Freelancer making $140K/yr, how to double or triple?

[MJ DeMarco]

User is banned for many things: Being a dickhead, an askhole, a forum thief, and god knows what else.

Classic case of a lost soul looking for an exact blueprint... and when people don't offer one that doesn't exist, everyone's an aHole.

Good riddance and good luck with the one-client, nine-to-five bro.

 

[Matt Hunt]

Look man, I was trying to be helpful, and so is everyone else here. I'm not sure what the deal is with your attitude. If you come to a public forum and ask for advice, you're going to get all kinds. If you don't like it, fine, just move on. You don't need to get upset with the person who's just trying to be helpful.

 

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[Private Witt]

Id invest in self improvement including counseling, and finding a way to balance yourself. You have a get rich quick type of attitude and are not willing to accept you have serious limitations and problem dealing with others that will always keep you down no matter how much your double or triple your money.

 

[Kruiser]

Isn't this exactly what MJ describes in Unscripted ? I believe the term is askhole.

 

[Matt Hunt]

Apparently you need to figure out the answer on your own.

I don't understand how you "can not" invest in real estate? Are you spending all $140k? If so, cut your expenses. Live off $40k and invest $100k (yes, I know you have taxes, just giving an example). Your thinking is flawed. You're trying to trade your time for money. Make your money work for you. You CAN double your money in real estate. I'm invested as a passive investor (literally all I've done is analyze the deal and wired the money) in an apartment complex. We're looking to sell late this summer, or early fall, and all passive investors will have doubled their money with the sale (2 years after the purchase).

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Is there any way I can DM him?

No. There's a good reason why he's gone.

And if you have something groundbreaking to tell him, he doesn't deserve to hear it the way he treated people here.

 

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[RockstarDev]

OK, this thread is for all of my programmers who are earning $140K+/year and want to take it on next level.

Re-reading what OP wrote I actually think he can do very well in business... IF he can restrict majority of his outbursts to people who are not immediately helpful to his effort. Big part of business is not settling and accepting what doesn't directly help you. If you can create friction and use generated energy - it can be quite useful... as you can see from this thread - people are coming to comment on it.

Another thing he seems needs addressing is that what holds most programmers back - analytical mind. In programming the first thing you do is to identify all variables (or at least sizable majority). In bizdev, you can never identify all variables. Rather you can estimate % and then decide if you want to go or not. There is also time component... if each passing moment reduces your chance of success - then you always go... even in cases where you have like 10% chance of success. If you can only lose by delaying - doing something is always better than doing nothing.

Considering that bizdev requires completely different approach, what I advise to most programmers - if they want to make more money - is to stay programmers. Don't start another blog / drop shipping gig / become manager / sales guy. Go deeper with your existing skillset.

As @MJ DeMarco advises in his book - what you are really aiming in life when it comes to money is to increase number of Golds in your Gumball Machine. For most programmers - their Gumball machine is full of oranges but devoid of golds. This is what you should be addressing - if you want more money your really should be finding better job / startup to be part of. And accepting that you'll likely need to accept paycut to pursue Gold opportunities.

Also, big part of why most programmers are making so much money is that they have specific skillset and competition for their jobs is scarce compared to other industries. When career switching you need to keep in mind that - if you can start dropshipping business in two weeks - so can everyone else. Start that new business and suddenly you are in new field with way more competition, where you need to develop skillset from zero. You now ask: But Rockstar, how come there are all these other people who made millions from dropshipping/blogs/etc?

The answer is simple - the same way MJ made his millions. It has to do with timing - MJ didn't start his limousine service in 2017 and competed with Uber. Guy practically invented CPA concept back in 1999. If you want to replicate his success you need to identify completely new industry the way he did. And not only that - you need to religiously dedicate yourself to exploiting that opportunity. This means 16 hour workdays and consistent focus. "Passive income" only becomes passive after you've pissed blood and tears for years. And in today's market you can be sure that your passive income will never be "passive" for too long. Otherwise MJ would still be owning Limos.com.

To wrap it all up: I would advise programmers against studying MJs success and following his path. This is because most of programmers lack his mindset and skills. Same goes for most advice on this forum - it is very unlikely you can develop side hustle while maintaining $140K/year income and competing on zero-entry barrier business.

Much better model to emulate would be Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder and CTO of AirBnb. Read Nathan's life story and see that you don't need to become "business guy"... you really just need improve your technical skills, surround yourself with nice team and exploit untapped markets with creative approaches.

Another great model to emulate is Mike Krieger (Instagram CTO). Both him and Nathan show how much you can increase your potential to earn just by joining great startup early on and then working your a$$ off. Not guessing, not being bored, not re-inveting yourself. Just doing more of the same thing and trading your boring 9-17 for exciting 9-21 (that eventually can become 9:00-9:01).

TLDR:

1. Don't career switch, go deeper with what you are already doing.
2. If you are creating startup - timing is everything. No, don't create "next Facebook". You are 15 years too late.
3. Think about social component. Maybe all you need to do is join better team. Programmers can earn tons of money just joining the right team/company early on. Do that instead of starting yet another dropship business.

