(soft upbeat music) Alright, real talk.
If I had to start my freelance business
from scratch with no skills, no connections, no clients,
and no clue what to do, here is exactly what I would do
in my first year to hit six figures, stay tuned.
(upbeat music)
Hey, posse what's up.
It's Alex coming at you this week
with a highly requested video for all my brand new
and aspiring freelancers out there.
What I would do if I had to start over from scratch today,
but first if you're new to the crew, welcome.
Every single week, I put out a new video with tips
and tricks to help you Excel in your freelancing,
copywriting, and marketing businesses.
So, make sure you're subscribed to my channel
and don't forget to hit that bell
to be notified when my next video goes live,
that way you will never miss a single video from me.
Now, what you might not know about me is
that I was actually a freelancer long before
I ever started the Copy Posse.
Yep, I was actually a freelancer for 8 years
before starting my YouTube channel,
and I was earning multiple six figures
for many of those years, but it didn't always look that way.
When I first started, I was barely scraping by.
I was sleeping on an air mattress in my friend's apartment.
I was stressed to the max and wondering how in the hell
I was gonna pay my bills every single month,
but then I finally started to find my groove a little bit.
I found more reliable clients,
and I began bringing in more consistent income.
My stress levels, you know, were beginning to diminish
and my confidence was going up,
but I just want to share, like, full transparency,
in 2012, which was my very first year freelancing,
my income was $43,288.
Seriously, I looked at my tax return.
In 2013, I made $168,978.
So, for me it took me two years
to actually reach six figures.
Some of my students have done it in as little as 6 months.
I know others who took 5 years to get there.
And honestly, I know so many more who really
couldn't even care less if they hit six figures
because they aren't in it for the money.
They are in it for a sense of fulfillment and purpose,
or for the ability to just quit their jobs,
spend more time at home or travel and see the world,
while still making money, no vacation request needed, right?
Or a better work life balance,
spending more time with the people you love.
I mean, it really doesn't get any better than that.
And of course, freedom, right?
Freedom with your schedule, freedom with your time,
and freedom with your energy.
That is really what makes freelancing so damn fulfilling.
Of course, those are the real reasons
why freelancing is so fulfilling on top of the money.
So, if you're thinking, wait, Alex, are you saying
that freelancing can help me quit my 9-to-5 job,
make six figures, travel the world,
and create a life of freedom?
Yep, that is exactly what I'm saying.
And listen, I know I was skeptical at first too,
but I did it in two years, right?
There are some things that I would do the same,
and there are things that I definitely would do
differently to really crunch down that timeline to one year.
So, if I had to start my business from scratch
with no skills, no connections, no clients,
and no clue what to do, where would I start?
Well, let me tell ya.
Step number one, choose your adventure, right?
Freelancing is fun, and there are plenty of paths
to success with freelancing.
So, to start I would choose one high income
freelancing skill to offer to my clients.
I would focus on that and only that.
I wouldn't try to learn all the things at once.
I wouldn't try to pitch myself
as a generalist freelancer, who does it all.
I did that in the beginning. I was like a project manager
and a writer and a blogger and all of that.
I wouldn't pretend that I could help a company
with like all of their marketing needs.
I wouldn't try to be a project manager, a VA,
a social media manager, and a writer all rolled into one,
because a big mistake that I see a lot of newbies making
is they try to do it all, all at once,
and consuming all of the content
they can get their hands on, right?
So, they find some list of skills somewhere
on the internet that says what a freelancer should do.
Then they go out there and they buy a dozen marketing books,
attend 18 master classes, all buy different experts.
They watch a million YouTube videos.
They buy courses, they attend seminars,
and then they wonder why the hell they feel
so confused and overwhelmed.
News flash, it is because you're trying to do
all the things.
So, choose one skill that you think you would really love.
It's that easy.
So, take some time to do some research
and really dig into the path that you may want to take.
And if you're curious to know what the five most
in demand freelancing skills are today,
I have a video that you must watch next.
I will link to that at the end of this video.
So, the next step, once you've chosen your adventure, right?
The skill you want to master is to move on to step number two,
find your mentor.
So, once I found the one skill I want to master,
which was copywriting, in my case, I would then
find the one person who is doing what I want to do,
and I would then go learn everything I could from them.
The bottom line is this.
If you're trying to learn from too many experts,
it really will add to the confusion.
Now, I'm not saying that you can't eventually expand
your horizons and learn from
a whole bunch of different people.
That is what I do,
but I have been doing this for a decade, right?
So, you absolutely can and should learn from many people,
but in the beginning, when you're just getting started,
you don't want to overwhelm yourself.
You want to go deep before you go broad, all right?
There are many, many, many different paths
to success and they all look a little different.
Every teacher, mentor, or expert out there
will have a slightly different approach,
a different teaching style and maybe different opinions
on exactly how you should optimize your skills.
Now, just because there are differing opinions out there
on the internet, doesn't mean that one is right,
and one is wrong.
They likely all work when done right in the right,
you know environment and atmosphere,
and client relationship and all of that, right?
So, after you've had some time to really practice
your skills and then gain your own experience
of what works and what doesn't work for you,
then, of course, you'll be able to look
at all of these different opinions objectively
and then you'll be able to take what actually resonates
with you and leave what doesn't.
