How I Turned My Side Hustle Into A $1 Million SEO lance Consultancy

Prepare for feast and famine

Almost each SEO freelancer has knowledgeable feast aliases famine. One month, you mightiness onshore aggregate high-paying projects; the next, activity could barren up completely

This unpredictability tin beryllium frustrating and, astatine times, terrifying if you’re utilized to a dependable paycheck.

Don’t panic.

Instead of spending freely successful bully months, group speech income for the slow ones. Remember that inconsistency is portion of the process and you’ll build a dependable pipeline of clients arsenic you gain credibility.

Save six months of income to get you done (if you can)

I really wish I could show you I had saved six months' worthy of expenses earlier going full-time, arsenic it would person fixed maine breathing room while I built a customer base. I wasn’t afforded this luxury, but I highly urge this to anyone who wants to freelance full-time.

One of the biggest traps caller freelancers autumn into is the title to the bottom, accepting immoderate customer astatine immoderate complaint conscionable to support money coming in. 

When you’re desperate, you make bad decisions. Savings let you to beryllium selective, choosing projects and clients that align pinch your semipermanent goals alternatively of scrambling for short-term survival.

The mindset displacement is the toughest conflict you'll face

Freelancing requires intelligence resilience. The toughest portion of this travel is handling rejection, uncertainty, and comparison.

• Prepare for rejection: Not every client pitch will land, and not each lead will opportunity yes. A “no” coming doesn’t mean failure, it conscionable intends it wasn’t the correct fit.
• Stop comparing your travel to others: Some freelancers scale to six figures successful a year; others return five. Your maturation is your own, and occurrence isn’t ever linear.
• Find a mentor aliases accountability partner: Having personification to move to, whether it’s for business proposal aliases conscionable motivation, makes a immense difference. Surround yourself pinch group who understand the travel and tin thief you enactment connected track.
• Learn to opportunity no: Not each customer is simply a bully fit. Turning down activity that doesn’t align pinch your expertise removes you from the scarcity mindset and allows you to standard faster.

Map retired a financial plan

Beyond savings, you request a financial roadmap to guideline you. Without one, you consequence undercharging, overspending, aliases struggling to make ends meet.

Start by calculating your bare minimum income. This is the magnitude you request to screen rent/mortgage, groceries, insurance, taxes, and different non-negotiable expenses. Then, facet successful further costs for illustration software, internet, and business expenses. 

Next, find really galore clients (or projects) you request per period to switch your salary, this is the profit you’d get aft expenses.

If you’re successful the US aliases different state without cosmopolitan healthcare, investigation your options early and facet that in. Monitor income, expenses, and profitability utilizing accounting package for illustration QuickBooks aliases a elemental spreadsheet. 

Luke Carthy does a awesome occupation of breaking it down in this MozPod episode.

Create basal assets earlier pitching clients

Before reaching retired to imaginable clients, person assets that beryllium your expertise. Even without freelance experience, you tin showcase your skills successful different ways.

Build a elemental portfolio website

Apart from freelance clients, I tally 2 websites connected the side:

• #SEOForLunch
• SEOJobs.com

#SEOForLunch

Winning caller clients is great, but retaining them is wherever the existent profitability lies. 

A fewer ways to clasp clients include:

Tie ROI to business goals

To clasp top-tier clients, you person to tie SEO ROI to business outcomes. I attraction connected metrics that matter to executives including:

• Revenue from SEO: I link SEO capacity to conversions and gross growth.
• Cost savings vs. paid acquisition: I show really SEO lowers dependence connected costly paid channels and improves wide trading efficiency.

To make reporting frictionless, I use Moz’s Custom Reports to build easy digestible SEO reports. The reporting characteristic successful Moz Campaigns lets maine item customer wins, way progress, and schedule recurring updates, truthful clients tin spot the worth of my work.