[Daily Update] Watch me go from Freelancer To Entrepreneur

[MaxKhalus]

 

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[MaxKhalus]

Fixed last week's numbers

 

[MaxKhalus]

No earnings in Day 72... due to low order quantities.
So I spent four hours applying to dozens of freelance sites. In the end, I filtered six that may have potential (excluding Upwork). Thanks, Lex Deville for creating the Top 100 Freelance Sites List!

P.S.: I'm writing this on the morning of Day 73. I got ten assignments from an old client (worth $48). Will help to boost the ranking.

 

[Lex DeVille]

No earnings in Day 72... due to low order quantities.
So I spent four hours applying to dozens of freelance sites. In the end, I filtered six that may have potential (excluding Upwork). Thanks, Lex Deville for creating the Top 100 Freelance Sites List!

P.S.: I'm writing this on the morning of Day 73. I got ten assignments from an old client (worth $48). Will help to boost the ranking.

Have you considered pitching articles to media sites for pay instead of going through freelance sites?

Who Pays Writers?

An anonymous, crowdsourced list of which publications pay freelance writers, and how much.

whopayswriters.com

If I started over with article writing I wouldn't go through the freelance platforms. I'd pick one or a few niches and find media sites known to pay well in those areas. Review what they already publish so you get a feel for the kind of stuff they like, then write similar stuff and pitch it to them.

Instead of 10 assignments for $48 you might get 1 article worth $50-$100 plus a lot of media sites let you link back to your own website in your bio at the end.

 

[Lex DeVille]

Also, every time you get published on a media outlet directly it gives you more authority and credibility as a writer which means you can demand higher rates from your freelance writing. The skill of pitching media sites is a money-making freelance skill by itself by the way.

 

[MaxKhalus]

I had no idea about pitching. Sounds harder than going to freelance sites, but I'll research it to make it my priority. I don't know where to start but need to figure out.

 

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[MaxKhalus]

Also, every time you get published on a media outlet directly it gives you more authority and credibility as a writer which means you can demand higher rates from your freelance writing. The skill of pitching media sites is a money-making freelance skill by itself by the way.

I was thinking of ranking on freelance sites to be visible, then work on long term projects with the best clients. When pitching sites, how do you increase "conversions?" Applying is the easy part.

I need to figure out how to pitch.

 

[Lex DeVille]

I was thinking of ranking on freelance sites to be visible, then work on long term projects with the best clients. When pitching sites, how do you increase "conversions?" Applying is the easy part.

I need to figure out how to pitch.

Most media outlets have a contact or pitch page that lists the emails of editors or has a pitch form. With pitching you don't have to write the article first (usually). Pitch the idea. If they like it write the article.

Things they usually care about:

- Is your topic relevant for their audience?
- What is your hook (title that makes people want to read)?
- What makes you credible in that subject?
- Is it timely (i.e. an article about St. Patrick's day which is coming up)
- Did you follow their guest posting rules EXACTLY? (if not you'll get trashed)

For credibility you can use things like number of subscribers you have, readers, followers, or even names of other places you've written articles for. If you don't have much credibility, then pitch smaller blogs and outlets first. Write articles for them, then use their name as a credibility marker to attract larger media outlets.

 

[MaxKhalus]

After being confused for a while, I've got some clarity for this thread. First off...

A lot of you guys have come and suggested to me many tips make money with less effort (I work for less than $10 per hour as you see). Reality is, I can make it just the way I am now because I've done it before.

[You can Skip this]

Let me explain... I tracked every 30 minutes two weeks ago. ~84h (3.5 days) on average to necessary tasks (sleep, eat, workout...), 18h went to work (who knows what work I mean), 6h went to post-work (daily review, tracking, planning), and over 60h were, well, WASTED. I don't know how, but it happened.

My problem wasn't income nor time. I just didn't care about success at all. After thinking, I'm starting to treat success as the only option available. I also thought that my daily actions don't matter, that the overall performance is what matters. Wrong. That's why I missed so many opportunities.

