My 3-Step Strategy To Scale My Mini Side Hustle To 6 Figures (In Less Than 12 Months)

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My mini side hustle earns 3–4 figures per month.

If I can sum up my creator journey in the last 12 months, I would say it’s a slow growth. I lacked strategy. I got jealous of other people’s results, so I kept going from one shiny object to another. I wasted plenty of time working without a system that works.

I’m taking an approach I should have started several months ago: build leverage.

If you Google the word leverage, it means to use (something) to maximum advantage.

The point of me building a side hustle was to earn more in less time.

Unfortunately, I got lost along the way.

I easily 3–5X my hourly rate as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist by taking up client work (writing services and offering 1:1 coaching/consulting calls).

Now it’s time to start divorcing my time with my income.

Here’s how I plan to do that:

Less pitching

As a beginner freelancer, there was only one way for me to get clients: pitch, pitch, and pitch.

I get asked by a lot of beginners how to get their first client, but they all make the same mistakes: They are not willing to do the hard work.

They will write a few articles and build their portfolio. They will think it’s good enough that people will come to them and ask them for their writing services. They will message a few companies or individuals to ask if they need help. If they don’t get any replies, they tell everyone freelancing doesn’t work.

The only way to make it work as a beginner was to do more — and that’s what I did.

The more pitches I sent, the more clients said “yes” to me.

In my first month of pitching, I earned almost $1k. I took low-paying gigs for the money. I was terrified to charge more because I thought I was not skilled enough. So, I focused on getting more clients instead of charging more.

Cold outreach is a great way for beginners to get clients. But it’s time to learn how to use my time and skills more efficiently.

I have published 135 stories on Medium and built 17k followers (including X). I know I’m starting to attract the right audience.

I am going to continue doing this if I improve my content.

The more content I write, the better I’ll be at my craft. The greater my content, the more people will see my work. The more eyes I get on my content, the more I can funnel them into my email list.

I no longer want to pitch, I want to attract.

Focus on loyal readers

My goal is not to build a big following but a loyal audience.

It feels amazing when I see someone download and subscribe to my stuff. And you know what’s surprising? These people are the “quiet” ones. They never engaged with my content. They never message me. Sometimes, they don’t even have a profile picture.

You never know who’s paying attention.

I recently started my newsletter, and it still blows my mind that I have 100+ readers.

These are people I want to nurture my relationship with. They are the ones who need my work.

Moving forward, I will send one actionable or insightful email every week. Then, I would ask for my readers’ opinions as part of my market research. I will give them a free, valuable digital gift in exchange for their time.

I’ll try to attract more loyal readers and collect emails by giving away free content.

As my email list grows, I’ll continue to learn marketing.

The fun starts when it’s time to sell digital products and group coaching to my email subscribers.

Sell digital assets

I recently made my first $ from digital products.

It impresses me whenever I see other creators making 6 to 8 figures by selling digital products alone.

I always thought that the way for me to earn passive income was to invest my money in the stock market or real estate. This was disheartening for me. And it led to a scarcity mindset.

I had to save more because I didn’t have the money to invest. I had to work overtime so I could save the difference.

At 10% interest rate, my $100k will earn $10k in one year.

With digital products, I don’t have to invest money (at least not a lot).

I only need to invest my time.

Fun fact: Alex Hormozi spent 6 hours per day for two years writing his eBook $100M Leads. He sold it for $9.99 on Amazon and was averaging $40k per month.

Time is one of our most valuable assets –– and we need to invest it wisely.

I plan to create courses that I can sell for $99 to $999. I want to learn how to market them to the right audience and build digital freedom.

I’ll hit 6 figures if I can do one of the following:

• Sell a $99 course to 1000 people
• Sell a $200 course to 500 people
• Sell a $400 course to 250 people

You get the idea.

This is not going to be easy –– but it’s doable with the right strategy.

I’ve seen plenty of small creators do it. At first, I didn’t believe it because they didn’t have a lot of followers. But I learned that the secret sauce is to promote shamelessly (assuming you believe in your product).

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