Earn Money Freelancing: The Money Magnet Strategy

You’re a freelancer, or just getting started freelancing, and you need money yesterday.

Here at Small Business Boss, we can totally relate. When we started out freelancing, we had NO idea how we were going to reach my big money dreams. After a short focused period, though, money started rolling in pretty easily.

Here are the four things you must do to get money rolling in as a freelancer and become a money magnet.

#1. Set Your (Realistic) Money Goal

We used to set big HUGE goals because that’s what we thought we were supposed to do if we wanted to go from zero to a million dollars, buy all the yachts, and so on.

It suffices to say when we didn’t meet those big goals, it was a bit discouraging. The thing is our business WAS growing; we just weren’t setting realistic goals, so we were constantly disappointed. It’s like expecting a baby to drive a car and then not being excited when they take their first steps.

If you don’t stairstep your goals with realistic milestones, you’re going to get discouraged.

Use a snowball method here; start with a small, yet slightly stretch goal, and then increase it over time versus aiming very high and missing constantly. You’re not looking for a one-hit wonder but rather at building a strong foundation for a sustainable, successful freelance business.

We like to set good, better, best metrics for all our goals here at Small Business Boss. A monthly revenue goal could look like this: Good = $3,000, Better = $5,000, Best = $8,000. This is NOT playing small, but rather setting yourself up for early and often wins.

#2. Price Competitively, NOT at a Premium

You know those people who claim to charge $1,000/hour or more as a freelancer? We call BS. What we REALLY want to know is how many people are actually booking at that rate?

Usually, none or very very few. Now, we don’t know about you, but we’d rather be booking lots of ideal clients at say $75/hour than saying we charge $300/hour and never booking anyone. Because the math  ($300/hour x zero hours = zero dollars), doesn’t lie.

Do the research, and find the sweet spot in your market and industry. If everyone says yes you may be a hair too low. If no one says yes, you might be too high. Once you have a solid foundation of clients and some “street cred,” then you can raise your prices and reap some pretty sweet gains.

#3. Ignore Marketing

Yes, you read that right. The CEO of a successful marketing agency is telling you to ignore marketing. I know this sounds crazy, but the truth is, if you’re after making money, most marketing strategies are not going to be the best way to go about this. To book $3k, $5K, or even more per month in revenue, you do NOT need to be blogging, using email marketing, or running ads. Heck, you barely need a website!

I promise you that this is 100% true; both of us got our separate freelance businesses off the ground and to $100K without a fancy website. Instead of spending hours working on marketing projects, use that time to engage your network, do proactive outreach, and book some clients.

Lest you think I’m totally off my rocker, marketing absolutely does have its merits, but it’s not the thing to focus on if you want to attract money FAST.

#4. Position Yourself as an Expert

Everyone wants to hire an expert, so it’s your job to position yourself as one. The easiest and most efficient way to do this is to utilize other people’s platforms and become known as THE go-to person for your ideal clients for whatever it is you’re offering.

This does NOT mean you should go all spammy and start blasting other people’s platforms with promotions and ads for your services. It means to show up, be of service, and by doing that consistently, you’ll become an expert who can’t help but attract money. Be warned that this one does take a little longer, but it’s so worth it. Once you’ve positioned yourself as a credible expert, clients start to fall into your lap and closing deals becomes a piece of cake.

To truly become a money magnet with your freelancing gig, the biggest thing is to take the right actions, every. single. day. There’s no magic bullet or sexy secret. The key is to keep on keeping on, doing the right, focused actions each and every day.

Keeping your money goals top of mind, tracking your revenue as it comes in, figuring out how to get to your goal, and being proactive, are where you need to focus. It really is true that energy goes where attention flows, and if you focus on your money and doing the right actions that go with it, you will become a true money magnet.