How I Make 4K a Month Writing
And you can too. But you’re going to need a little help.
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Freelance writing has opened doors for me. Financial doors. I started writing as my only source of income about 18 months ago. Now, I am looking to buy a condo at the beach. And I did it all with writing. Making 4K a month with your writing is not only feasible — it’s easier than you think.
But, you’ll need a little help. I did, and so will you. No one person can create a writing career sitting all by themselves in a little box, happily typing away at the computer. Well, almost no one can. Unless you’re some kind of influencer — which, let’s face it, I am not.
I — to be blatantly honest — am a middle-aged divorcee with gray hair and a chubby middle. People aren’t likely to follow my writing so they can be the coolest kids on the block (air quotes) like myself (end air quotes) — but they do follow me because they see my success. And I call 4K per month a raging success, especially given the short amount of time it took me to get to this place in my career. Here’s how I did it — and so can you!
How I Make 4–5K Per Month with My Writing
- I don’t cheat myself out of hard-earned money. I expect fair rates and only take the right clients for me.
- Nearly every client I have is in the same genre of writing. I find this has helped me develop a niche for myself and attract good clients. It also helps to cut down on massive amounts of time researching new topics on which I cannot speak fluently. (When I need to — I hire my favorite researcher to help me gather info for new articles. I typically do this for content writing or newsletters so I can stay caught up on those.)
- I got my start on Fiverr. Those work-for-pennies jobs? They didn’t last forever. Soon, I nailed “big fish” clients that led me to more “big fish” clients. I now rarely take jobs on Fiverr but when I do, I try to funnel those clients into other income sources like my paid newsletter or Medium membership.
- My first big client came from a word-of-mouth recommendation by a fellow Medium writer who believed in me.
- I got up every day — nearly 7 days a week for the first year — and I busted my ass. I worked hard. I wanted success. I gave up on other things in my life to throw myself into my writing work. It paid off.
What a Month’s Work Looks Like for Me
My calendar typically fills up around the 3rd of the month after the big clients get their calendars ready for the month and send over the jobs I’ll do that month. I mark the due dates on my white-board calendar and add them to the “Jobs for X Month” list on my Artful Agenda schedule keeper. (Affiliate link.) This usually amounts to 2–3 blogs per week, which can fairly easily be done in less than 30 work hours per week.
The days between blog due dates are used for research, article-mapping, and content writing for sites like Medium, Newsbreak (though I rarely write for this one anymore), and for keeping up with my Substack newsletter and Patreon page. All of these side hustle writing projects account for less than 5% of my earnings, with Medium being the top-earner in that category.
Other Things I Do Each Day
To put forth the mental energy I need to perform at high-end blogging for clients — I have learned to keep myself mentally fit. This means a balance between my work schedule and my home life. A typical day for me looks a lot like this (Monday-Friday. More open-ended and variable on the weekends):
- Wake up at 9 am sharp. I do not set an alarm. I find this makes me wake more refreshed and ready for my day. I allow myself a good 30 minutes to wake up, have coffee, take my CBD, and take my little dog for a walk. Then, the computer comes on and it’s time to work.
- I work from 10–12.
- I take a lunch break and usually watch a little TV while I eat. I consider this a mental “eraser” that helps me reset my mind. This brief daily practice helps me to clear my mind for the afternoon’s work.
- I work again for a couple of hours, then take a long, hot, refreshing shower. Talk about a mental reset button! This one thing helps me immensely with productivity and, I find, it helps me with the chronic pain “spoonie” stuff. (If you know, you know.)
- I work a couple more hours and then take a break to walk the dog. Between 4–5, I finish up, polish, and turn in work that has EOD due dates for the day. I also work on invoicing or entering business figures into Freshbooks so that my record-keeping is on-point.
- After 5, I cook dinner, do a little cleaning, and settle in for movies and cross stitching or crochet. If there’s a lot of work due the next day I may take some time to map out the work or do some preliminary research. And, let’s be honest here — I usually play a little Sims 4.
Not a bad life. Not a bad schedule at all. In fact, I’d like to take on another client (or maybe 2) so I can press into that 6K-per-month goal I have set for myself. I recently hired a researcher and secondary writer to work under me as a trainee. I hope to develop some passive income through that as I teach her the ropes of what I do.
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. — Henry David Thoreau
And after only 18 full months of writing “full time” — I never thought I’d be looking at a 6K monthly goal. I never thought I’d be shopping for a condo at the beach. (Let’s all manifest a down payment right now.)
How Did I Get to 4K per Month?
Practice. A little luck. A little faith and determination. Some learning of new skills. And a whole lot of hustle.
Can you set freelance writing goals and attain them? Well, there’s nothing super special about my abilities, I don’t guess, so I suppose nearly anyone could do what I do. Nearly anyone who’s willing to work hard and learn as much as possible. Anyone who’s willing to take criticism and turn it into training. And for anyone who is willing to get up each day and get the job done.
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