Freelancing (Copy, web design, trans) way to 4k a month!

[Alfie321]

Hey guys, the purpose of this post is to make the taking action an habit of mine and, hopefully, you guys will find this motivational too!

I'm looking to do the 4k a month challengue by freelancing only (maybe i'll add selling websites later). To meet my main goal i have made another goals along the journey (those are goals to me because i need to remember my work ethic!). An outline is something like this:

Main:

- $4k a month by february 2017.

Subs:

- Make profiles on Odesk, Upwork, Freelancer, once per skill, so that is 3 accs per site (copy, translation and web design)
- Code something i don't know about/im scared of EVERYDAY by looking what the market is asking for.
- Copy 1 hour daily at start, increase amount as time goes by
- Send at least 5 applications a day.
- Do the "be like jesus" challengue everyday until feb

Repeat.

I think it is pretty straight forward but actually takes a lot of effort if you are not acostumed to it. This week i've been learning a little bit of bootstrap everyday, pimped my upwork profile (and going to send it to sinesterlex if he has time to give me some advice), sent 5 applications today focusing on the client, giving translation samples in advance and really happy now that i'm making my challengue public.

I will post everyday here what novelty i did to keep this dynamic

Any ideas, reccomendations and overall feedback is well received.

Thanks for reading!

 

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[The Racing Driver]

Hey guys, the purpose of this post is to make the taking action an habit of mine and, hopefully, you guys will find this motivational too!

I'm looking to do the 4k a month challengue by freelancing only (maybe i'll add selling websites later). To meet my main goal i have made another goals along the journey (those are goals to me because i need to remember my work ethic!). An outline is something like this:

Main:

- $4k a month by february 2017.

Subs:

- Make profiles on Odesk, Upwork, Freelancer, once per skill, so that is 3 accs per site (copy, translation and web design)
- Code something i don't know about/im scared of EVERYDAY by looking what the market is asking for.
- Copy 1 hour daily at start, increase amount as time goes by
- Send at least 5 applications a day.
- Do the "be like jesus" challengue everyday until feb

Repeat.

I think it is pretty straight forward but actually takes a lot of effort if you are not acostumed to it. This week i've been learning a little bit of bootstrap everyday, pimped my upwork profile (and going to send it to sinesterlex if he has time to give me some advice), sent 5 applications today focusing on the client, giving translation samples in advance and really happy now that i'm making my challengue public.

I will post everyday here what novelty i did to keep this dynamic

Any ideas, reccomendations and overall feedback is well received.

Thanks for reading!

Do you have an accountability buddy?

 

[Lex DeVille]

Hey guys, the purpose of this post is to make the taking action an habit of mine and, hopefully, you guys will find this motivational too!

I'm looking to do the 4k a month challengue by freelancing only (maybe i'll add selling websites later). To meet my main goal i have made another goals along the journey (those are goals to me because i need to remember my work ethic!). An outline is something like this:

Main:

- $4k a month by february 2017.

Subs:

- Make profiles on Odesk, Upwork, Freelancer, once per skill, so that is 3 accs per site (copy, translation and web design)
- Code something i don't know about/im scared of EVERYDAY by looking what the market is asking for.
- Copy 1 hour daily at start, increase amount as time goes by
- Send at least 5 applications a day.
- Do the "be like jesus" challengue everyday until feb

Repeat.

I think it is pretty straight forward but actually takes a lot of effort if you are not acostumed to it. This week i've been learning a little bit of bootstrap everyday, pimped my upwork profile (and going to send it to sinesterlex if he has time to give me some advice), sent 5 applications today focusing on the client, giving translation samples in advance and really happy now that i'm making my challengue public.

I will post everyday here what novelty i did to keep this dynamic

Any ideas, reccomendations and overall feedback is well received.

Thanks for reading!