Getting back to the main thing, I believe my work ethics can get me to $2,000. I'll focus mostly on developing that skill instead of working "smart". I prefer learning it now than doing it the hard way after making millions.

[Until here]

Two changes I've made.

- I live off of $300 per month. That's $10 per day that I'll subtract every day. If I make nothing, we'll all see -10, not zero. I don't want to trick myself. If I make $50, it's $10 covered, not $50. (a big psychological reason why I've been stopping after reaching $300). I've written $21 today, but it's $11.
- I got back to a video I saw a long time ago. It was this...:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW9R_aNGF4E&t=368s



I felt excited when I started the challenge one year ago. Three days later I said "this is stupidly hard. Becoming an entrepreneur can't be this" and stopped. I failed because I didn't set the right reasons and expectations.

Here are my expectations about work: (as a freelancer)

What Is 1h Of Work For Me?

A. FINDER MODE:
a. If I pitch freelance/media sites => 2 Applications per hour (10 per day)
b. If I reach out to potential clients => Send 6 custom messages per hour (60 per day)
c. If I reach out with a 500w sample => 1 Outreach per hour (10 per day)

Finder Mode is vital. You see, when I made no money, usually my work-time decayed too. I should never stop moving. Now, there will keep being data and action, even if there are no profits for some reason.

B. MANAGER MODE:
a. If someone messages back => do all the follow-ups within an hour (<1h/week)
b. If I there's a maintenance task on my website => complete it within an hour (<1h per week)

C. DOER MODE:
1. Write 700 words, including research and formatting
2. I must record every hour on my tracking app (I'll share one day. Right now, my data is irrelevant)
3. If my focus is less than 90% (about 600w), it doesn't count. It's action faking.

This model has brought me clear expectations about work. The objective, of course, is to complete 60h a week, even 80h. With these standards, results are guaranteed to come. I wish I get it straight from the beginning. (I've already started these changes today)

I'm sure some of you will get some value from this analysis.

 

[MaxKhalus]

Day 74. All Doer work is done. I guess it's respectable progress.

Tomorrow, I'll complete work as I receive but, but mostly need to be on Finder mode — messaging people, applying for sites, pitching outlets.

*1.5h went to Manager work today

 

[MaxKhalus]

Most media outlets have a contact or pitch page that lists the emails of editors or has a pitch form. With pitching you don't have to write the article first (usually). Pitch the idea. If they like it write the article.

Things they usually care about:

- Is your topic relevant for their audience?
- What is your hook (title that makes people want to read)?
- What makes you credible in that subject?
- Is it timely (i.e. an article about St. Patrick's day which is coming up)
- Did you follow their guest posting rules EXACTLY? (if not you'll get trashed)

For credibility you can use things like number of subscribers you have, readers, followers, or even names of other places you've written articles for. If you don't have much credibility, then pitch smaller blogs and outlets first. Write articles for them, then use their name as a credibility marker to attract larger media outlets.

@SinisterLex Hey Lex, do I am WhoPaysWriters to find media outlets?

Btw, I just realized I "suck" at selling myself (never done it before). But I'm going to do it because I gives ten times better results

 

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[MaxKhalus]

Day 75. Yeah. Not very good at Finder's work, especially when I'm used to writing more than "hunting." So 2h went for work (action faking 6 of today's 8.5hs). But hey, I got some stuff done! Let's look at it:

- Upwork submit: I didn't get any email. I applied this morning following Lex Deville's guidelines. All I see is this:

"You're now part of Upwork!" I guess I'm... approved? Easier than I expected.
- I browsed on PeoplePerHour, Guru,& Freelancer for gigs that relate to my specialty (Business Training Copywriter) Book-marked a few, but didn't send anyone messages (action faking?)
- I took a look at my previous account. I might find a way to get back those $250 that faded a few weeks ago. We'll see.

