The Financial Samurai Podcast - Making $10,000+ A Month As A Freelancer To Support A Family Of Five With Eric Rosenberg
Primer: How did Eric Rosenberg manage to earn $10,000 a month as a freelancer? How did he even get started in freelancing in the first place? What is his advice for new freelancers? Let’s find out in this episode of the Financial Samurai Podcast.
Background
Has a finance degree. Started work as a bank manager but did not like the work hours of a banker
Read personal finance blogs about people who were in debt
Started blogging about personal finance in 2008
Worked full-time while pursuing his MBA and maintaining his blog as a side hustle
Attended a conference called FinCon and connected with some bigger companies that were looking for freelance writing
Started receiving more freelancing opportunities
Built a larger writing portfolio, making money from freelance writing and freelance website design
During accounting close, he had to go into the office very early and leave very late
He had a daughter who was around 4 months old at that time. He started to question what life and work is all about when he could not spend time with his daughter
Left his job, sold his house, and moved to one of the most expensive parts of America, and has been freelancing for the past 7 years
Why Don’t More People Do This?
A lot of people do not realize what the opportunities are
From an employer’s perspective, hiring a full-time person is a lot of money and a huge commitment
But when an employer hires a freelancer, they are just paying for performance and there is lesser risk involved
It was easier for him to do freelancing in his 20s because now he has a wife and 3 kids
Because he invested the time to learn other skills in his 20s, he was able to leverage that into real career opportunities in his 30s
“If you're 45 and have kids, you probably still have down hours. You might have a lunch break. If you have a personal laptop, there's no reason you can't go to the pizza place down the block that has Wi-Fi and have a slice of pizza and write a blog post.”
- Eric Rosenberg
Getting Started And Finding Freelance Gigs
First, you have to think about what you can offer and what someone is willing to pay
There’s a book called The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau
In that book, the author stated that a business only requires 3 things:
Something you sell, whether that’s a product or service
Someone to buy your product or service
A way to deliver your product or service
You have to pick something that somebody wants
“Remember just because you want to do it doesn't mean someone is willing to pay for it. You have to think of what you're able to do that someone's willing to pay for.”
- Eric Rosenberg
For example, he has a finance degree and a knack for writing. Writing was also something that he enjoyed
Some things can be done remotely such as graphic design, Photoshop, editing people’s wedding photos, and even bookkeeping
Coding is more competitive right now because of the tech people who got laid off
He has self-taught himself HTML, PHP, CSS, and Python
There are marketplaces such as Fiverr and Upwork that people can use to start out
These marketplaces are usually better for beginners, but not suitable once you are deeper into freelancing as it is ultra-competitive and you are competing against people in India and the Philippines who are willing to work for a lot less than you
Thinks that everybody should have their website and a portfolio that shows off what they can do
Work for less to have that base to build on and then you can start networking
He finds a lot of clients at conferences
How Easy Is It To Start A Site These Days?
Depends on your internet and computer skills
Most people can run their own website if their name.com is available
The domain cost is ~$10 per year
Has seen people working really hard on their blogs and keeping it at blogspot.com or wordpress.com. Think that people should get their own piece of online real estate if they are willing to do lots of hard work on it
For hosting, he recommends WordPress over Squarespace and Wix because you don’t own it for the latter two — it’s sitting on someone else’s server
How Much Does He Charge To Launch A Website From Scratch?
$5000 for a full website
He is neither the cheapest nor the most expensive
When he works with a brand, he will help them with their logos and write basic text for a handful of pages
There are people on Fiverr or Upwork who could do it for a couple hundred bucks, but the quality might not be the same as what he does
He often works with large brands these days
The Biggest Hurdle Of Starting A Blog
He has a friend who wants to start a blog but has been procrastinating because he cannot figure out the name of his blog, the logo, etc. As a result, years go by
Logos, design, and words can be changed or rewritten
“It's something you can do sitting at home on your laptop with a movie on in the background. Well, you have a bowl of popcorn next to you and you're hacking away on the computer. It's not that difficult, but if you don't start, it's impossible.”
