Starting From Zero: Road To $1,000/month Hustle

[Deleted44974]

I thought I would post this so I'd feel like crap if I disappointed you guys.

Basically, I have been a "professional student" due to "being supposed" to do that and lack of action back when I first read the 4HWW at 19.

Not having any success until now, five years later, due to excuses makes me wonder if I'd ever be able to do it, so I decided to just hustle:

I'm aiming to freelance to a somewhat consistent $1,000/month. Of course this will be just a checkpoint while I find out what skills are more levegerable for me.

I will put a mini-checkpoint of $500 this first month and do any kind of job I can for now. That works to about $17/day. I'm gonna apply to jobs in all of these freelance sites and put all the info I can find here to work.

Someone who frequents this forum said the following to me: planning is of utmost importance to get to 7-figures, but if you never made $10,000, chances are you have absolutely no idea what it takes to get to 7-figures. It's easier to scale what you already know it works.

So while I have some ideas of things I want to work on, truth be told, I don't know if they are feasible.

Once I convince my mind that I can earn money if I hustle and that I won't starve, I will niche into servicing eComm stores because that has something to do with what I have in mind and where I intend to develop my skills into.

 

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[MikeC]

$1,000 a month is easy. You can get there in 6 months like I did. Or you can get there next week. You get there next week by doing this:

1) Read every job VERY carefully. Figure out exactly what they want out of the person they hire. Follow their instructions to a T.

2) Write your application totally zeroing in on what they want and how you will work your a$$ off to accomplish it for them and make their life easy.

3) Most important: follow up as often as it takes. Be obnoxious about it. Email them the next day. And the next. And the next. And the next. Every job you post. Make your emails different every time. Tell them a joke... then throw in a bonus. Closing a sale is a physical, energetic process. You have to invest yourself into it. Relentlessly chase after jobs and they will be yours... no one else does it.

If you are a writer, download this:

Hemingway Editor

Use short, clear sentences and use many paragraphs. Go over each article at least twice before submitting.

If you can do what I just wrote you are worth $25 an article minimum. Be confident when you ask for it. It's a phenomenal deal.

Do 2 of these a day and you blow past your goal.

$1,000 is really easy to get if you just get your feet wet. Experience what it feels like to WORK for yourself and fight to survive on your own.

It took me 6 months to get to $1,000 a month from a very similar place to where you're at. Afterwards I couldn't believe it... I was free of a lot of bullshit. I know you can do it much faster than I did.

 

[jon.a]

$1,000 a month is easy. You can get there in 6 months like I did. Or you can get there next week. You get there next week by doing this:

1) Read every job VERY carefully. Figure out exactly what they want out of the person they hire. Follow their instructions to a T.

2) Write your application totally zeroing in on what they want and how you will work your a$$ off to accomplish it for them and make their life easy.

3) Most important: follow up as often as it takes. Be obnoxious about it. Email them the next day. And the next. And the next. And the next. Every job you post. Make your emails different every time. Tell them a joke... then throw in a bonus. Closing a sale is a physical, energetic process. You have to invest yourself into it. Relentlessly chase after jobs and they will be yours... no one else does it.

If you are a writer, download this:

Hemingway Editor

Use short, clear sentences and use many paragraphs. Go over each article at least twice before submitting.

If you can do what I just wrote you are worth $25 an article minimum. Be confident when you ask for it. It's a phenomenal deal.

Do 2 of these a day and you blow past your goal.

$1,000 is really easy to get if you just get your feet wet. Experience what it feels like to WORK for yourself and fight to survive on your own.

It took me 6 months to get to $1,000 a month from a very similar place to where you're at. Afterwards I couldn't believe it... I was free of a lot of bullshit. I know you can do it much faster than I did.

But what are the exact steps?

 

[jon.a]

I nominate this one to be a featured post...
@MJ DeMarco @Vigilante @Andy Black @AllenCrawley ???

$1,000 a month is easy. You can get there in 6 months like I did. Or you can get there next week. You get there next week by doing this:

1) Read every job VERY carefully. Figure out exactly what they want out of the person they hire. Follow their instructions to a T.

