Freelancing Class: Day 1 Choose Your High-Paying Skill & Get Clarity on Your Offer

Welcome to Day 1 of the “How to Become a Successful Freelancer” class!

Congratulations on taking your first step in the right direction toward a brighter financial future.

There are so many benefits to starting a freelancing career; they’re endless. Freelancing lets you take control of your time; no more commute to the office…

It lets you take control of your financial future; make as much or a little as you need to make…

And it gives you flexibility in where you work (or as I like to call it “location independence); you can decide to work from your couch, your local coffee shop, or heck work from the beach!

It’s up to you what you do with freelancing, but if you decide to truly jump in with both feet and build a freelancing career, it can provide for you everything you need.

Let me introduce myself: Hi, I’m Wes and I’ll be your freelancing coach all week.

I started freelancing nearly 10 years ago, and it changed my life. After being fired from my job as a wine shop manager, I went to Google and typed in “How do you make money online” and discovered the world of freelancing.

I started picking up copywriting gigs and wrote everything from sales pages to emails, product descriptions, and website copy. Then, I learned that people needed resumes, and it paid pretty good too.

I built a successful resume business from scratch into 6-figures per year, which exceeded all my expectations. My freelance resume writing business allowed me to buy my first house, travel the world while working remotely, and build up a savings account.

The best part for me has been the flexibility. I don’t need to answer to a boss, I can sleep in on Monday mornings if I want, and I can take extra long lunch breaks.

And it’s allowed me to work from cool places like Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, and Puerto Rico.

But enough about me, let’s jump into how YOU are going to become a successful freelancer.

Let's take care of some business real quick...

First let’s take care of a bit of business. I’ve put together a private Facebook group just for the people taking my email classes. The Facebook group is where you can ask questions, connect with other remote workers (or soon-to-be remote-ists), and get community support from like-minded people.

You can join the Facebook group here, and be sure to answer the questions so I know you’re legit: Escape the Cubicle Facebook Group

Once you join the Facebook group, introduce yourself. Let us know who you are, where you’re from, and what type of freelancing skill you have. (The group will go "private" on April 14)

I can’t stress enough that the Facebook Group is a big part of this email class. It’s great to have all this new knowledge on how to become a freelancer; but it’s not easy to go it alone. I wish I had a community of other people when I started!

The Facebook group and the community will help you avoid many of the mistakes I made when I got started. So, I hope you will join us! We’re there to help you be successful at this. And I mean that.

Here's what we're going to learn this week...

Next, I’m going to outline what we’ll be covering over the next 5 days. That way you have a good high-level view of what you’re going to get out of this email class.

1. Day 1: Narrow Down Your High-Paying Skill & Clarify Your Offer
2. Day 2: Build Your Brand on a Budget
3. Day 3: Create an Enticing Freebie
4. Day 4: Get Your First Clients with Ease
5. Day 5: My Secret Proprietary LinkedIn Attraction Strategy

It’s important that you read ALL 5 emails and that you do everything I recommend in them. At the end of each email, I’ll be giving you one specific action to take. The action is meant to help you move forward toward your remote work dreams.

Action is everything. I’m an overthinker myself, and I know how easy it is to get caught up in your head. Are there any overthinkers out there? ::raises hand::

I’ve found that the best way to break myself out of overthinking is….you guessed it…ACTION.

You’re not going have this whole freelancing thing figured out from A to Z when you get started. And that’s OK. Part of the journey is that it’s a journey. There will be ups and downs, right turns and left turns, sometimes you’ll want to sit down and quit, and sometimes you’ll want to hit your head against your laptop.

But if you simply take action, get started, and stick with this program, I can almost guarantee you’ll see success. You’ll be able to generate income whenever you like and from wherever you want.

You’ll be tired, but it’ll be that good kind of tired when you know you’re doing something great for you and your family.

Right now, I have the ability to work as much or as little as I want. I can take a vacation and not have to ask my boss for time off.

If I need more income, I just amp up my system and take on more clients. If I need a break, I let clients know I’m taking the week off, and I generate a wait list.

The world is your oyster when it comes to freelancing. You can make it exactly what it needs to be to fit your lifestyle and needs. Alright let’s get started!

OK Enough talking, let's get started! Day 1 officially begins here...

Choose a High-Paying Skill

The first step in starting your career as a freelancer is choosing a high-paying skill.

If you already know what skill you can use as a freelancer, great! You can skip ahead to the next part of this class. But, if you’re like many people and you’re not quite sure what skill you can use, this first step is for you.

There are literally hundreds of skills you can learn to become a well-paid freelancer. Freelancers can earn an income doing anything from freelance copywriting to editing/proofreading, web development, graphic design, transcribing, translating, voice overs, customer support, business consulting, and virtual assistant work.

