Dear Chase,
I was running a coaching call yesterday for my students. It's interesting, because I have some people making 5 figures a month, and others just getting started on the journey.
It's cool to have everyone in the same room because of all of the different perspectives you get.
One of my newer guys asked a question that went like this:
"When you're in the beginning stages or just a newbie freelancer (with newbie income), external pressure from friends and fam is bad enough, but when they reference other 9-5ers who are making way more than you, how do you handle that, like not compare yourself and put yourself down?"
This was an awesome question, because it's such an easy answer.
When you take the risk to start something new, the people in your life who care about you will typically push back.
They want you to take a safer path. They want you to be in a position where you KNOW the money is coming, and you can make a decent salary.
I told this young man a couple of things.
First of all, these 9-5ers will only be making more money than you for a couple months, if that.
Let's benchmark it at $60k a year. That's $5k a month.
The typical freelancer is able to make $5k in their first or second month.
After that, your income will grow by 30-50% on a monthly basis, meaning you'll be at $10k a month in another 4-6 months.
If you continue on that growth trajectory, there's a chance you're pulling in $200k a year within 12 months of starting your freelancing journey.
This is OBVIOUSLY not common for a 9-5er. The odds of someone landing a gig for that much money, early in their career, is exceedingly rare.
If they do, they're likely in a decent amount of student debt to get there.
You will fly past their income very, very quickly.
Second of all, let's pretend you stay around $5-6k a month with only 2-3 clients and you're not willing or able to go beyond that.
You're not making MORE money than the average 9-5er…
But you have about 100x more freedom.
This is arguably more valuable than more money.
If you're making $5-6k a month as a freelancer, you're working 2 hours a day. Max.
As long as you don't live in a major city where everything's super expensive, you can live semi-comfortably and spend your day doing whatever you want.
You have more time to exercise.
You have time to explore.
You have time to spend with your family/friends, as long as they're unemployed.
You can work from home, or from a coffee shop.
You can travel in the middle of the week.
You can have a couple drinks at lunch.
Your life is bliss.
You live WAY better than the 9-5ers do, even on LESS money.
The amount of freedom you have is directly correlated to the quality of life that you live.
I'd take $5k a month working 2 hours a day over $10k a month at a job working 8 hours a day with a 30-minute commute each way. In a heartbeat.
So, to this young man who asked the question, this will be a complete non-issue in about 90 days.
He'll be making more than the 9-5ers, and have way more free time than he imagined possible.
Do you agree, Chase?
Yours truly,
Alex.
Sent from my Lunch Beer (I'm a freelancer)
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