“If you’re one of the few poeple on this Earth that actually loves what they do, don’t ever rub it in anyone’s face. You be grateful!” — Courtney Cox in Cougar Town
Yes, I watch some weird shows. You never know what you can learn from a random show. I find that too many self-proclaimed online experts brag about how much they love life because they make millions of dollars by laying on the beach. How’s this even possible? They never really get into details. They just sell the dream. I don’t like to sell dreams. I believe in promoting ideas/plans that actually generate real money. My readers go on to make real money. They don’t just dream about making money while laying on the beach.
As much as I love laying on the beach, I know that you can’t always get paid when you’re not working. You have to build the foundations.
Do you want to be happy with your job or at least your side gig? Let’s get rolling. This is the article for those of you that don’t even have an idea yet!
Before we get started, I do NOT want to see anyone quit their job. It makes no sense to leave a steady gig without a backup plan. I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t imagine leaving $4,000 a month in guaranteed income for pennies just because someone online suggested that I needed to “follow my passions.” Screw that!
I know that there’s a plethora of lifestyle design zealots that will tell you to quit ASAP. Don’t even think about quitting yet. I want you to find a freelancing idea and then to execute it until you see some money coming in.
How do you go about this? How do you go from no idea to making money?
I will summarize the process in one sentence:
Write down a list of ideas that you would like to look into, test your ideas, and make a sale.
Let’s break this process down:
Jot down your ideas.
Write down every normal and every insane idea that hits you. Don’t be shy. This can be your own private list. When it comes to freelancing, there are no limits. You’d be shocked by some of the freelancers that I’ve met. There are all sorts of characters out there making money doing work that you couldn’t imagine people getting paid for.
There are dudes that teach other dudes how to approach women and they’re compensated very generously for this. There are folks that organize your kid’s birthday party for you so that you don’t have to stress about this or risk throwing an average party.
There are no limits. I want you to write down all of your possible ideas. Here are a few tips to get started:
- Think of your fears.
- Think of your passions.
- Ask your friends what they hate doing.
- Think of your skills.
In between all of this, you’re bound to jot down a few ideas that could make you money down the road.
Test the ideas out for their ability to make your money.
This is the most important part. You have to ensure that your ideas will equate to real money and not just cool looking business cards that you hand out at bars to impress chicks.
You need to do your homework on the field. Why invest all of that time into launching a business if there’s not even a hint that it will generate you any money at all? Research is key and I’m here to help you make it easy.
I want you to look at two key aspects…
What’s the idea and who’s going to pay you?
What’s the exact idea? Do you want to give guitar lessons? Tutor students in grade 12 in English? Help students fill out college applications? You need to niche this idea down. You should be able to summarize your idea in one sentence. And please no general crap. No life coaching or general advice. That doesn’t work. General is not a target market.
Who’s going to pay you? You have to get paid. There has to be someone that pays you for your freelancing work. Who will this be?
There’s one last CRITICAL question to ask yourself:
Do people care about this enough to pay you?
The person has to want to pay you. Your job is that you have to be able to perform the work. If these two conditions don’t exist, then you need to look at another idea.
The next step is simple…
Make a freaking sale!
Now you have to make that first damn sale.
How do you make your first sale?
- Put up ads on Kijiji.
- Go where your target market is.
- Tap into your network.
- Check out job boards.
- Ask anyone and everyone.
Do everything and anything possible to get a paying client on your side.
I hope that by now you’re ready to go from being clueless to getting paid. Please feel free to leave any questions that you have below…
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