2) Write your application totally zeroing in on what they want and how you will work your a$$ off to accomplish it for them and make their life easy.

3) Most important: follow up as often as it takes. Be obnoxious about it. Email them the next day. And the next. And the next. And the next. Every job you post. Make your emails different every time. Tell them a joke... then throw in a bonus. Closing a sale is a physical, energetic process. You have to invest yourself into it. Relentlessly chase after jobs and they will be yours... no one else does it.

If you are a writer, download this:

Hemingway Editor

Use short, clear sentences and use many paragraphs. Go over each article at least twice before submitting.

If you can do what I just wrote you are worth $25 an article minimum. Be confident when you ask for it. It's a phenomenal deal.

Do 2 of these a day and you blow past your goal.

$1,000 is really easy to get if you just get your feet wet. Experience what it feels like to WORK for yourself and fight to survive on your own.

It took me 6 months to get to $1,000 a month from a very similar place to where you're at. Afterwards I couldn't believe it... I was free of a lot of bullshit. I know you can do it much faster than I did.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

I nominate this one to be a featured post...

Done, plus rep given!

 

[Deleted44974]

@MikeC, thanks for you awesome post. I will give it a try in the next few days. I want to do some writing.

Today I applied for 16 jobs in Craigslist following another thread here from the forum. Most of the job listings require a portfolio, which I don't have. I will update when I hear back.

If I can't absolutely can't land a job in a week, I'll design mock-ups and such, but for now it seems my time would be better spent applying to as many jobs as possible.

Realization I had while reading Deep Work by Cal Newport: a good way to determine your value as an asset for someone else is imagine how much time it would train a graduated college student to do it:

- Setting up WordPress websites with slight tweaks: 1 week
- 80/20 of marketing (email lead gen, forms, funnels): 1-2 weeks worth of podcasts and articles on Growth Hacker
- Writing an article using proper English: few hours

Which is basically the only thing that I can do for now and it's funny if you consider that I worked thousands of hours towards getting a STEM degree that provides me basically no useful skills. Now consider the following:

- Sales: 6+ months
- Programming web apps (back-end): 1-2 years
- Copywriting: 6 months

Which is along the lines of what I intend to get very good at in the next months. This is to provide a North if you're wondering whether that skill would be valuable to have; though broad, it's very easy to evaluate using it.

 

[amp0193]

If you are a writer, download this:

Hemingway Editor

Woah... neato!

Just bought and downloaded. Excited to give it a try.

 

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[ZF Lee]

But what are the exact steps?

THESE are the exact steps, damnit lol!

 

[The-J]

$1,000 a month is easy. You can get there in 6 months like I did. Or you can get there next week. You get there next week by doing this:

1) Read every job VERY carefully. Figure out exactly what they want out of the person they hire. Follow their instructions to a T.

2) Write your application totally zeroing in on what they want and how you will work your a$$ off to accomplish it for them and make their life easy.

3) Most important: follow up as often as it takes. Be obnoxious about it. Email them the next day. And the next. And the next. And the next. Every job you post. Make your emails different every time. Tell them a joke... then throw in a bonus. Closing a sale is a physical, energetic process. You have to invest yourself into it. Relentlessly chase after jobs and they will be yours... no one else does it.

If you are a writer, download this:

Hemingway Editor

Use short, clear sentences and use many paragraphs. Go over each article at least twice before submitting.

If you can do what I just wrote you are worth $25 an article minimum. Be confident when you ask for it. It's a phenomenal deal.

Do 2 of these a day and you blow past your goal.

$1,000 is really easy to get if you just get your feet wet. Experience what it feels like to WORK for yourself and fight to survive on your own.

It took me 6 months to get to $1,000 a month from a very similar place to where you're at. Afterwards I couldn't believe it... I was free of a lot of bullshit. I know you can do it much faster than I did.

It's hilarious because this is exactly what I did a few years back. It really is THAT easy/hard. I wouldn't recommend using freelancing sites, but they are easy and once you get a reputation there, work just falls into your lap. It's the clients that are the worst, though, because they come in expecting everything for very little. That's what Indians are promising (although they often fall short too, but at least they only charge $4/hr!)