Plans for tomorrow:
-More finder work. Complete Upwork profile with enough portfolio items. Fill everything. Maybe start sending low-priced proposals.
-Message all those potential people I didn't (~7)
-Keep tracking support for the account issue

 

[MaxKhalus]

Money stored in total... $40.
...
This isn't going fast enough. Too inconsistent as you see. Here's what I see:
- My second platform is inefficient (low work amount)
- My finder method is inefficient (I send +10 proposals, nobody emails back)
- Customer support ignores my emails

You see the numbers you see because I hit a wall when it comes to Finder Work. It makes me feel dumb, but perhaps the best way to reach my goal is to do what I know that works... the website 1.

Here are my options:
- Move forward on Upwork (build relationships and trust)
- Website 1 ( Grind)

So website 1 is to make money right away, and reputation-related means is to accelerate it. If I want to win, I should do both, or at least Website 1. The problem is, there's no guarantee (I made $250 in Website 1 in the past. They changed the payment method and I don't know if I will get it back). The chance of success is like 70%.

I cannot deny it. Upwork wins. But it takes time, and I've spent around 14months on this (not the 76 days you see). Here's what I will do, based on my priorities.

1ST PRIORITY. Doer Work. I will make money on website 1, despite the risk of losing my gains.

I'm not doing work anyways. So it's better to spend time having a chance than sitting here doing nothing.

2ND PRIORITY. Manager Work. I will keep on site 2, keeping communication with past clients to lead them to my site.

This platform is having a temporal problem. Their messaging system is disabled. That's why my reports are erratic. (Imagine you work on Upwork, where they don't allow you to message outside the platform. But the Upwork messager isn't working) This income stream is kind of dead. Yet it's my primary one.

3RD PRIORITY. Finder Work. Follow Lex Deville's guide to make it on Upwork, scaling from <5$ orders to $50+


P.S. Even if there are big numbers, remember they come from website 1. There's no guarantee I can get that money out.

 

[MaxKhalus]

lost $10. a client sent two texts worth $25 today.
I care way too little about this. That's never good

 

[MaxKhalus]

I have good stuff going on.

 

[MaxKhalus]

Good news!I've improved the way I spend my time, although it still doesn't reach those 80h of work.
I've now worked 30h, spent 80h on needful tasks, planned 10h, wasted 38h, and spent 10h on "relax". (Relax means I wasn't working, but I neither was distracting or unproductive)

My observations:
-The last hours of the day are unproductive compared to the morning
-I needed "relax" time because I wasn't used to this routine. I wanted to disconnect myself many times
-I failed to keep consistent for three days, losing around 12h per day.

My next week solutions:
-Wake up earlier. Challenge to get 80% of work before the afternoon. The rest of the time manages as a trend of my morning routine.
-Instead of relaxing, I'll spend that time sleeping.
-I'll keep consistency and rescue bad days if they come up

 

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[MaxKhalus]

Sorry for not posting these previous days. Everything is chaos: I'm moving to another city, sending emails, and doing paperwork. Most of my time has been spent talking to customer support online, so I thought you wouldn't want to hear that.

Right now, numbers are like this:

So what am I thinking?

Well, remember the first website? The one that lost me $250? I could get it back If I get through the paperwork. I need to verify my bank account and stuff like that. It takes business days for these employees to respond, so it takes a while.

I've kept writing there as well and am keeping over $350 on retainer. But the reason I don't add it into the balance is: I don't know when, or if I will even get the payout. I didn't take the writing seriously because of this reason.

Site N2 is quite dead. Perhaps because of people's needs, I don't know. The best I've got there is one client who wants to work with me outside the platform long term. About 2 cents per word, a couple of thousand words per week. My best projection is that this one client helps me break even the daily -$10 expense.

I'm figuring out this account thing while I write for him. Once it's ready, I need to check if Site No.1 works without administration issues. If nothing bad happens, I'll be making over $100 as I've always done. I'm not going to explain the exceptions, but it's the truth.

Upwork? That too. First, I want to ensure what I know works. Then, I'll move onto it after hitting a daily income milestone.

