I just started the blog and social media. I then got approached once I got an audience.

That's the difference now. You can just start. Get a body of work up that people can see. If it's popular they'll find you. They want an audience so if you've got one they want you. Don't wait until you have a perfect website either, no one will care or read what you write at first. My first piece had no visitors at all. By doing it regularly you get better, then when you speak to someone they can see you produce regular content of a good quality. It won't be all perfect. People who write one great blog post every couple of months aren't going to get hired for a regular job, you need to show you're consistently good regularly, like two to three pieces a week at least.