I also wouldn't recommend niching into eCommerce stores because everyone and their cat is doing that. Find a niche that is growing and ride the wave (like Clickfunnels in 2015). eCommerce is overserved right now. Maybe niche into a specific niche within eCommerce.

Or focus on something evergreen that's been around forever, but is super unsexy and people don't even think about doing it.

 

[MikeC]

Sales is the key. You need to learn sales to make money. But it's the most beautiful skill in the world. The better you get at it, the more money you make. What's better than that? Ultimately, probably a few things. Practically, I can't think of any.

 

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[Roulf]

$1,000 a month is easy. You can get there in 6 months like I did. Or you can get there next week. You get there next week by doing this:

1) Read every job VERY carefully. Figure out exactly what they want out of the person they hire. Follow their instructions to a T.

2) Write your application totally zeroing in on what they want and how you will work your a$$ off to accomplish it for them and make their life easy.

3) Most important: follow up as often as it takes. Be obnoxious about it. Email them the next day. And the next. And the next. And the next. Every job you post. Make your emails different every time. Tell them a joke... then throw in a bonus. Closing a sale is a physical, energetic process. You have to invest yourself into it. Relentlessly chase after jobs and they will be yours... no one else does it.

If you are a writer, download this:

Hemingway Editor

Use short, clear sentences and use many paragraphs. Go over each article at least twice before submitting.

If you can do what I just wrote you are worth $25 an article minimum. Be confident when you ask for it. It's a phenomenal deal.

Do 2 of these a day and you blow past your goal.

$1,000 is really easy to get if you just get your feet wet. Experience what it feels like to WORK for yourself and fight to survive on your own.

It took me 6 months to get to $1,000 a month from a very similar place to where you're at. Afterwards I couldn't believe it... I was free of a lot of bullshit. I know you can do it much faster than I did.

This editor is outstanding. Thank you for the suggestion!

 

[Deleted44974]

OK, 30 days update:

Since I couldn't get accepted on any of those freelance sites, I thought I'd look for other type of job listings as other suggested here. They are a little bit better than Upwork and the likes and require a little bit of a portfolio, which I don't have. I don't major in anything related to writing nor in a well-known university so here's what I did:

I created a website to host my "about page" and sample articles as I'd look worst by going the LinkedIn route. I can research, and I can write. I just wanted to show that. I'd look the job listing, take a look at what kind of things they wrote on their website and writing a sample for them that would blow any article they had out of the water -- a 2,000 word article full of sources and properly structured. I even offered lead magnets.

I also chose topics that would act like samples for other job listing so I wouldn't have to write it twice. I think I wrote maybe four articles and submitted them to ~50-60 listings over the month. I got maybe 3-4 very good leads that didn't materialize in anything. It does take me a little while to write good 2,000 word articles for now though, and it's extremely demotivating writing something almost knowing I won't be able to get paid from it.

So yeah, I made $0 this past month. This model looks like it's so good in theory-- just prove to them you can provide way better service than what's out there and than what they currently have. But in practice it's so hard to make them work. Two of the leads it's an eComm store looking for blog articles in a niche that I'm very passionate about, and they say "they'll get back to me" and it's been two weeks and nothing, and now my website hosting just expired and I lost my stuff... lol (I still have the articles though) So I haven't been as consisting with the writing samples lately.

 

[eliquid]

It doesn't sound like you're hungry enough to me.

If I was hungry enough, there is no way I would let 30 days pass with no income coming in.

Not sorry for the tough love, but something isn't right here.

Instead of focusing on sending out tons of job offers/freelance offers.. how about you put all that energy into 1 possible client and wow them the F*ck out of the water.

Give them 5 free 2k articles that are out F*cking standing. If they don't hire you, take those articles to one of their competitors. Laser focus that shit.

.

 

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[Dan_Fastlane]

want to try another hustle?

Great bootstrapping thread - how to create money.

go all the way with apple products, it works great!