As I always like to say, If we are already in the worst case, things can only go better from now on.

 

[MaxKhalus]

Also, daily expenses have gone up from $10 to $15 permanently.

 

[MaxKhalus]

Also, I've created a good upwork portfolio, 3 pages.
The only thing that sucks is that customer support takes forever to write about my first site issue. All because of a tiny stupid mistake I could avoid, now takes me weeks and lots of uncertainty.

Whatever. The world will keep on turning.

 

[MaxKhalus]

After completing the Upwork profile, I filtered around 15 potential offers. Applied to one.
I expect an order tomorrow from one habitual client. If nothing happens, I'll apply on Upwork for another one, also on PPH. Uncertainty is total.

 

[MaxKhalus]

The part you may haven't seen is the retainer. That's what I've been doing lately.
Client retainer = Completed orders with pending payment (100% independent, no freelance website fees)
TB Retainer = Money I might unlock If I figure out the identity problem with one of my accounts. This number doesn't exclude the 16% tax return for April.

Also, I sent three easy-entry proposals on Upwork. Over 1000w for $5. Nothing yet.

My plan is to keep working with my main clients. I never thought my two main clients would be enough to pay the daily expenses. I'm impressed (just as they are with my work) and will continue to work with them.

My two biggest (stressful) challenges: Upwork and Payoneer support. I wish none of you ever has to deal with the second one.

 

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[MaxKhalus]

That's a new record. I hadn't broken one since Week 2. These pandemic times are becoming my best weeks

 

[MaxKhalus]

 

[MaxKhalus]

 

[MaxKhalus]

 

[MaxKhalus]

Woah, I thought my post updated yesterday. Never mind!

Numbers look like this...but they are fake.

On a careful checkup, they really look like that:

And there's still potential to get $416+, which would double the current amount. The total worth $412 (tomorrow).

For the grace of God (lol), customer support responded and took action. In 24h, I will know what to do next on my first site account.

So yeah. I've been underestimating my earnings. I'll update the trello board.

 

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[mindsetferg]

Woah, I thought my post updated yesterday. Never mind!
View attachment 31790
Numbers look like this...but they are fake.

On a careful checkup, they really look like that:
View attachment 31791
And there's still potential to get $416+, which would double the current amount. The total worth $412 (tomorrow).

For the grace of God (lol), customer support responded and took action. In 24h, I will know what to do next on my first site account.

So yeah. I've been underestimating my earnings. I'll update the trello board.

Have you ever read the 4 Hour Work Week? And I get the title might be unattractive to a hard working guy such as yourself who can't imagine "working less" to achieve your goals. But I assure you that is not what the book is mainly about.

It might be the book that bridges the gap between this path you're on now and speed up the leap from freelancing to building the business.

And economically, as long as you continue to lowball everyone on the freelance websites you're just going to perpetuate the process. It seems like the plan is to document and show that it is possible to go from zero to millionaire if someone follows your story. You've probably even got a product already: how to make your first $1k dollars online as an e-learning training or udemy course. If you download a screen recorder, you can explain what you are doing to secure the jobs on freelancer websites and make a course for freelancers. This way you expand the use of your time and create a product that you can leave on the shelf.

The prices you are charging are pretty absurd - but you basically have to do it to compete with the people living in India and the Phillipines whose cost of living is 10x or more lower than in Spain, for the quality of work I assume you are doing. How do you plan on competing with yourself?

Massive props to what you are doing! The fact that you document all these details every day is going to be useful later!

And how has anyone from this website not hired you to write for them yet?

I'll give you 20 bucks to either write two articles on my website www.chanceandconfidence.com or to just share your experience thus far in a "story" format.

And do you want to be on my podcast Strategic Possibilities? We can do it over the phone.

 

[MaxKhalus]

Have you ever read the 4 Hour Work Week? And I get the title might be unattractive to a hard working guy such as yourself who can't imagine "working less" to achieve your goals. But I assure you that is not what the book is mainly about.