To make this happen you'll have to get a lot more focused. Right now you feel scattered. Gotta figure out:

A. Which freelance area are you strongest in?
B. Where can you create real value?
C. Which path is most likely to get you to the results you want?

Based on this post, copywriting isn't that path. Maybe if you write copy in your native tongue, but not in English. Web design could be a better option. Learn Wordpress or follow @Fox thread to get going quickly.

There's no reason to send 5 applications per day. You need to find 1 person you are 100% certain you can help, and write out an application just for that person. When I do this it takes hours. I literally spend 2-3 hours writing a proposal. If I did that 5 times a day, I wouldn't have any time to work on my business.

What are you good at? What skills do you have?

You can use everything I've taught across this board to get work in pretty much any field. You need to enter a field where you can create value.

To be honest, I think you'd be a lot closer to your $4k goal if you start a dog poop cleanup service. Go buy a $5 pooper scooper and reach out to locals who might need this service. You can add dog walking as an additional service. If you buy 10 kitty litter boxes and some cat litter and a bag of rubber gloves, you can offer cat litter clean up too.

This doesn't require technical skill. It only requires your ability to take action right now.

Barely any startup costs. Just reach out to people you already know and get them to buy in for $10 a week.

You can do this today.

You could earn your first $10, $50, or even $100 with this today if you ask enough people.

Copywriting works for me because I'm good at it and I can help people.
Web design works for Fox because he's good at it and helps people.

Both take time to learn, and by the time you learn enough to get good enough to earn $4,000 a month, you could have earned $10,000 a month by selling a service you could start right now.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[ReubenA]

To make this happen you'll have to get a lot more focused. Right now you feel scattered. Gotta figure out:

A. Which freelance area are you strongest in?
B. Where can you create real value?
C. Which path is most likely to get you to the results you want?

Based on this post, copywriting isn't that path. Maybe if you write copy in your native tongue, but not in English. Web design could be a better option. Learn Wordpress or follow @Fox thread to get going quickly.

There's no reason to send 5 applications per day. You need to find 1 person you are 100% certain you can help, and write out an application just for that person. When I do this it takes hours. I literally spend 2-3 hours writing a proposal. If I did that 5 times a day, I wouldn't have any time to work on my business.

What are you good at? What skills do you have?

You can use everything I've taught across this board to get work in pretty much any field. You need to enter a field where you can create value.

To be honest, I think you'd be a lot closer to your $4k goal if you start a dog poop cleanup service. Go buy a $5 pooper scooper and reach out to locals who might need this service. You can add dog walking as an additional service. If you buy 10 kitty litter boxes and some cat litter and a bag of rubber gloves, you can offer cat litter clean up too.

This doesn't require technical skill. It only requires your ability to take action right now.

Barely any startup costs. Just reach out to people you already know and get them to buy in for $10 a week.

You can do this today.

You could earn your first $10, $50, or even $100 with this today if you ask enough people.

Copywriting works for me because I'm good at it and I can help people.
Web design works for Fox because he's good at it and helps people.

Both take time to learn, and by the time you learn enough to get good enough to earn $4,000 a month, you could have earned $10,000 a month by selling a service you could start right now.

Just my 2 cents.

Disagree. The $4k/month isn't the point and is kind of arbitrary.

The goal should not be to maximize money in the short-term (start scoopin' poop as you suggest)

The goal should be to put yourself on a path so that in 4-6 years from now, you're making a butt tonne of cash. Whether he actually hits the 4k/month by 'x' date or not is irrelevant.

Poop scoopin' might make him more money in the next 8 weeks, but what then? Where do those skills go from there?

Action-taking, a focus on adding value and business skills can be built in either avenue. But copywriting is a very valuable thing to be good at.. so I would definitely advise to stay on that path. Even if at the start of it he needs to build the skill rather than maximize returns in the short term.

 

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[Lex DeVille]

Disagree. The $4k/month isn't the point and is kind of arbitrary.

