The Harsh Truth
Not everyone is an excellent writer.
So the first step is to literally write a lot. By a lot, I mean a hundred articles at least. Maybe 200 of them.
I know it may look easy that you see people making a living writing either by selling products and courses or by freelancing. And you think, I can do this too.
Yes, you can.
But why should someone:
- hire you to write
- buy your products
- enrol in your course
I know this is harsh, but it’s the truth.
Now, ask yourself, why do you do it?
Maybe because you trust someone and you aspire to be like them. And to be that person on the other side of the table is hard. It takes a lot of time and effort, yet most aspiring freelancers and creators dismiss this.
It’s fun, it’s doable, you will be independent.
But you need to be bloody good.
And just like any other skill, it will take some time. So be patient and enjoy the process.
The Way To Start
If you want to do this to quit your job, you need to make money on the side. To make money on the side, you’ll probably have to start by trading your services for money.
I started from Upwork.
I’d apply for gigs to get paid on the side of my job. It was time-consuming along with my 9–5 and writing online already. Every application took 20–30 minutes and there were lots of rejections, but it is where I earned my first $3000 for which I’m very grateful.
There was also a client who paid me $400, didn’t get work done, and didn’t take her money back.
So… I guess the universe was motivating me? Haha.
Please start experimenting with various gigs. CV writing, cover letter writing, blogs, editing, copywriting, ghostwriting, LinkedIn post writing.
Even if you don’t like it, give it a try. I knew nothing about copywriting until I took gigs and people liked my work.
The Real Story
I love Justin Welsh and I’d love to have a business model like him.
But he
- is a decade older than me
- has lots of sales experience
- has been at it longer than me
Do you see what the online world does to you? It makes it so easy for you to compare your step one to somebody else’s step nine and feel inadequate and demoralised.
Please don’t fall into that.
Even when I’m told I grew ‘quickly’ online, I always reply that I’ve been writing since I was seven. That’s 19 years of practising the skill.
If that doesn’t show that you have to show up and do the work, I don’t know what will.
It Isn’t As Easy as They Tell You It Is
When I read people wanting to make $2k a month by getting newsletter subscribers, I sometimes giggle.
If your idol with 200,000 followers is advocating it, they have an audience who wants to pay them.
Why do you think you can do it almost instantly?
Those who have achieved things talk about it like it’s easy. I’m guilty of it too, because when we achieve our goals we sometimes overlook the effort it took.
Nobody emphasises on the fact that it takes months and years to reach this level.
It takes years to build a skill.
It takes months of consistently showing up to build an audience.
My goal in my third month of side hustling was to make $10,000 a month. That’s how brainwashed I was reading success stories.
So next time you read these stories, know that the author hasn’t spoken about time because that’s a boring article. Nobody wants to write about how can you be financially independent in five years.
Nobody clicks on such stuff.
The Foundation of Everything
Is building an audience.
Now there are two ways to go about it:
- Show up consistently, publish, engage, and keep getting better with time.
- Hire someone to do this for you and write what ‘works’ so you can hack the algorithm.
Many people do the latter. That’s okay, we’re not judging people here.
The foundation of you wanting to do anything at all in this online world starts from here. Now, you don’t need to be big to have a product. I’d say you launch a freebie even at zero followers so you have a lead magnet to build an email list.
But once you do this well (and genuinely), it gets better.
Whereas without it, there are no readers or customers.
Treat people bloody well.
Lastly
Too overwhelming?
Looks easy?
Let me know what you think.
I just thought it was essential to put a real picture out there. It’s easy to compare our journeys to others because people don’t talk about the ‘boring stuff’ often.
But they should.
So you know you’re doing okay, and with time and effort, you too will get results.
I hope this helped!