Issue 02 – A slow start. And why that's okay.
I hope these Project 200k Issues help you in your own journey to making more money as a freelancer.
Money is not the only important thing (duh), but it's hard to stay freelance if you aren't making enough cash.
Project 200k – Issue 02
Q1's Wildly Important Goal
Currently: I make about $8k/month freelancing
Goal: I want to make $16k/month
By: The end of the quarter
3 things I'm betting will help me reach that quarterly goal
Client outreach emails (5/week)
Conversations with other freelancers (1/week)
Updating my portfolio/reel (30 min/day)
Total income: $6,300 (yep, I'm behind)
JANUARY total: $6,100
I had no client work in January (see below)
This money came from Dec invoices
FEBRUARY total (so far): $200
$200 small edit to a previous project
$1,000 invoice going out this week
$5,000 project starting soon
A couple of other potential projects in the works
Client Outreach Emails Sent: 22
Results:
These outreach emails resulted in a $1,000 project and a $200 edit to a previous project
I have one new potential client that was referred to me by a past client that I sent an outreach email to
I received responses from most of my past clients
I have received one response from cold outreach via LinkedIn
Freelance Chats (so far):
JANUARY total: 13
2 people made WELL over $200k (think double that)
5 freelancers I talked to made about $200k, +/- $10k
FEBRUARY total (so far): 1
Slowing down after the initial "launch" of Project 200k
Advice Received
Choose to be confident... you really can do it
We grow from encounters with each other. Others help you believe in yourself.
Project based pricing only... even for studios
Pros: not tied to one project at a time, more flexibility, sometimes more profitable, better incentive structure (hourly/daily is bad incentive... the slower you work, the more you get paid)
Cons: might have to turn down work from studios that only do hourly/day rate
Actions
Free trial of LinkedIn Premium Business to...
Connect with creative directors of large businesses
See who's looking at my profile
Big thanks to Full Harbor Members for helping me through the first few revisions and to Ryan Summers for hopping on a call with me for final touch critique 🙌
Best Reel advice I got:
Swap shots so that the best/most impactful are at the beginning and end
Replace "2021" at the beginning with "animator/designer" so the person watching knows how to watch the reel. The year is pretty meaningless and actually makes it look old if you don't update it.
A slow start. And why that's okay.
It's been a surprisingly slow start. Startling even.
In December I lined up two projects for January.
One got canceled
One got pushed off
A new potential project started to materialize and my part will start (hopefully) next week
The most unexpected number so far in my stats is this...
Number of hours on client work in Jan: 0 (zero) 😮
I am NOT excited about that. I was hoping to be busy.
So, what I spent my time on?
Made a new reel
Talked to 21 freelancers for an average of 1.5 hours each (31.5 hours total)
Reached out to 20 past or potential clients (took way more time than I expected)
Updated my austinsaylor.com website a little
And honestly, I probably wasted a lot of time doing little things that don't make a huge impact. I do better time management when I have projects on the calendar.
Two reasons I'm not worried
I have money stocked away into a "salary" bucket
I use the profit first method of budgeting my business income. This means I put a specific amount of invoice checks into these 4 buckets.
Profit: 0% (will bump this up to 5% when I get enough saved away)
Salary: 59%
Tax: 25%
Business Expenses: 16%
Even with big earners, it's not always consistent. Several of the freelancers who made or exceeded $200k said they made more money toward the end of the year, despite slow starts (COVID being a big part of that).
Moving forward
I'm excited to have projects lined up for February, but I'm not going to stop doing my client outreach. You need to dig your well before you're thirsty.
I'm also moving from Arizona to Texas at the end of the month, so there will hardly be a dull moment.
📅 I send updates every other week so you can…
✅ See what generates the best paying work
🚫 See what efforts do not work
💬 Get advice from in-demand freelancers
📈 See my progress along the way (will I succeed or fail?!)