The goal should not be to maximize money in the short-term (start scoopin' poop as you suggest)

The goal should be to put yourself on a path so that in 4-6 years from now, you're making a butt tonne of cash. Whether he actually hits the 4k/month by 'x' date or not is irrelevant.

Poop scoopin' might make him more money in the next 8 weeks, but what then? Where do those skills go from there?

Action-taking, a focus on adding value and business skills can be built in either avenue. But copywriting is a very valuable thing to be good at.. so I would definitely advise to stay on that path. Even if at the start of it he needs to build the skill rather than maximize returns in the short term.

Ah, my bad, forgot I have no idea what I'm talking about.

I'm sure poop scooping is a waste of time. Probably just as slowlane as carpet cleaning.

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...ey-for-dummies-and-in-a-crowded-market.63123/

 

[ReubenA]

Ah, my bad, forgot I have no idea what I'm talking about.

I'm sure poop scooping is a waste of time. Probably just as slowlane as carpet cleaning.

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...ey-for-dummies-and-in-a-crowded-market.63123/

I wasn't trying to argue about a poop scooping business. I assumed you were just using it as a random example of adding value - that which there are 1000 ways to do. I doubt either of us know the scaling potential of it. I did dismiss it too quickly.. but my main point was that, all else being equal - choose something that provides you the skills that maximize chances of success long-term in all businesses along your path.

Want to move on from your poop scooping business in the future? Well you've built some business skills, sure. But you could've got those and a lot more out of the time had you chosen something else.

 

[Lex DeVille]

I understand what you're saying but there's no guarantee he'd get more out of something else and he may never become a superstar copywriter even if he studies it for 4 to 6 years.

There are examples littered across this forum of those who started studying 2 or more years ago and are still studying and not getting results in copy right now.

Not everyone should do copywriting. Not everyone is a fit. Everyone wants to do it because they think it's how you make a lot of money, but that's not true. If you can't perform, if you can't write well, if that's not a skill you're good at, you can't help people and it won't sell.

That means in 4-6 years OP might be right where he is right now, still wondering why he hasn't made any money even though he's put a lot of time and effort into a skill.

It makes more sense to use the skills you already have and to find ways to create value right now to build a business if you can. OP's goal was to make $4k by February. The solution I provided is based on that goal. Based on experience, there's virtually 0 chance he'll earn $4k/month by February writing copy.

Is it possible? Sure. But he'd have to undergo a transformation so profound that he'd probably be making a lot more than $4k a month if he could achieve it.

A service business like poo scooping is extremely low cost, easy to start up, nobody wants to do it, solves a problem, and can be scaled to limitless heights and potentially even sold to a larger company to cash out at some point.

If OP then decides to create a new business in 4-6 years, which is getting WAYYYYY ahead of ourselves...he won't need to write copy because he'll have the cash to pay someone to do it right.

Every entrepreneur should learn the basics of copy.
Not every entrepreneur should try to earn $1k/week writing copy because someone else can.

Help people, create value = money
Make bank with [insert skill here] because someone else did = slowlane

 

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[Alfie321]

@The Racing Driver

Thanks for replying bro. The way i normally work is set a minimum of tasks i must accomplish in any given day no matter what, for example:

- Send 20 applications a day (only counts if i took the time to look at the clients profile, took conscious effort to do my best job to write the note, etc.)
- Spend 6 hours coding (must be conscious, doing something i'm not familiar/confortable with)
- Copy (and apply it to something i already have/do free work for friends bussines) for 2 hours

I really don't like to focus on goals like "make 100 in my first week". I know it can have its benefits but i'm blessed right now i'm in a situation where i don't need to "work" to meet my basic needs as my side bussines does it for me currently.

If you were talking about another way to keep myself accountable i'd love to know


@SinisterLex

Thank you very much for your reply!

