Making Money

For all of us who are not making any money, we know what it does to help us feel good, and the best way to do that is by getting people’s attention. Now  I’m going to tell you a story about myself, but before we get into that, let me say this: It took me about nine months to make enough money for my first car. So if you are reading this, then obviously you have some sort of idea in your mind who you could be to attract new clients, and there’s nothing wrong with asking around, calling up friends with some connections, or even looking in Facebook Ads.

But just because we need someone to pay our rent doesn’t mean we are doing right by ourselves and paying well. A person will always find something to complain about when they see you being poor. Let’s face it; no one likes you being poor or low income. On the other hand, if you are rich in some sense or another, people like you. You are the definition of life! It just so happens that your financial status can play a big role in how well you are viewed by others and how well you are accepted as a business owner. So it shouldn’t really hurt anyone when you turn to these tips from successful entrepreneurs: Be humble, don’t take on more than your fair share in every project, and work as hard as possible. As long as you can keep your end-of-year numbers and/or profits, that’ll be fine for everyone. When talking with your co-workers, never lie to them about which company pays.

 If a client come to talk, don’t try to hide what your salary is. If you’re able to, let them see that. That’s one of those things we’ve been told when we are under a lot of pressure to bring home the bacon. And guess what? Sometimes this means that we won’t get our cash fast enough to pay the bills on time. We should be realistic when trying to get people to buy our services, but let’s be honest.

Most of the people don’t really want what we offer to sell because it’s something to satisfy their greed. This includes you. The only thing I could think of was: “I don’t care what kind of service I sell, as long as people can afford to buy something from me?” There’s nothing wrong with trying to make a living, even if you become a millionaire overnight. Just don’t overthink it when trying to secure money and when trying to get people to hire you. When you're out working and thinking about the money, remember that your main focus should be on making sure you provide exactly what you promise and that you'll meet your promises. Because once you fail to meet your promises, you could lose customers, and that's what happened to my friend Seth. Seth had his own website, called Blogger.com, and he was selling SEO skills and coaching for people who were ready to start owning websites.

 After a while, though, the site started struggling. My advice to him was to look at Google Trends, find keywords that people searched very often in search engines, as well as those keywords that people searched less. Then, write down the most popular keywords and ask yourself why people would search for them. In addition to that, keep an eye out for the keywords that people search more often than they searched, and also keep an eye on how many times people are searching for them on Google. If you haven't done so, start writing content about the topic, such as blog posts and articles (that aren't too complex anymore), videos, and online courses. Keep up blogging and creating quality content for your YouTube channel, since you're doing better than ever as far as traffic goes. Also, look for ways of promoting your products, and if you are already doing it, look for new methods and strategies to stay ahead of the competition.

Since you've probably seen ads, it might be a good idea to check them out. Not only will they show you a few advertisements for your product, but they will also provide you with links to your latest works. They are pretty much full of clickbait, too. Make sure you follow the rules and avoid the clickbait, and maybe your work will bring a bit of profit in the long run. One important thing to focus on is having an updated profile picture and cover photo. People are very picky nowadays—just look at the photos of Steve Jobs (even after a stroke!) before they become a celebrity. Don't change them unless you’re happy with what they now look like. Plus, a professional photo can be worth 20 times the profit of an amateur photo.

These two tips are really useful when you’re trying to market your services, so make sure you look for professional photos of yourself—even for your social media pages. What was your biggest mistake when starting your business? When I started building Upwork years ago, I didn’t really start looking for job opportunities and for jobs that paid well for my skills. While there were tons of posts on the net about the top 10 companies that offer online consulting for remote workers, there wasn't a single post that said anything about Upwork itself. Of course, the number of sites was increasing, and when I was putting my profile there, I saw there were plenty of people just like me, so I decided to start posting on a dedicated page. 

Today, I'm working as a freelancer and having people read my blogs and reach us through our newsletters and our podcast and so on. And with growing popularity comes lots of tasks and projects. To succeed, you need to learn the ropes of the industry. Don't underestimate the importance of learning. It takes practice. At least when you're trying to grow a career as a freelance individual, you have to learn about topics and subjects like coding languages and HTML, web design and development etc. When I started my agency, I wasn't looking for a specific area to target—I just wanted to gain experience in marketing and advertising for small businesses. I thought I would use that knowledge to grow both my brand and my business. However, you cannot do both—you must specialize in one area for a while. Remember, this is a career. Your goal should always be to serve the needs of your audience. And you only need to be smart about making decisions.

Once you gain trust, you should aim at finding clients in that field. That is the true value of working for someone else—you just have to build strong relationships with them. Another thing I did not know was how important a solid business background really is. Sure, there are plenty of blogs written about how to start a business and achieve success, but the truth is that it’s not that bad when you understand the basics. How to choose and choose clients is also one of the key aspects to make sure you do not miss. And lastly, the secret to success in entrepreneurship is great communication. No one succeeds without strong communication skills, plus you should make sure whoever you communicate with understands your point of view. Once you’re hired, you should consider communicating your ideas in regular meetings. Tell people why you want to go on running and what makes you unique and different from everybody else. You'd rather work with a boss, you should say!