 

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[Matt Hunt]

Can you outsource your work? Get more clients and outsource that work? Also, at $140k/year, what are your expenses? If you keep your expenses low, you can invest a huge chunk of that money into something like real estate and begin building up passive income.

 

[Ravens_Shadow]

I wish i was a hustling expert with mass of experience.

The best way to gain experience in something that you want to do is to go out and do it. Trading time for money in your case is working pretty well, but you want to take it to the next level. Read my fundamental question thread that's linked in my signature.

After that, figure out what it is you want, a lifestyle business or an enterprise, and then build something that provides value to the customer. The thing is that there isn't any one way you can get the biggest bang for your buck. You just have to try things and solve needs.

 

[Tubs]

Where did you come from? I'd invest in your mother.

You need to chill out. All the people in this thread have tried to do is give you suggestions and you've been getting pissed and insulting them. Not a good look dude.

 

[Matt Hunt]

"No I can not"

Well you're right. Your mentality is holding you back.

 

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[The Abundant Man]

1. No i can not outsource my freelance project.
2. No i can not invest in real estate with that money.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJDnem6Fzqo

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdidOJXuNp8

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOVyqR06roY

 

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[Matt Hunt]

Look mate you should mind your own business. When i'm telling you i can't, i can't. I know how to run my financial affaires. If you think that is the problem it's not. So stop pushing on the real estate subject and proceed with another option. And FYI i already invested in real estate.

Really dude?! You asked for advice, now you don't want it? Good luck.

 

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[Unleashed]

I'm currently a freelancer who's earning 140k $ per year. However i'm working from 9 to 5 for one major client.

How can i use this income to my advantage and double it, triple it, or even quadruple it?

Hint: I do have spare time at my workplace to browse over the internet so i can actually do what i want.

I'm also free after 5 pm and on the weekends. I've been thinking of importing stuff from china, selling on amazon, running a web shop,...

I have 0 experience in that kind of stuff though. And i'm not sure if that's really what i want to do as a side hustle. I want the biggest bang for my buck...

MJ said in his book time is money. So in other words i want to get the most buck out of my time.

So i want to think larger. How can i use the income i have now and double it, triple it, and even quadruple it?

I wish i was a hustling expert with mass of experience.

 

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[Andy Black]

I had one main client once that I went onsite to. It feels a lot like a job.

Can you get any other clients in the evening, providing the same service as is currently bringing in your $140k/year?

 

[masterjack]

T_T

I wish you haven't banned this guy MJ... I think I can help him directly. He is probably a programmer who has steady remote gig and is looking to expand further. I can advise him on how to build upon what he is already doing instead of searching for greener pastures... he shouldn't get in competition in fields where he lacks experience and skills.

Is there any way I can DM him?

Hello,

I’m a full-stack web developer just starting out and I would love to hear what you have to say if you have the time! Please shoot me a DM if you can, or if you feel inclined to post here as it may help others. Thank you very much.

 

[Deleted50669]

You sound like a whiny little bitch. You're well advised to listen to feedback, considering you were dumb enough to tie your entire income stream to a single client.

 

[Fassina]

I shouldn't help but I will. Make a course, teach freelancers in your niche how to get clients that pay well or whatever it is freelancers want in clients.

Sell it to freelancers with ads in places people in your niche frequent. Grow it by creating more products and upselling stuff to your customers, build an email list, basic stuff.

It's what I'd recommend, If you want to do dropshipping that's cool, good luck.

BTW I don't think this guy is a 9 to 5 five days a week, from what he wrote it seems he's working 7 days a week. His 140k might also be a multiplied average of what he's earning from this client for this particular job.

Which basically means he can't really invest in real state because he's not earning that much, he would if he could get a client that pays that much year around but he probably doesn't.

 

[Tourmaline]

Well that was an unexpected ride...

 

[Mark Mueller]

Well this thread was...interesting.

Yeah, I was going to suggest MMA fighting on the weekends, since he appeared to have a lot of pent up anger issues.

 

[Timmy C]

Yeah, I was going to suggest MMA fighting on the weekends, since he appeared to have a lot of pent up anger issues.

This is the last type of person I would want on the mats with me.

 

[Unleashed]

delete

 

[Unleashed]

DELETED BECAUSE OF IGNORANCE OF POSTERS

 

[The Abundant Man]

MJ said in his book time is money.

My dad always told me: "Time is money. Money is time. I don't have any of it."

 

[Unleashed]

I wish you never replied to this thread. Oh why oh why.

 

[Unleashed]

I just want to delete this whole thread. Don't you guys get when it's not an option???

 

[Unleashed]

You're just making it worse.

 

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[The Abundant Man]

You act like we hurt you. We're just giving you advice. Whether you want it or not that's up to you.

So why are those "not options"? What options do you have?

 

[Andy Black]

I’ve started a discussion here that you might find interesting:

Podcast discussion: TropicalMBA.com/services

One of my favourite podcast episodes, and one I need to relisten to. Let’s discuss it here. What’s your main takeaway? What will you do different going forward? http://www.tropicalmba.com/services

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

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[scottmsul]

Can you automate any of the tasks associated with your freelancing? Maybe turn it into some kind of SaaS?