You’re looking at that title and already thinking…this lady is full of sh$t. I get it, and I hear you. But, I’ve actually done this before and recently I spent some time reflecting on how the heck I was able to create epic earnings in such a short period of time.
The Backstory
For those of you who are new to my blog and my story. I am a personal finance blogger and influencer. I began blogging about personal finance half-heartedly in 2012 and continue to do so to this day. At the time that I began blogging I was a freaking mess.
- Depressed
- Exhausted
- Broke a tooth from clinching my teeth at night due to job related stress.
- My hair started falling out
- And, I gained around 50-60 lbs.
I was literally I mess. There came a point in time when I decided for my well being that I needed to leave my job of 10 years and focus on my health and wellness. On the surface, it seemed like a great idea. And, it was. Except for one thing…I didn’t have a clear idea of what I would do for money other than hustle. Oh, and I decided to go to Australia for a couple of months to decompress…because I don’t do things easy LOL!
Upon My Return
I was basically broke. Australia, is not cheap. And, even though I stayed in hostels, was hosted by a friend, and rocked my transportation to Australia (I broke up the trip into different stops and bought tickets going to each locale: Denver to LA, LA to Honolulu, Honolulu to Sydney)…my wallet was looking pretty anemic. I had to focus on hustling BEFORE I returned to Denver.
How?
How in the heck did I make $6,000 two months after my return? With no clear plan, no initial clients? And, beginning my process while still overseas?
I’m about to break it down for you with a couple of caveats.
- Every person’s results will be different if you use this process.
- Your ability to make money will be affected by the size of the town that you live in. The bigger the town-the more opportunities.
- The more you’re willing to put yourself out “there” the more opportunities to attract money.
Commit
If you plan on making more money because you want it or you need it (either works) then you’re going to have to commit to the process. When I returned from my trip, I was like…oh crap-I’m broke and I have bills to pay. I had two options just take it easy and make my life even more complicated or go all in because I needed money. So, I went all in. I needed cash, so I looked for ways to find cash.every.single.day.
Yep, every single day I looked for:
- Fun side-hustles
- Stuff to sell
- Clients to serve-I found people who needed immediate help. I literally used Craigslist to find clients. I do have a VERY specific protocol for how I use Craigslist because there are crazy a@@ people out there.
- I worked as a brand ambassador and ended up working with Noosa Yogurt (a Colorado based company) on the weekends. I ended up side-hustling with them for a little over a year and ate a year’s worth of delicious free yogurt and had paid trips to the mountains where I stayed in my own 2 bedroom suite. Loved that gig!!
By the way, I looked for something that would make me money every.single.day. I can’t emphasize that enough. Daily. Every.Single.Freaking.Day.
Tell People
If people have no idea that you’re looking to earn more money, then you won’t be connected with additional opportunities to do that. Your friends may have the following needs:
- Babysitting help
- Yard work
- House work
- Computer help
- Business related help
- Organizing support
- Errands that need to be run
You get the picture. Your friends and family are great resources to connect you with opportunities to make money. I also belong to professional communities and they need help-especially depending on the time of year. It’s currently closing in on the holiday season and it’s a great time to grow your income. People need a ton of help right now.
Diversify
As has been heavily hinted at: the more places you look for money the better. When I returned from my trip I looked for jobs and opportunities everywhere-every single day. Here is a link to a blog post I wrote about 101 Weird, Fun, Awkward Side-Hustles.
Similar to the 7 streams of income that people refer to when discussing how millionaires grow their income. Same thing, if you’re bringing in money from different areas, it helps to balance out when one area slows down.
Find Ongoing Client Work
This is a huge one. If you start adding retainer clients then you are able to build up predictable income. At the time that I returned from Australia, everything was very vague in my mind. I really didn’t have a clear business model, or idea of what I wanted to do professionally. I ended up getting the following types of clients/work:
- Social Media Management work-I ended up with 3 or 4 clients. I will be honest and say that for me personally…this isn’t my favorite way to make money BUT I would absolutely do it again if things got tight. I’ve learned a lot since 2015 so I would approach the client management part differently than before.
- Podcast editing-I’m much better and much faster at editing podcasts. But, I literally landed a gig that taught me what I know now. I ended up getting fired (we drove each other crazy) but, I still got paid LOL!
- Brand Ambassador work-I ended up picking up several brand ambassador gigs but had one primary activation that I worked with for the rest of the year. I lucked out because the young woman who ran that team gave us schedules a month to two months out (we made our requests and then she would create the schedule). This was incredibly helpful because I could fill in the days that I wasn’t working with other projects. We’re still friends and she’s still awesome.
