The Lessons I’ve Learned From Earning $1,000 Passively After 6 Months as a Freelancer
The secret to passive income you should know
I would like to share my story about what I went through to achieve the goal of $1000 in passive income.
Like everyone else, when I first started as a Freelancer, I thought this job would be very easy.
I just needed to take a course
Or learn a new skill
…And I could quickly earn a dream-worthy income, but in reality, it’s not like that.
It is not that easy
However, not being rich doesn’t mean you are failing, your family and friends around you should not judge you based on the income you have.
Because if your value is based on the money you earn… you should look for new friends
Friends who will not judge you based on that
Anyway, today I’m here to reveal what is really going on when operating a business that earns at least $1,000 per month.
I will reveal both the bad and the good things. You will know what to prepare for when you start stepping into the business.
Secret #1: Always manage your expectations
This is exactly what I experienced.
I used to have extremely high expectations and wanted to see immediate results, and as a result, I failed and always felt dissatisfied with life and my surroundings.
Having ambition is good, but it must be realistic.
I began to realize the time required to achieve success, it will take at least 6 months to 2 years. This is something many people might find disappointing and hard to believe.
It’s understandable because you’ll see stories on social media exaggerating how easy and quick success can be.
The reality is that becoming a millionaire is not easy at all, it requires effort and time.
Therefore, you should be honest with the capabilities you have and avoid being overly optimistic without a basis.
Here’s the roadmap for your reference:
- Months 1–3: Do not expect to earn money.
- Months 4–6: Potentially replace your current income.
- Months 6–8: Stable income.
- Months 9–11: Earn more than your previous job.
- Months 12–14: Earn double your previous income.
12 months to achieve your dream income… that’s not a bad deal*.
Secret #2: You aren’t “free”
The word “Freelancer” can be misleading, we might all think that it means we get to do “free” work.
But in reality, Freelancers have to trade their time for money, and no matter how glamorous the work might seem, they will be unemployed if there are no clients paying.
I also realized that earning more often means having less time to enjoy it.
I have less time for my family, and less time for myself.
It’s evident…
And very few Freelancers can escape this vicious cycle.
Let me ask you a few questions:
How many clients do you want?
What types of clients do you want to work with?
How much money do you want to make?
Will your answer be “as many as possible”?
That’s the problem.
Except for a few niches where you can’t measure quantity, I’ve noticed that we need a plan to implement.
This will help me to reflect on how many hours I work each day without burning out.
Would you comfortably work 10 hours a day?
Are you willing to work on weekends?
Do you take your laptop on vacation?
….
Just thinking
So how can we balance work and life?
The solution is to delegate some of my work to others.
Are you willing to hand over part of your work to others and accept losing a portion of your profit to pay them?
I think it’s quite difficult to achieve because I am also struggling with it. I just wanted to provide a perspective for us to reflect on what we are going through.
Becoming a Freelancer, when work starts encroaching on your personal life, that’s the time you need to delegate or reduce your workload.
What about you, what do you think about this?
Secret #3: Failing is a part of growth
“Failure’s not an option”
I hear this phrase quite frequently, and it resonates with me.
Usually, when I’m running a business, I often expect it to succeed, but it doesn’t always turn out that way.
Along the journey, there will be many failures.
For example, I used to sell a lot of things and experimented many times before.
I did business on Etsy, but I didn’t understand how it worked.
At that time, I came up with many crazy ideas where I expected that the next day they would produce outstanding results.
But no… the miracle did not happen.
The results remained the same until one day I realized that the previous mistakes were stepping stones that helped me understand and perceive the way I do things.
Results did come, but it took some time.
Then I understood that the reality of doing business is that you will never have a continuous stream of customers, and you won’t be able to keep all of your clients.
There are days when you can earn $500, and there are days when you won’t make a dime.
Therefore, failure is not something to be feared; it is the beginning of success.
Secret #4: Money makes money
This is nothing new.
Everyone involved in business has surely heard this at least once.
I realize that businesses aiming to expand must inevitably spend some money to grow.
Have you ever felt that true difficulties arise when you want to expand your business after reaching a certain level of stability?
It means that,
When a business is unstable, that’s when it’s most stable.
On the other hand, if the business isn’t unstable, it means there’s a problem.
Therefore, when a business achieves stability, that stability must be backed by cash, and customers will be the ones supporting me in that.
We will invest more in marketing, technology, and sales systems before we even need them.
Complacency is where freelancers go to die.
I hope you’re much smarter than me. But, if you’re thinking, ‘shit, that sounds exactly like me’, here’s what you should do.
- Learn as much as you can about sales funnels.
- Build email lists from the beginning.
- Test paid ads on all platforms (social and Google).
- Understand how to create high-converting landing pages.
- Put yourself in front of new audiences every month (podcasts, webinars).
Remember, warm leads are always easier to convert than cold leads.
Therefore, I often provide initial value, and in the long run, I will benefit. If I have a product/service, I can still sell more easily.
Secret #5: Gratitude goes further than greed
I bet you often care more about “doing more” than being happy with what you have.
Humans have greed; sometimes, greed kills joy and also leads us to make wrong decisions.
So, do you really step back and appreciate what you have?
The answer is to repeat that daily.
Hmm,
I used to be greedy, and I achieved a life I never had before, and then I wanted more.
Greed made me lose sight of the initial reason why I started; it made me feel like I could do more, and then I wanted to do things my way.
Greed will catch up with you.
So you can change direction if there aren’t the right people keeping you on the path.
Wanting more is not wrong, but what’s the price you have to pay?
Have you ever hoped to make $1000 a month, but you only made $900 that month? Are you happy with those $900? Or are you sad because it’s not $1000?
You want to have three customers each day. But when you have reached five customers who are paying you daily, are you satisfied or do you want more?
Gratitude goes further than greed.
Be grateful for what you achieve, and you will attract even more.
Do you know that I realize when I give more, I indirectly receive more in other ways?
That way, the pressure on you will lessen, and you will feel more comfortable doing many other things.
If something is meant to happen, it will happen.
Everything will become simpler from that point on.
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About the author
I am John, selling products on Etsy, and I am also a writer.
I hope that my sharing can inspire you to have more motivation in your work.
My shares have achieved a high reading rate, so I can say that the experiences I share can definitely help you achieve similar results
Success comes from both big achievements and small contributions!
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