- Eric Rosenberg
When he started, he got really excited when he earned $5 from ads on his website
Eventually, he was making a couple hundred bucks a month before it grew beyond $10,000 a month
You have to start somewhere and you can always pivot and improve
Why Do People Quit?
If you look at businesses, half of businesses do not make it to the 10-year mark
For things like blogging and online projects, the attrition rate is much higher
Some people quit after 1 month and thought that they are a failure, but that is not true
Read a story last week about someone who got 200-300 visitors per month to their website. Their website is highly targeted and the service they sell is so valuable that they can make a living on that service with just that level of traffic
When he started freelancing, his income did not grow proportionally to the hours he put in
He noticed that 76% of his income was coming from writing, which took up 20% of his time, and 17% of his income was coming from his website projects which took up 80% of his time and caused about 90% of his stress
He realized he needed to focus on writing projects instead of website projects
Over the next month, his income fell. After 3 months, his income tripled
“Keep focusing on what's working and reevaluate periodically.”
- Eric Rosenberg
If you notice trends, don’t sit idly by. Act on it
People Quitting Blogging Because They Are So Focused On Making Money
Blogging is a long haul. It is not a get-rich-quick thing
YouTube channels are another example of something that takes a lot of time to do well
Known people who post a video a week for a long period of time with very little traffic, then all of a sudden 2 years later, the algorithm notices them and they start to do great
For him, it took 8 years. From the outside, it looks like he was an overnight success
Once in a while, someone will start a blog and it will have a post that goes viral on some social network
However, for the rest, it’s a slow process of building a following
When you start getting the hater emails, you are either rubbing someone the wrong way or they are jealous of your success
“If you are a freelancer, I like to say I traded having one boss for having about a dozen bosses any given time. But if I don't like any of my bosses, I can fire them and I still have 11 more who are happy to pay me.”
- Eric Rosenberg
His Freelance Gig As A Podcast Host
Previously, he had his podcast called the Personal Profitability Podcast
One of his clients is Payactiv, a financial wellness platform that targets lower-income hourly workers
Payactiv wanted to expand into podcasts and he volunteered to be the host, citing his previous experience with the Personal Profitability Podcast
Have been doing the podcast for over a year now
Does He Edit The Podcast?
He got his old editor from his podcast on board
How Much Does A Podcast Editor Make?
If someone wants to learn about podcast editing, his friend Steve Stewart is the leader of an online podcast editor group that helps people become full-time podcast editors
There’s a wide range
On the low end, you can find someone for $50 per episode, for 30 mins - 45 mins episode
The editor will cut out the “umms” and “uhs” and run it through a software tool to equalize the sound so that it does not go too high or too low
They will do the show notes and the transcription, and ensure that the links are in the right place
Good editors cost several hundred dollars
How Much Does A Podcast Host Make?
There’s a wide range
On the low end, $300 - 400 per episode, depending on the length and time commitment
On the high end, it can be in the thousands per episode. However, you become the face of the company/brand
Have to think about what brand you want to build for yourself and then what brands would want to work with that
If you are just complaining all day on social media, no one is going to want to work with you
If you put out helpful, positive information on whatever topic you become a thought leader in, then brands might start coming to you or you might be able to approach brands and start building those relationships
You have to be professional — when Michael Phelps got caught smoking pot and when Tiger Woods cheated on his wife, they lost millions of dollars for their bad behaviour
How Important Is Your Image As A Podcast Host?
You need to put your face out there
Have to be thoughtful about what you want to put out there (e.g. if you’re an athlete, are you going to show yourself at the gym working out?)
What About Voice?
It matters less than you think, but it does matter
If you have a voice that most people find annoying, you could go to a voice coach
When people create video and audio content, he advises them to slow down a bit. This happens when people are on stage too
In the long-term, it is about practising
Specializing Or Doing Multiple Things Concurrently
In 2013, he went to FinCon
There was a session by Stacy Johnson of Money Talks News. He said that the only way to be successful online is to create a ton of content
In another session, Derek Halpern said he only posts one post per month and that he spends more time on promotion than on creation
Realised that they were saying totally opposite things
They were both right and wrong:
Both are right and those are ways to be successful
Both are wrong in saying that there’s only one way to be successful
For some people, it’s a volume thing. For other people, it’s a quality and consistency thing
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