editors at the Medium publications that had originally published the articles. I did this to introduce myself and determine whether there might be some opportunities available for paid writing. Some editors didn’t respond, others did but said such opportunities didn’t exist, and yet others passed my messages onto various individuals whom they thought might be inclined to speak with me.
• The more I did this, the more I formed new relationships with people online. As I networked more and more (and made it known that I was looking for paid writing gigs), opportunities for paid work in the form of ghostwriting eventually arose. I thus started writing content for a couple of startups and earning some money.
• At some point in the summer I became an editor at The Startup and, once that happened, my increased visibility encouraged more people to reach out to me to inquire into how we might be able to work together. This helped generate more (inbound) leads, some of which I then converted to paying clients.

Cheers :)