There are a LOT of business gurus out there who want to tell you what you need in order to start making money in your business.

You need an email list in the thousands. A social media following of raving fans. A Facebook ad funnel, a slick website, a compelling lead magnet. All. The. Things.

I started making money in my business without almost none of those things.

I did have a basic website, which I had created the year before as an author site for the novel I was working on.

When I decided to try out copywriting for life coaches, I added a page called Work with Me and put up a little description of what I could offer.

Then I started telling people what I was doing. I told my own coach (whom I had hired for 3 sessions for a grand total of about $250). She immediately hired me for a small, $90 project. Without me asking, she posted about my work in her mastermind group.

One of her colleagues hired me for my next project. I charged $350 to help her create a new welcome sequence.

Then I started sending emails to other coaches certified through The Life Coach School. I landed an About page rewrite and copyediting project ($250) and project writing emails to pitch a coach to be a guest on podcasts ($350).

My best friend recommended me to a marketing firm she’d once worked with, and through them I wrote my first website ($750).

By this time I was two months in and had made more than $1,500 – without spending a dime.

Here’s what led to that success:

• I was still working at my job, so I wasn’t putting any pressure on myself. The money I made was fun.
• I was just testing an idea. It wasn’t the be-all, end-all, and if it didn’t work, it was no big deal.
• I jumped in without getting everything perfect. My first Work with Me page was titled, “Ghostwriting for Life Coaches” – because I didn’t even know the word “copywriter” yet. Hilarious. I didn’t have all my pricing figured out. I didn’t have a client contract or a way to accept payment. I just … started.
• I spent absolutely no time on social media, blogging, or building an email list until months after I started making money. I spent 100% of my time on reaching out to my network and pitching prospective clients, or on client work.
• I knew that what I had to offer was valuable – but I didn’t go “all in” until I had evidence that my clients knew it was valuable, too.

This week, where can you create money immediately?

May 31, 2019