It might be the book that bridges the gap between this path you're on now and speed up the leap from freelancing to building the business.

And economically, as long as you continue to lowball everyone on the freelance websites you're just going to perpetuate the process. It seems like the plan is to document and show that it is possible to go from zero to millionaire if someone follows your story. You've probably even got a product already: how to make your first $1k dollars online as an e-learning training or udemy course. If you download a screen recorder, you can explain what you are doing to secure the jobs on freelancer websites and make a course for freelancers. This way you expand the use of your time and create a product that you can leave on the shelf.

The prices you are charging are pretty absurd - but you basically have to do it to compete with the people living in India and the Phillipines whose cost of living is 10x or more lower than in Spain, for the quality of work I assume you are doing. How do you plan on competing with yourself?

Massive props to what you are doing! The fact that you document all these details every day is going to be useful later!

And how has anyone from this website not hired you to write for them yet?

I'll give you 20 bucks to either write two articles on my website www.chanceandconfidence.com or to just share your experience thus far in a "story" format.

And do you want to be on my podcast Strategic Possibilities? We can do it over the phone.

Wow! Your comment made my day. Probably one of the most insightful I've got so far.

Let me go step by step based on what you've shared:

"Work Smarter, Not Harder." (or both)
Yes, I agree. That's the reason my daily numbers are rising this month. The evolution looks like this:

First Week:
I used to work on two freelance websites. Prices averaged 1 cent per word, so I could "brute-force" it and make a couple hundred a week. Not a good idea.

Today:
I no longer work with dozens of clients there (because both websites got dry). Instead, I earn all from two independent clients — one at 2.2 cents and another for $0.013. No more freelance fees.

Share my knowledge with an e-product?

Sure, no reason to say no to it. Why haven't I done it already? The idea of Competition held me back.

How do you plan on competing with yourself?

I use to overdeliver first. Not care about profits until you ensure 100% of clients' confidence.

The proof? I've spent dozens of hours on almost a hundred of articles only to rank well on freelance sites. It seems to have made some effect...

Experience has taught me. Clients don't care much about pricing once they trust you to get results. You just wow them until they feel confident.

Documenting?

Yes, the original reason for it was motivation. Somehow, I can't allow myself to waste time when the whole world is watching me. (I know most of you don't care, but it's a psychological trick).

Before the daily review, consistent work was improbable.

How has anyone from this website not hired you to write for them yet?

That's the shocking question. I never thought of that until today.

I guess you got me: I spend more time working on my skills than selling myself. Which is, at the same time, a smart and dumb decision. That's why I get fewer clients, but the few connections I create last for months.

There's certainly stuff I should change. Thanks for the check-up.

Articles or storytelling?

Thanks for the chance! Let's choose Story. I've read tons of business books, but results speak better than words.

How about the podcast?

Yes.
Although I'm not a native speaker, I'm sure it will be useful and fun.
How about a skype/zoom call? (maxkhalus)

 

[MaxKhalus]

The impossible happened. The customer support guys replied back to me and fixed the problem. Today, I've fixed the info that was wrong, and now expect to unlock those $416 by next week.

I owe an explanation to all of you: When I started, I claimed to be making 2K-3K profit a month. What I've achieved is something even better. Let me explain.

"TB's Retainer" stands for the money locked on my first freelance site. Let's call it TB; I used to make thousands a month here. Somewhere in Week 1, the TB site changes its terms of service. They changed their payment method, which required IDs, tax forms, and whatnot.

This whole time, I've been working with my first income source gone. I started all from zero. And now that I may get it back, this progress thread could double its speed, to say the least. Even if I lose those $400, it won't matter. The skills I've developed last forever.

 

[MaxKhalus]

I'm slipping from my winning routine.


The top and bottom of the chart is the point of confidence and panic. The middle is the average. If I've 4X my money this week — and suddenly started to work less — you kind of know at what stage I am.

My plan is simple: to get done all work before breakfast. If I go to bed early enough, I will get it done before 4 PM. Or Noon. This week is critical.