How to Attain Your Goals with Reverse Engineering

You May Not Be There Yet, But You Can Get There

Have you heard of “reverse engineering”? It’s a term I first came across after I became the owner of my own freelance writing business.

Here’s how it works: you find someone who has the success you want, then you reproduce their results by copying their methods. You begin with the end goal in mind and work your way back to where you are, step by step.

Once you’ve done that, you have a plan for how to proceed.

Here’s how I reverse engineered my way to earning $750 per hour on a freelance writing project in 2019.

Step one: Start with a desire.

In other words, determine what you want in specific terms. In my case, I’d heard that some six-figure freelance writers earned several hundred dollars an hour.

My goal was to land a writing project with a new client for at least $500 per hour. I had no idea how to do that, but I knew that others had done it and that was enough to get me started.

Step two: Find someone who has accomplished your goal.

You don’t have to know the person. I found a freelance writer who had a blog that walks people through the steps she takes to land new clients and covers topics like which niches are most profitable (hint: it seems like most six-figure freelance writers cover technology topics).

Of course, if you know the person, that’s even better. Maybe you can connect with someone from your college’s career center or your alumni group who can act as a mentor for you as you progress toward your goal.

Step three: Learn how they did it.

I read my new freelance hero’s blog religiously and absorbed as much information as I could. I also bought her book about how to run a successful freelance writing business. I took notes. I joined her facebook group and asked questions.

As long as you have access to information about how your “hero” attained their goal, they are a viable candidate for reverse engineering. Luckily, many entrepreneurs are passionate about sharing what they’ve learned along the way.

Step four: Make a plan to tackle your goal.

This is where Reverse Engineering comes in. Once you’ve come this far, there are four steps to this process:

1. Begin with the end in mind. State you goal in a single sentence and make sure it’s measurable. My goal was to make at least $500 an hour on a freelance writing assignment.
2. Work step by step from your goal to where you are now (your starting point). My steps were — in reverse order: (4) land an assignment and negotiate a high rate, (3) land a high-paying technology client, (2) write a pro bono piece to gain credibility, (1) choose a technology niche.
3. Obviously, you should reverse your steps at this point and begin at step one. My first step was to settle on a niche, in my case, eLearning.
4. Stuck? Ask for help from someone (it doesn’t have to be the person you’re emulating if they’re unavailable). I networked with other freelance writers through LinkedIn and made a point to talk with them on the phone so we could support each other and share our knowledge.

Once you know the steps your mentor took to achieve their goal, you are set to follow in their footsteps. And don’t worry if you get stuck. There have been plenty of times when I didn’t know how to proceed with my goal because I was relatively inexperienced. (That’s why it’s helpful to follow in the footsteps of someone who’s been where you want to go.)

I dealt with feeling stuck by simply not giving up. I returned to the resources I had, asked questions and was able to move forward one step at a time. The only failure is giving up; as long as you’re still working towards your goal, you haven’t failed.

You can reverse engineer virtually any goal, from running a marathon to writing a cookbook. The process is the same. What do you want to do?

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