Freelancing

Matt Inglot was following the hustler’s path.

He built some skills on his spare time, and began selling those skills as a freelancer. The first project he sold was to build a website for $300.

Soon, he had a full-time freelance business, and decided to grow into an agency. But before long, Matt found himself working 80 hour weeks and stressed out during down months about covering rent and payroll.

While outwardly successful, Matt knew the business was broken.

Jesse Gernigin is a professional stage hypnotist and online freelancer. He used to do up to 200 shows a year and even sold his own products, but realized there was always going to be a ceiling to his earning power.

Turning to the world of online work, Jesse applied his performance and sales skills to land freelance work in his spare time. Today he specializes in copywriting for email sequences, sales letters, and crowdfunding campaigns.

He shares some of his favorite tactics for figuring out what type of service you can offer, identifying high-value clients, and writing winning proposals.

Kenny Azama has worked with massive global brands like Nike, Samsung, Apple, Chevrolet, and Coca Cola, but he’s not an ad agency or a top secret marketing mogul.

He’s a professional brand ambassador, “someone who is temporarily hired to represent a brand in a positive light, and provide consumers with a memorable face-to-face experience.”

I think this in an interesting side hustle, and one we haven’t covered on the site before, because as Kenny explains, there are always gigs nearby, they’re fun, and they can actually pay pretty well.

Gina Horkey has come highly recommended by a number of listeners, and I’ve seen her work what seems like “all over the Internet” for the past couple years so I’m excited to finally connect and bring her on the show.

She’s a freelance writer extraordinaire, but also a virtual assistant, and someone who now helps others follow in her footsteps.

Gina successfully built her freelance writing and virtual assistant business to be earning several thousand dollars a month; enough to quit her day job and go full-time.

Three years ago, Bryn and her business partner Brooke had each made less $500 from photography — far less than they’d spent on equipment. Fast forward to this year, and they shot more than a dozen weddings and booked top-line revenue in excess of $40,000.

Listen in to hear what happened in between.

Remember, every professional starts as an amateur, and there are parallels in this conversation I think will apply to any freelance service-based side hustle.