- Freelance writing-There is a ridiculous amount of content that people are needing help with. People are running: blogs, websites, or writing blog posts for other people. At the time, I had ridiculously low rates (because I was building up my portfolio…and, I wasn’t confident about pricing). I was getting paid $15 a post. Yikes. It’s up to you to decide what your minimum would be…but, I’m going to strongly suggest nothing less than $50 for a post (subtract 30% from it for taxes) equals $35 for less than an hour of work (I’m hoping you can knock these posts out fast). Think about it this way-if you work retail you will make around $10 an hour. Write three posts a day in a third of that time.
The next actionable step is one that I didn’t even think about-but, one that my friend Holly Johnson from Earn More Writing, swears by.
Daily Earnings Goals
I now have daily and weekly earnings goals. This is on of those ridiculously genius moves that helps fuel sustained and constant action for people who are actively working to increase their income. My current daily earnings goal is to earn a minimum of $300 a day. Nope, I’m not hitting that number-but, each day I’m working hard so that I do eventually hit that number.
I wish I had thought of this strategy several years ago. In fact, I have a number of friends who have increased their income substantially by doing this one thing.
Focus on Time for Money
Not all jobs are created equally….in regards to time and pay. I’m a fan of work in general, but, when you’re looking to amp up your income because: you’re broke, you’re trying to pay off debt, you just want more money, or you’re amping up your savings. Your why is important but don’t just do anything. Really focus on maximizing the amount that you earn in least amount of time possible.
For example:
- I love freelance writing as a side-hustle because I can complete posts REALLY fast. I just hate the business part of it if I end up chasing payments which pisses me off.
- I don’t love working retail long-term because it decreases your ability to work on additional projects throughout the day. The pay is typically low and most national retailers don’t provide staff schedules a month out. Basically, you’re held hostage to their earnings projections. So, if you try to add other side-projects…your retail job could mess those plans up based on the weekly schedule that you’re given.
Let’s Look at the Numbers:
- 6 clients at $1,000 a client=$6000
- 12 clients at $500 a month (more likely what you would attract initially) equals $6000
- $6000/50 dollars an hour=120 hours of work (1 week has 168 hours to give you an idea)
- $6000/100 dollars an hour=60 hours of work
- $6000/150 dollars an hour=40 hours of work
- $6000/31 days in a month=You could make $194 dollars a day to hit $6000 in a month.
What actions do you need to take to hit those numbers?
Some Truth
This will actually suck…until it doesn’t. There will be a point around the third or fourth week when you start getting money coming in and you’re in a rhythm. You’re putting yourself out there, your connecting with a ton of opportunities and some will be a hit, others a miss. Similar to planting a garden, some seeds grow and others do not. The point is to keep planting and tending the metaphorical garden until you grow opportunities consistently.
You may want to quit. Because this is hard work, and people nowadays b#tch constantly about hard work (myself included). We talk about:
- Wanting sleep
- A social life
- time to focus on ourselves
What we forget is this level of focused action and intensity is not supposed to last forever (and shouldn’t). With the exception of GaryVee who is looking haggard around the edges-most of us cannot keep up this pace forever. But, we can keep it up for 8 months to a year. What would happen if you took focused, zeroed in action towards your financial goals daily?
I asked myself that question a lot throughout this year. And, I will be candid and say that I didn’t want to dig in deep because I knew that when I started focused, intense action that some of the things that I enjoy:
- 8 hours of sleep
- A social life
- And time to focus on myself
Would experience a huge shift. I’ve already begun this process and the timing is perfect because I will be attending FinCon17 next week and typically leave with several clients. My monthly income goal is actually a lot more than $6000, so it’s going to be interesting to see if I can do and and obliterate the under-earning mentality that I’ve been working on for awhile.
What If You Don’t Make $6000
You might not. But, it would be pretty difficult to take actions putting you in front of ways to make money on a daily basis and not earn more than before. In fact, I would be pretty shocked if you didn’t earn several thousand more than before taking these actions.
I will keep you posted on my end, and you let me know how it’s going for you.
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Love this post, Michelle! Can’t wait to explore your blog more and learn from you.
Thanks Andrea! It was great seeing you yesterday.
Loving this kid of posts because are real testimonials…thanks for sharing!
Hi Giulia! Welcome back. I think that people sometimes just need encouragement, a little tough talk, and an actual blue print to get them (and, myself) going.
Love this post! I’m so jealous about Australia I need to get there like ASAP. I really want to do brand ambassador work preferably something of the wine and spirits persuasion. Hmmmm something to think about.
Well, they are ramping up Brand Ambassador work going into the Holiday season like NOW! Get on it chica! they pay really well and are super easy to do.