I absolutely get your point, i may not have the inner talent for copy but i like to think i can do it if i put the effort, i think 4 months is ok to figure out, no problem if it is not my thing. On a funny note i'm not attracted to copy to make money (okay i am but not that much) but rather to understand people better, what makes them wow, what they don't like etc. it is a fascinating thing to me.

Also, i followed a similar thinking process to make my decition:

A) Currently my strongest is my billingual skill (translation)
B) I can't create value right now in the other two, at least not on freelance sites (and won't even try to apply if i know i'm still weak)
C) Probably web design+copy

* About the poop bussines:

Sadly i tried it when i was younger, the thing is where i currently live we don't care were our beasts poop, in fact you need to keep your eyes on the floor because it's a mined field. For locals is not a need, we need to care more about others shoes.

By the way, that's somewhat my current bussines does. I give advice/solve problems in IT. That's really a need, people don't have a clue about computers and are pissed off by terrible customer support (i've worked with the IT guys in my collegue and in a company and it's amazing how clueless they were). The thing is, even if it's good money, if i think on escalating it, it would need way too much time, i've done a few trips when people ask me to repair their PC and sometimes it took me 2 hours just to get to the clients house. It is a relatively good bussines though.

* About my skills:

I'm blessed i've worked with computers since i was 12 (now i'm 24) so i know a lot about them:

- How to build custom pc's
- Optimize cost/benefit of your purchase (crazy how people throw their money buying something that exceeds what they need to work)
- Can solve most register/virus/format or any other problems that requires cmd use.
- I think my most valuable skill is my ability to search for solutions on a problem i don't know much about and effectively solve it in a short period of time, i'm really good at looking at hidden places and apply the advice quickly.

Sadly i'm not that good at coding in serious languages, that's the one part i've never put effort to learn, and i know that it really requires dedication to do it (and it is dumb to learn it anyways, as most software projects are team done). On the other hand, HTML/CSS is a fairly easy language to learn and i have some experience on it (i took pdfs and made them epub with html). I just need to re-remember and get familiar with it too and i think i'm good to go as far as web design. The challenguing part will be when i need to learn PHP and JS, but from what i saw, they are not that hard, at least to get to the point where i can sell webpages as a product. I'm not trying to code facebook-like pages by any means.

I have other skills such as decent graphic design aswell as video and post production/audio editing skills. I'm not wow at any of these but my experience has been that i can outclass most people that actually studied those as a career. I'm good at hearing things too and was kinda succesful too with a transcription/music arranging bussines i had.

Thanks everybody for your feedback, i think you are right about me being scattered, i'll need to find a way to solve it hehe. By the way, i chose my goal to be on february just to make myself more focused, i know i might not get to 4k but surely i will get to a better place. Also it may can happen as time is my ally right now. I literally have between 6-5 days free to work, all of that time i plan to spend into building my skills

 

[458]

Still just a job..

 

[Alfie321]

Still just a job..

Hey 458, thanks for the feedback, i get it, it is not a fastlane bussines but i believe it is an optimum plan to figure out what problems people are having and developing solutions too while i make money learning.

I wanted to make a quick update to this thread: After a lot of upwork proposals i finally landed an interview to work with lightinthebox.com on e-commerce and marketing, something i'm familiar with and could use the experience to solidify my knowledge.

I also have a good belief in my HTML skills and will start cold calling bussines next week, i have unlimited calls on my plan so lets get wet and embarrassed.

 

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[jules 98hustle]

Great thread! Real gold here being said by @SinisterLex !
There are guys picking up dog poop who are literally millionaires.
The couple who created this dog poop company are millionaires Pet Dog Waste Removal and Pooper Scooper Service: DoodyCalls Not many lawyers can even say that.
You can use your copywriting skills to smoke the unsophisticated competition in the local service business because I can assure you they would not have taken the time to learn such a valuable skill.
There are many local service businesses which could easily make you 4k a month, of which I think @IceCreamKid would agree with.
Good luck in your journey!