 

[Liz]

Hey, I just thought I would suggest to you to visit crowdsurfwork. I make a little bit of dollars by transcribing videos and audios. Depending on your internet connection, it depends how much money you will make an hour. What is nice, if you made your $10 today before 4pm, on request they will pay the money into your Paypal account which will be available to spend. A little bit every day goes a far way, and at least it is real dollars.

 

[MitchM]

@MikeC, thanks for you awesome post. I will give it a try in the next few days. I want to do some writing.

Today I applied for 16 jobs in Craigslist following another thread here from the forum. Most of the job listings require a portfolio, which I don't have. I will update when I hear back.

If I can't absolutely can't land a job in a week, I'll design mock-ups and such, but for now it seems my time would be better spent applying to as many jobs as possible.

Realization I had while reading Deep Work by Cal Newport: a good way to determine your value as an asset for someone else is imagine how much time it would train a graduated college student to do it:

- Setting up WordPress websites with slight tweaks: 1 week
- 80/20 of marketing (email lead gen, forms, funnels): 1-2 weeks worth of podcasts and articles on Growth Hacker
- Writing an article using proper English: few hours

Which is basically the only thing that I can do for now and it's funny if you consider that I worked thousands of hours towards getting a STEM degree that provides me basically no useful skills. Now consider the following:

- Sales: 6+ months
- Programming web apps (back-end): 1-2 years
- Copywriting: 6 months

Which is along the lines of what I intend to get very good at in the next months. This is to provide a North if you're wondering whether that skill would be valuable to have; though broad, it's very easy to evaluate using it.

Ideally, if you could help people improve their lives in some way - how would you improve it?

For me, I want to help others get healthy, motivated, and live to their full potential. All of my efforts are directed towards this end.

I started in the same way, aimlessly gunning for something that would make me money and eventually turn into passive income.

At one point I had HUNDREDS of business ideas in my notes (a list that I would have paid a handsome price for a few months prior) - and I hadn't been able to commit to any of them because the ideas themselves were cheap.

I didn't realize it at the time, but the treasure wasn't buried somewhere in my notes. At the (very high) risk of sounding cheesey, the treasure was buried within me.

There is an unlimited number of things that you could do to make money. Anybody who has started a business or been trying long enough can see that.

The only way to make a decision that isn't arbitrary, then, is to do some self-reflection. I recommend reading the book Finding Your Why by Simon Sinek and taking Jordan Peterson's Future Authoring Program. These will both help you understand your motivations and fuel your commitment.

The truth is that you are putting the cart before the horse. If you want to be an entrepreneur and get on the Fastlane then that means you must help people. After you know what kind of work would make you fulfilled you can figure out a way to turn it into a business.

 

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[MikeC]

Wait... so where are you finding these people? They have posted job opportunities on LinkedIn? As in they are looking to hire someone ON LinkedIn to write for them? Are these one-off jobs or full-time employment?

Personally I would not apply to actual job positions as a freelancer. Why haven't you been able to use freelance websites? This will be the shortest path to your success, so it makes sense to put in the time to figure out how to get on them.

If that really isn't an option, then I recommend looking up Facebook groups around content marketing. There's probably thousands of them with a lot of members. Look for people actively looking for writers. This will be a much easier place to get work from, since they will be interested in the first place. You won't have to prove much to them other than the fact that you can write, and you can use your good samples for that purpose.

Send your samples to every content marketing agency in the USA and tell them you want to write for their clients and you deliver top quality work on time, every time.

You could also check out the Warrior Forum. You could even post a "Warriors For Hire" ad... I think it's like $25. Just say you are just getting started and write for $15 - $25 an article.

Lastly if you submitted to ~60 opportunities and got 3-4 good leads... then maybe next month submit to 1,000 and see where it gets you.

 

[ZCP]

I will put a mini-checkpoint of $500 this first month and do any kind of job I can for now. That works to about $17/day.

You need to focus on the 'any' and quit wasting time with excuses. Start earning some money for creating value. Even if that value is shoveling dogshit. Don't just want it, go get it.