How Freelancers Can Make $10,000 a Month

Ever since announcing my goal on the blog to make $10,000 a month within one year, I’ve had quite a few people email me asking how exactly this was possible. If you’re new to freelancing and blogging, it might be hard to imagine. However, I’ve been doing this for over three years and have seen MANY people make $10K per month consistently. It is completely, 100% possible, you just have to know how to hustle 🙂

I have not yet hit $10K per month (hence the goal), so I wanted to bring in somebody who has. Keep reading to see how you can learn from one of the pros and be on your way to $10K per month!

How Freelancers Can Make $10,000 a Month

Today, Gina Horkey is here to talk about her freelancing journey, and more importantly how she was able to grow her freelancing side hustle into a full-time business that grosses over $10,000 per month. She’s actually on track to have her first $15,000 month in November.

I asked her a series of questions to help those of us out who want to make a killer income online, too.

So Gina, how long did it take you to start making $10,000+ per month as a freelancer?

Great question. I started looking into freelance writing on April 15th, 2014 (tax day!). I took a course and launched my website that May. By June I had my first paid writing client and an unpaid writing gig with the Huffington Post.

The short answer, is that it took just over a year. I had my first $10,000+ month this past July. If anyone is interested in the numbers behind my first year, here’s a cool infographic I put together:

How much time do you spend per week working?

Good question! I try to be pretty rigid of my schedule these days, in order to spend as much time with my family as possible. This doesn’t always work out as planned – like last week, I launched a matchmaking service between webpreneurs and North American virtual assistants. It was a big project, so I pulled a couple of evenings to get it live.

Normally though, I keep “banker’s hours.” I.e. I work 8-5 and take an hour for lunch and to lay the kiddos down for their daily naps (my husband’s a stay-at-home dad). I’m actually writing this from a conference on a Saturday, however… 😉

When I started my business though, it was as a side hustle on the side of my full-time job in personal finance. I would get up at 4:30am daily to work for an hour or two before getting ready to go to work at my day job. I’d also work all day on Fridays (I had a four day workweek) and some weekends as well.

Name some things you credit your success to.

1. Having a distinct why. I wanted to change careers, but was also the breadwinner for my family. Those two little and one big mouth I had to feed were my “why.” Have a strong reason behind launching your online business.
2. Getting published on the Huffington Post. The Huffington Post was huge for increasing my credibility and a great sample for my portfolio. It’s a very recognizable name, even if I didn’t get paid to write there.
3. Surrounding myself with support. Freelancing is a lonely road, so get your friends and family on board and/or start a mastermind group with some peers.
4. Continuously challenging myself to get outside of my comfort zone. I pitched when I didn’t want to or was scared. I wrote when I didn’t want to or was scared. I’m doing video, even though I don’t want to and am scared. Challenge yourself to do scary things!

Do you think it’s possible for anyone to make $10,000 +/month as a freelancer?

Nope.

But I’m nothing special at the same time.

You need to be a hustler, and not in the negative sense of the world. You have to be driven, develop a thick skin, learn to welcome rejection and keep pitching and writing, even when you don’t want to.

How can a newbie get started?

Just do it.

Spend a little time learning and a lot more time trying and doing. If you want to learn from my experience, I’ve created a framework to help you get a new freelance writing or virtual assistant business up and running quickly in these two courses:

• 30 Days or Less to Freelance Writing Success
• 30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success

Thanks, Gina!! If you have any questions for myself or Gina, feel free to reach out or leave a comment!

Bio:

Gina Horkey is a professional writer and online business marketing consultant. She has a decade of experience in the financial services industry and enjoys helping other freelancers gear up to quit their day jobs and take their side hustles full-time. She also shares what she’s learned while building her online business through her 30 Days or Less Courses. On a personal note, she self-identifies as a married, millennial mama to two precocious toddlers (and is thankful her husband has the patience of a saint as he stays at home with their children).