Here is a list of general categories found on Upwork:

• Development & IT
• Design & Creative
• Finance & Accounting
• Admin & Customer Support
• Engineering & Architecture
• Legal
• Sales & Marketing
• Writing & Translation

Your first step is to narrow down what skill and service you will provide. If you need help brainstorming, head to Upwork.com and look under “Find Work” and then “Find Work for Your Skills.”

You’ll find a giant list of skill categories. Begin clicking around and see what skills make sense to you. Write down the top 3 to 5 that stand out.

The next step is to continue your brainstorming. Take a pen and piece of paper, and I want you to think of things that you’re good at. What do other people say you’re good at? What did your teachers in school say you’re good at? What would you like to learn? What are your interests and hobbies? What jobs have you had (or currently have) that you enjoy?

Let your mind run free a little bit. Don’t hold back. It’s easy to begin writing this list and then our minds say “Oh no you’re not good at that” or… "Don’t be silly, you have to be a professional to do that.” Stop!

As long as you know a little more about a certain skill than someone else, you can make money from it.

Listen to me closely when I say this. If you literally have no current skills, nothing you could offer to a client, then this is what I recommend doing.

Choose a skill that you think you would enjoy. Maybe something you’ve always wanted to learn.

Then take the next 6 months and become an expert at it. Go scour the internet & YouTube for every article and video you can find on that one skill.

Pack your brain so full of knowledge that it’ll just come pouring out of your mouth and fingers. Yes, it’s 6 months of work. And no, that might not be what you wanted to hear from me (aka work).

But if six months from now, you could be making $5-10K a month working from home or a laptop near the beach, would it be worth the 6 months of effort?

I think we both know the answer.

When I started freelance writing, I knew I was pretty good at writing in general, but I knew nothing about resume writing. I learned that people needed resumes and it paid pretty good.

So, I took certification classes, read books and online articles, and I became an expert at it. 6 months is nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Solve a Problem

Does your skill solve a problem? Does your skill ease a pain point?

If your skill can directly solve someone’s problem, you have a business.

Let’s use this example: I hate cleaning my house. Most people hate cleaning their houses. So, I hire an amazing sent-from-God lady to come clean my house on a monthly basis. I have a problem…she solves my problem…and I pay her to do it. She has a great business.

Let’s use a personal example from my business. People hate writing their own resumes. They don’t have the time, and they don’t think they’re good at it. I provide a solution for these people by writing their resumes for them. They have a problem, and they gladly pay me money to solve their problem by writing the dang resume.

As long as there are problems in the world (and there are lots of them), we will be in business.

Be sure that your skill or service solves a problem, and you’ll be in business for a very long time.

Clarify Your Offer

The last step in today’s class is to clarify your offer. Exactly what does someone get when they work with you?

You’ve heard the phrase “Jack of All Trades, Master of None?” Ok well that doesn’t work as a freelancer. Jacks & Jills of All Trades don’t command high dollar for their services.

You want to eventually become known as the “go-to freelancer” for your specific skill. You’re an expert, and people will pay you accordingly.

It’s easy to want to cover many different types of skills and services. I was recently coaching a girl whose LinkedIn headline said she provided “creative services.”

Her profile talked about the creative process and how she will work with you to build a beautiful creative services package. I mean what the heck does that even mean? Needless to say, she didn’t have many clients before we worked together.

I helped her hone down exactly what she offered someone. It’s ok if she does provide 4 or 5 different things, but what is the MAIN thing?

When people work with me as a resume writer, they know exactly what they’re getting at the end of our engagement: a resume.

Be sure your potential clients know exactly what they are getting when they work with you. Make your offer directly related to their problem or pain point, and you will make money.

…AND ACTION! Exercise #1

Let’s talk about the action steps I want you to take today. By the end of today, I want you to:

• Narrow down your skill by brainstorming what you’re good at and doing market research on Upwork
• Clarify Your Offer. Use this template “I help people [insert a benefit] by [providing your offer]”

For example “I help people land more interviews by creating brilliant and engaging resumes.”

Now someone knows exactly what you do and what you offer.

Once you’ve decided on your skill and clarified your offer, I want you to post it in the Facebook group. If you need a little help in narrowing things down or clarifying, that’s what the Facebook group community is for.

I will be in there everyday to help bounce ideas around and provide support, along with other people who are doing what you are doing, too.

You Did It!

You did it! You made it through day #1 of our email class. Get ready for tomorrow’s email where we will talk about “Building Your Brand on a Budget.”

I’m going to show you how to start establishing your online presence QUICKLY and INEXPENSIVELY. What a beautiful set of words, right?

I’ll share with you exactly how I got started building my brand & authority online quickly and for cheap (hint: some of it is even free).

Be on the lookout for tomorrow’s email, and I’ll be looking for your post in the Facebook group!