Stuck in the 9-5 grind? Ha. 9-5... More like waking up at 7 am and getting back home past 7 pm if you're lucky. Trust me, I understand. It's not a good cycle to be in.
What's worse, there's not much you can do to get out of it. You still need the cash flow so you can't just leave that job. So what can you do?
Let me introduce to you the world of freelancing. In particular, marketing freelance services to help you make a bit of extra cash on the side.
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It's going to be a long journey, but here's why I believe marketing freelancing is the path you should take to get out of the never-ending grind.
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The skill of a marketer is an evergreen asset.
Life as a marketer comes with many challenges. Sure, every career path has its challenges and you need to problem-solve. But nothing (ok... maybe my friends over at SpaceX making rockets) comes close to the consistent need to solve problems as a marker.
From selling your services and delivering results, every day is a challenge. Once you master the skill of a marketing freelancer, you will be able to smooth talk your way into social situations just as well as you can convince a Fortune 500 board of directors to use your services. I believe skills are always transferable, and the assets you build along the way as a marketer will make you 10X more valuable.
The opportunity to make more than a standard salary
Coming out of college with a fancy degree, I got to witness my closest friends one by one get picked up by large accounting firms or hedge funds. But for me? Despite my degree, I couldn’t even get past the computer rounds. Once I input my marks, I would get automatically rejected.
It’s a tough world out there, and who can blame JP Morgan for rejecting someone who scrapped through finance when there’s 100s of other graduates at their doorstep.
But as time went by, I noticed as I grew my freelance client base and I was blessed with more capital to expand my team and take a bit of a cut out myself to buy some new things (while still saving a large chunk - yes, I like to splurge, but I’m not crazy with money). My graduate friends still had relatively similar salaries.
That’s because, as an employee on a salary, you’re always capped at one income. No matter how hard you work, you are not that far ahead as someone running their own business and having direct control over making money.
With your freelance career, each client you add will directly impact your cashflow. For example, I always recommend charging at least $1000 / month for any marketing service you provide. An extra $1000 a month is almost life-changing for someone’s cash flow. I know it was for me.
The difference in cash flow was the freedom to order whatever I wanted when I sat down at a restaurant (even drinks - I grew up not ordering them since they were ‘not worth it’) to saving up and buying a nice new car that had 21st-century comforts.
But for you? What can an extra $1000 a month do?
No day is the same
Marketing isn’t able thinking of catchy slogans all day long and having days on end to come up with a couple of posters. We’re not living in Mad Men days anymore. In the world of digital marketing, it’s a numbers game and ROI (return on investment) is the goal.
With that said, I’ve seen a lot of freelance marketers come and go as they think the game is just about closing new clients. But what’s the point of selling so much when the clients leave in a few months. Making sure the clients see results and value should be the number 1 goal of every freelancer.
And as a freelancer? You’re blessed with delivering both. Not only do you have to sell sell sell, but you also have to make sure you deliver. You get to exponentially increase your network as you’re always selling and because of the wide range of businesses you get to work with, you get to learn about industries you’ve never thought even existed.
So what should you start with?
The world of digital marketing is like a never-ending theme park with ever corner having a unique new service offering. From SEO to Facebook ads to social media management, there’s so much you can offer.
And best of all, ANY business out there can be your client. Because, at the end of the day, who doesn’t need marketing?
So the first step is, what skills do you know? Do you know how to design creatives? Can you take photos well? Are you good with social media? Think of one thing. Then pair up that skill with a selling point that can generate sales for a business (this is the trick to selling your services).
Are you good at design? Well, can you help redesign a sales landing page to help convert more leads?
Don’t just simply offer your design skills. Offer the opportunity to help the business get more leads with their current traffic.
What if you don’t have any skills?
That’s the situation I found myself in when I first started. Finance background remember? Let me give you a hand.
Find out the size of that business on Linkedin. If it’s a company of more than 10 people, you have a chance of asking for a worthwhile amount to charge for your services. You never want to be in a position where you get nickeled and dimed for your services.
Now take a look at their Instagram. How often do they post? How many followers do they have compared to their competitors?
Are they posting infrequently? Are they short of followers?
Let me introduce to you Ingramer. Automated software to help the account grow. This handy tool will put the account to work while you're busy at work. It will automatically engage with other accounts and gradually grow the following and if the content on the account is interesting, you will be able to help business generate sales.
Pair their handy tool up with a social media management service, and there, you have your first package ready to sell!
So there you have it, freelancing in marketing is not only great for creating a dependable source of secondary income, but you will be able to pick up a plethora of skills along the journey. By no means will it be an easy journey, and you will need to sacrifice hours off your Netflix and chilling time, but if you stick to it, you will reap the fruits of your labour.