Before I jump into this whole thing about how I started freelancing online, working from home full-time, and managed to make over half a million dollars (and counting), and put my husband through grad school, here’s a little bit of background on me so that you know the tips I’m about to give you are legit!
My Life Before Freelancing
Back when I was in high school, nobody ever talked to me about whether or not I wanted to go to college. It wasn’t a matter of “if” I was going to go to college, it was just “where” I was going to go. So when I finally got to college, I had no clue what I was doing. I really wanted to pick something that I both enjoyed doing and would actually lead to a decent-paying job. Finding that balance was crucial.
But I never found it.
I tried out so many different classes and majors (I switched my major 7 times! 😳), but in the end, I basically just “gave up” and went with English. I mean, I liked to read and write, so it made sense. But I didn’t really have any sort of plan.
So I graduated college with a Bachelor’s degree in English…and absolutely NO idea what I was going to do with it. I knew it could potentially lead to many different places (I could find a corporate job or go to law school…maybe grad school). But none of those options really appealed to me.
More than anything, I wanted to have a job that I actually enjoyed. I wanted to be happy and not wake up every morning dreading going to work. If I’m going to spend 40 hours every week doing something (that’s 2,080 hours a year!), it needed to be something awesome.
Watch This Video: Do I Regret Going to College?
How I Discovered Freelancing
I actually can’t remember exactly how I learned about freelancing… It was probably from a blog post just like this one! But somehow, one way or another, it became this idea in my head. Maybe, just maybe, freelancing was an option for me.
I started to follow a lot of online business owners who’d found success freelancing. I read blog posts, watched webinars, and became obsessed with following these mentors on social media.
Honestly, I still wasn’t sure if this was going to be a part-time thing or a full-time thing for me, or what it would lead to. But just a couple of months later, I decided to take the leap and start freelancing!
And, to my surprise, within just a few months I was making pretty good money at it. More than I thought I could make! Especially because I basically had zero marketable skills (or so I thought — I’ll talk about that later in this post!).
I’ve actually been documenting how much I’ve made every single month since I first got started (you can read all of my income reports here!). Within my first six months working online, I’d already made over $6,000! 🤯It wasn’t enough to quit my job quite yet, but it was close. And I did end up eventually quitting my job once I made enough to support myself (and my husband, who was in grad school at the time).
Not only was I making enough to squeak by myself, but I was supporting my whole family with this income. We bought a house, got two cats, and we started to rely on my freelancing career (which started out as a simple part-time side hustle) as our only source of income.
Now, a few years later, I’ve turned this into a full-blown business. Once my husband graduated from grad school, he made the decision to not pursue a career in his field, and instead came to work with me full-time! So now we both work from home…freelancing! Full-time!
It’s kind of crazy, but it’s amazing.
What My Life is Like Now
Every morning, I wake up and I’m so excited to get to work. I get to provide services for some amazing clients who really light me up, and now I get to teach other people how to do exactly what I do, too!
It’s so much more than I ever imagined for myself back when I was in high school trying to figure out what the heck I was doing. I’m beyond grateful that I somehow discovered freelancing and took the leap into it. Because I can’t imagine what my life would look like now if I hadn’t done that. I’d probably be miserable (I sure was before I started freelancing!).
But enough about me — this is about you. If you’re considering freelancing or working online in some capacity, I can help. Back when I was getting started, it was an amazing and exciting time, but let’s be honest — I was clueless! I made so many mistakes, went through so much trial-and-error, and would’ve been a so much more successful a lot quicker if I’d had a mentor guiding me through the process.
Because I’ve learned so much, and I love to teach others what I’ve learned, I’ve created The Profitable Freelancer Starter Kit, which takes you by the hand and walks you step-by-step through everything you need to do to get started freelancing online. You can check it out here!
My Best Tips & Advice for Getting Started Freelancing Online
Anyone Can Freelance Online
Seriously. Pretty much everybody (including you!) has something to offer and could start freelancing if they wanted to.
It may seem like you don’t have any actual skills that someone would pay money for (that’s how I felt when I first started!). But the truth is that you probably have TONS of skills that you’re just not even thinking about. Maybe you don’t even know what types of skills people are even interested in paying money for (you’d be surprised 😂).
Inside The Profitable Freelancer Starter Kit, I have a list of the 56 Money-Making Freelancing Services that you can offer.
But, in reality, the most lucrative skills are ones that aren’t as obvious. I like to say that the top 3 skills you need to have as a freelancer are: (1) being a hard worker, (2) being self-motivated, and (3) being a quick learner.
If you have those (or at least two of those, which I bet you do!), you’re already leagues ahead of the majority of people who are trying to make money online. Like, seriously — most of what freelancing is is just Googling stuff really well 😂
As long as you have some real-world skills, you can get really really far by just pushing yourself. Teach yourself skills, hustle for clients, and constantly be trying to improve. It’s actually not as hard as it seems, I promise! There are SO many people who are looking for help with things. All you have to do is find them (and, don’t worry, I can help with that part, too!).
Discover What You’re Passionate About
You don’t need to make the decision about what types of freelance services you’re going to offer right away. In fact, I’d recommend against deciding that anytime soon. Right when you take the leap into freelancing is the perfect time to experiment.
If you’re not sure what skills you have, what you’d be good at, what you like to do, or what people will pay money for…it’s the perfect time to figure that out!
Take advantage of the opportunity you have as a beginner before you’ve created any kind of personal branding or reputation for yourself and go wild. Offer as many different kinds of services to as many different kinds of people as you can. Have fun with it!
Over time, you’ll learn exactly what you love to do. You’ll find a skill that you’re truly passionate about that is also going to be a high-paying type of service you can offer as a freelancer.
Find a Mentor
This is such an important part of the process. Find someone who’s done this whole thing before and has come out the other side. Someone you can learn from, get advice from, and ideally ask questions to.
There are lots of amazing people giving amazing advice out there. Find someone that has a similar personality to you. You need to find someone that you really click with and who speaks your language.
If you’re an introvert, find an introvert! If you want to offer a particular service, find someone else who’s offering the same or a similar service!
To be honest, I’d actually love to be a mentor to you if you are just getting started! That’s a big part of why I created The Profitable Freelancer Starter Kit, which includes access to my exclusive Facebook group where you get access to ask me questions and meet other online freelancers! Plus, I do live trainings every week that you’ll get access to!
