When I was freelance writing, I turned what most would consider “working for crap pay” into a successful (and well paying) business. In this article I’m going to lay out exactly what I did to double my monthly freelance writing income in one day. It’s not a pipe dream and I’m not making it up. It really did happen – and with just one new client too. Keep in mind, this was back in 2014, when I had only been a full-time freelancer for about a year!
So let’s start this off with a back story.
A few years ago, in 2014, I found myself in debt over gum surgery. What you may not know is that I needed one more procedure and then soon after I had ended up at a clinic and an urgent care for a totally unrelated issue.
What you also may not know is that my health insurance didn’t do it’s job for the latter so I had to pay upfront (This has since been resolved with a claim, but at the time it really sucked.)
In addition, because I was needing to go to the doctor I had to take some days off from coaching and teaching. What resulted was a couple of lean months and a lot of anxiety.
As my friend and spiritual coach Marine said, this was the time to practice what I preach.
So after crying, panicking, blaming, and victimizing, I made a commitment to myself:
It was time to go hard or go home.
Never wanting to end up in a situation like this again, I vowed to do whatever it took to have more money coming in as soon as possible.
I used my anger of the situation to fuel me and make a damn decision.
And then I got to work.
Step 1: I got clear on why I wanted the money.
In my book I talk about the importance of knowing why you want the money. Simply put, if you know what you’re working toward it makes it a lot easier to create new habits. It also makes it a hell of a lot easier to ask for money.
Things are different than they were a few years ago. Expenses and even bigger goals than I had before started to increase. So I knew I needed to readjust.
One reason I wanted the money is so that I was always covered should an emergency like the ones I had would arise again.
Another reason was to finally move out of my parent’s house.
And yet another reason was to give my VA at the time more hours and look into hiring subcontractors to help with the workload.
Once I had my list, I wrote it on a post-it and stuck it on my laptop so I’d always see it.
(P.S. If you’d like to do this exercise in depth check out my book. It’s a real life changer.)
Step 2: I got over my shit about asking for more money.
My coaching rates went up that year (and every year since then) and it’s taken me a while to get used to hearing the new numbers come out of my mouth. My writing rates steadily increased as well. Furthermore, I started pitching to speak for a fee and learned new skills like selling from the stage.
Asking for that kind of money was new to me. But the only way to get over your fear of asking for cash is to actually ask for it.
Whenever I felt weird about following up, asking for more or sending a pitch I’d just go back to my list to remind myself why I wanted the money.
Step 3: I went for what made money fast.
Ali Brown often talks about doing what you love and following the money. For me that was writing, and now coaching. I’ve been in the freelancing game a while now and knew I could find new clients easily, so that’s exactly what I did.
That didn’t mean that I stopped working with new coaching or speaking deals and clients (you all know I like my money to come from different places). It just meant that I knew what was going to make the most money immediately. I also knew that freelance writing would be recurring income, which is always smart.
Now that my program and products make money faster and more often, that is where my main focus is. However, freelance writing was a HUGE piece of my business and it really helped me start earning more money, faster.
Step 4: Sell smarter, not harder.
I doubled my monthly freelance writing income in one day with just one client. Why? Because I started selling smarter, not harder.
I got very strategic about my areas of expertise when it came to writing. As such, I would only pitch people who fit that criteria. That’s when the magic started to happen. When you focus on a niche, that’s when you get paid more. That’s when you can go from a pitch to closing a deal in less than an hour. (Yes, I’ve had that happen.)
Not only did I double it with just one client, but I also used the same strategy to get a few more. So in reality, I more than doubled my monthly freelance writing income within a couple of weeks time, and that helped me get to where I am today!
How do you hustle when you need to make money?