However, when you're just getting started,
which you probably are right now,
all of these mixed messages
can really leave you more confused,
and without a clear understanding
of really how to do the thing you want to do.
So, when you focus on just one skill
that you're learning from just one person,
then you're getting a super clear roadmap, right?
A direction of how to do what you want to do,
and what that adventure looks like.
And that is the secret to accelerating your progress,
skills, and income fast.
So, you choose your one skill.
You choose the one person you want to learn from,
and then really give yourself a few months to dive deep
into actually learning the skills,
watch all of their content, join their paid programs,
take their courses and learn, learn, learn.
Be like a sponge.
Just sucks it all up.
Then after you've learned enough
and you are ready to start looking for clients,
it's really time to create your offer, right?
You want an offer that gets your ideal client's attention,
which brings me to step number three,
craft your freelancer USP.
Now, if you're wondering Alex, what is a USP?
A USP is a unique selling proposition,
and it's basically the equivalent
of your personal elevator sales pitch,
or how you communicate your service to potential clients.
Now, the point here is to position yourself
as the person who can help your clients
get closer to their goals.
Your USP needs to communicate what you offer,
who you serve, and how you do it.
And listen, no novels here.
You really should be able to communicate your USP
in like 10 seconds or less.
So, what do you offer?
This is the number one thing that you do
as a freelancer.
A little hint, it's the skill that you chose from step one.
Now, if you wanted, you could go even one step further
and nail down exactly what your ideal niche is, right?
So, it could be personal development,
online education, beauty, health, and fitness,
real estate, pets, crypto, the list goes on and on and on,
but if you're not sure yet that's okay too.
Just start somewhere.
Next, who do you serve?
Do you want to help coaches, entrepreneurs, authors,
female-led brands, sustainable products,
software, eCommerce companies, right?
Get narrow and specific on who your ideal client might be,
and finally, how do you do it?
This is what services and deliverables you can offer.
So, do you want to do blog posts, sales copy, video scripts,
emails, social media, websites, homepages, ads, right?
You name it.
This should be an easy one because hopefully
you just spent the last several months learning this skill
from your one trusted mentor.
So, here's an example of a really clear USP statement
that incorporates everything we just talked about, right?
So, as a copywriter, I might say, "I help coaches craft
website copy that is clear, effective,
and personal to help them attract more leads and sales."
Right, so, what do I offer?
Copywriting.
Who do I serve?
Coaches who want more leads and sales,
And how do I do it?
Through killer website copy.
Alright, so you picked your one skill.
You found your person, right?
And you have crafted your USP, what's next?
Step number four, find clients.
And I know, I know, this is a big one, right?
Once you know what you offer and who you serve
and how you do it, it's time to get started finding clients.
Now, listen, this could take one week.
It could take months.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach
or journey or timeline for finding your first client.
But the good news is all you need is one
to officially call yourself a freelancer.
There are many different ways of finding clients,
and I actually have an entire YouTube playlist dedicated
to different strategies that you can use,
and I will share a link to that below,
but the important thing to remember here is
that you won't land a six-figure client on day one,
but you just need one client to say yes to one project,
whether it's free or paid and voila, you're writing copy
for a real business that you can then add to your portfolio.
So, in these early months, work on building your roster
of clients and taking on all the projects you can find.
Yes, even the ones that don't sound all sexy
or fun to start.
You gotta get your feet wet before you can swim.
Trust me on this one, take all the jobs,
even the ones that other people don't want,
because only once you start building your experience
portfolio and skills, can you move on to step number five,
which is level up, charge more money,
and attract bigger clients.
This does not happen overnight,
but you will have that hockey stick effect,
once you start getting your first few clients.
Stick to your skill, stay 100% committed
to leading with value, right?
Learning from your mistakes and constantly improving,
and you should be able to grow really fast.
And as your skills improve,
you'll be bringing in better results for your clients,
which means you can raise your prices,
be more selective with who you work with,
and ultimately attract bigger name
and higher paying clients and poof!
Before you know it you will be at the end of your
first year with a skill that you've perfected,
and you'll be charging premium rates to reflect it.
Now, I realize that all of that is easier said than done,
but rest assured there is a step-by-step proven process
that you can follow to make all of this happen,
but that's way too much information to put
in one single YouTube video,
which is why I created a free 2-hour masterclass,
where I reveal everything you need to know to start
and scale a freelance business from scratch,
even yes, even if you have zero experience
and zero skills just yet.
So, if you're brand new to freelancing
or maybe the copywriting world,
or maybe you're newer than new
and haven't even started yet,
and you're feeling a bit discouraged
and overwhelmed, and you're wondering how the hell
you're supposed to get started, find clients,
and actually make money doing this whole freelancing thing,
then make sure you check out this free training
because I promise you it is jam packed
with so much information and detailed step-by-step
instructions for you to follow.
So, if you're interested in watching that,
you can watch it for free by clicking the link
in the description box below,
and I will be back next week with a brand new video.
Until then, I'm Alex, ciao for now.
(upbeat music)
Alright, guys, if you enjoyed that video
make sure to check out the next one from me right here,
and you can click right here to get a free gift.
Have you been thinking about trading in your mind
numbing 9-to-5 for a lucrative freelancing
business that gives you ultimate freedom
and allows your creativity to flourish?
If so this video is for you.