Freelance Apple

So many freelancers are under the perception that making serious bucks online is extremely hard and near impossible. This idea stems from ‘living in the box’ and by doing so, you have waved goodbye to the principles which started you off as a freelancer. There is no one way of ‘getting minted’ online. But here’s a summary of how I did it.

1. Want it

Motivation is the key to becoming successful, and becoming a millionaire is not in the least different.

Question: Who needs a glass of water?
Answer: The thirsty, and it is the thirsty who will strive for it and get it.

If you are not motivated enough, then go out and feel what it is like to be as minted as you want to be. Go and look at the kind of house you want to live in, test drive the car you want to own and wear the sort of clothes you want to be seen in. Get the feeling, it should motivate you.

Get a £10 note (if you are in the USA, get a $1 or $10 bill) and add on the number of zeros you want to earn. If it is £100,000 then add on 4 zeros, put this next to your computer monitor or notice board, so that you are constantly thinking about how to get that money. This will serve as the perfect reminder for you when you drift away from your goal.

2. The Golden Rule

If you take nothing away today, take this one rule. It has three parts.

A. Live 9/10ths the life you live now
B. Invest the 1/10th into a project
C. Re-invest

A. Living on 9/10ths of what you make means putting 10% of your salary away. I suggest that you set up a savings account, and set up a direct debit from your current account, so that every month when your average wage comes through, 10% is put out of reach. Out of reach means OUT OF REACH! You are forbidden to touch this money, unless you are going on to point B.

10% is an absolute minimum. You must put at least 10%, and if you can afford to make this more, the more the merrier.

B. Once you save for approximately six months, or once you feel you have a good amount which you can work with, you need to invest it. Many people will tell you to “Invest it into the stock market” or “Invest in a friend’s business”. I say, forget that! You are a freelancer and therefore, by doing a project by yourself, you are in control, so invest in your own project. If you’re a freelance coder, hire a designer (to design some kind of web app maybe?) and you code the back-end. Develop some kind of product or service you can pitch potential customers.

C. The extra money that you make on the additional project is not to be touched. Re-invest the money into another project, and only take the money out when it has been in at least two investment cycles.

3. ‘Yes Man’

Did anyone watch the Jim Carey movie “Yes Man”? I did, and along with being a hilarious movie, it communicates an excellent message. By saying yes to more opportunities which arise, you will be opening up doors for yourself.

Don’t say yes to everything, like Jim Carey does, or may end up waking up next to a pensioner! Say yes to every opportunity which comes your way which seems to be a profitable. I had a friend say to me once “How would you like to do this web project with me?” and I was so busy and lazy I was inclined to say no. But by saying yes I opened up the window to an extra few pounds rolling into my pocket for a little extra work.

4. Product and Price

If you have a product to sell at the right price, you have hacked the code.

If you provide a service, application or anything, so long as it is quality and solves problems, a consumer will exist. Now you need to set a relative price that makes you and the consumer happy.

Think of it like this, if you have 200 customers paying you £42 a month, you would be making approximately £100,000 a year! If you break it down, it all seems so much more simpler.

5. Marketing

Your product can be the best product in the world, but if the consumer is ignorant to your product they will not buy. Target your potential customers and give them the whole marketing experience. I suggest that you take a read of the articles on the site: ‘The Untapped Marketing Technique: Your Personality‘ and ‘13 Tips To Skyrocket Your Marketing Campaign‘. The articles are geared towards marketing your freelance service, but you may be able to apply some of the concepts and ideas to your side project as well.

6. To sell, or not to sell

This has been one of the most debated topics revolving around web businesses. Here’s my opinion. If you are doing something which you enjoy, and have a steady healthy income manifest from it, then personally, I suggest that you stay with it. However, if you are not too fond of what you are doing, when a good offer comes along you may want to sell so that the new owner can take full advantage of the project and make it into something even better.

If you sell, then you will you have your pockets stuffed with money (temporarily, mind you), you will have that money to reinvest and to buy a lovely Bentley! This is the choice I would go for if you’re not too fond of what you are doing. If you ask Taiyab (the other writer here at Freelance Apple) on the other hand, he is against selling your online business if you are making a steady stream of income totally – but we’ll see if he changes his mind on that one.

Agree? Disagree? I always love to hear from you, so please comment below.

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