Most of us have had some type of side hustle idea, actually followed through with them, or carried out work for someone else (freelance work).
Kim Langholz does freelance work for a living, along with consulting. She discusses all of her thoughts and actions on her blog, Freelance for a Living, and was kind enough to share with us here for Feature Friday.
What is your business?
My primary income comes from working as an online marketing consultant.
I help online businesses identify the best ROI giving online marketing channels and help them tap into these channels, whether that be Email marketing, SEO, SEM, etc.
As a side-income, I run a few affiliate sites and, for fun, I run Freelanceforaliving.com, where I share my thoughts on living as a freelancer.
I just recently started a new consultant business in the online marketing field. I share every detail about finding the right market to test an idea for a business, reaching out to potential customers, etc.
Through Freelanceforaliving.com, everything I do, think, and earn is being published for my audience with the hope that they might learn something by following my process.
I started working with SEO and affiliate marketing for fun in 2008 while still in High School. Back then I told my parents that I would move to Spain and live off my skills after High School.
I didn’t manage 100% but got an online marketing job for a travel agency in Spain after High School.
Five months after moving to Spain, my wife and I decided to move back to Denmark and give it a shot at being self-employed.
We lived in my granddad’s basement for free for four months without any particular income and with nothing saved up – It was all or nothing.
Ultimately I got some clients and, after having worked as a marketing consultant in Denmark for 2 years, I realized that we were actually able to travel the world while running our businesses, so we decided to travel the world and become “location independent entrepreneurs.”
Related: How to Travel the World for Free
10 Ways to Travel the World Without Quitting Your Job
20 Top Travel Quotes for Adventurous Women
Who were some influencers in your decision to be an entrepreneur?
My biggest influence was Tim Ferriss.
I read The 4-hour Workweek and it just clicked. I realized I was actually in a position to travel the world and work less than 10 hours a week, so we decided to do so.
How did you prepare to take the leap both financially and in your business?
I didn’t – I didn’t have any savings.
Through High School which, for me in Denmark, lasted 5 years, I’d been reading and practicing SEO and affiliate marketing.
I had built up a skill set so valuable that I landed a job in Spain with responsibility for the entire Danish market (Website, content, and marketing) – Managing a six-figure marketing budget.
This showed me that I had the skills to help other businesses, so when life got too tough in Spain, we moved back to Denmark. We actually had to borrow money for the plane ticket from my mom.
Then we had four months in which we could live for free in my granddad’s basement before he had to use it for his Bed & Breakfast.
In those four months, I worked my ass off to get clients and then had enough to make a living.
If I hadn’t I would have had to move back home to my parents, with my wife, and take a 9-5 job.
If you quit your job, were you already making money on the side before you decided to quit your job? Tell us about that. If you are still working full-time, what would make you leave your job?
I made around $2-300 USD/month before taxes through affiliate marketing.
I didn’t like my full-time job as the paycheck was ridiculously low, the hours long, I wasn’t able to use my potential in the business I was working for due to bureaucracy.
On the private front, I had a wife who’d been depressed for four years at this point and it was hard being away from her so many hours each day.
Ultimately, I decided to quit when my grandmother got diagnosed with cancer and my dad had a heart attack. It made me realize that family was more important than living in Spain.
I also realized that there would never be a better time for me to start a business. We had no children, no obligations, no loans. Why not just try it out?
Who else works on your business with you? Did you hire anyone to help? When did you decide to bring that person on and how did you find them?
My wife has always been at my side, helping me to the best of her capabilities.
Besides that, I’ve made a business that only requires me working 5-10 hours/week so it hasn’t been necessary to hire help yet.
Currently, I make about $700/month through affiliate marketing. This is not something I’ve been working on for the last 2-3 years, but it’s still generating income.
Through my consultant business, I’m on track to pass the $100K mark this year.
What was your worst day so far as an entrepreneur and what was your best day? What happened on those days?
My worst day was when my grandmother died. It knocked me out for months and I struggled taking time out of my schedule to do the required work.
My best day was the day we decided we wanted to travel the world. We canceled our apartment, threw out a lot of stuff and started the process of simplifying our life so that we could live on the road.
What is one small “trick” or piece of advice that you have learned about reaching customers or making sales? Please be specific and provide something actionable for us.
If you haven’t understood your target audience, no marketing tactic will ever get you the clients you want.
Start listening to your audience. Get on a call with them, ask them questions that make them open up about their problems and listen carefully to the way they describe their problems.
Listen to how they feel and use their exact sentences on your website, landing page, and all your marketing material.
By using their words, they’ll feel understood by you and that’s the key to earning them as clients.
Give us two truths and a lie about yourself so we can get to know you better personally!
I’m allergic to people who don’t have any ambition.
I’m allergic to cold temperatures.
I’m allergic to cats.
That’s a wrap on another Feature Friday! Thanks to Kim for sharing!
If you want your story featured, check out our Get Featured page.
D
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For those who have spent years working for other people, it can be overwhelming to suddenly be expected to set your own salary. Most people have been told what they are worth by employers. As a freelancer, the price you set for your services tells your clients how much you value your own time, and if you do not value your time, no one else will. It is important, therefore, to set an hourly or per-project price that reflects the quality of your work but does not price you out of the market.
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Ohhhhh. It shows up again. Tim Ferriss’s 4-Hour Workweek.
Almost anyone I know of or have heard of that likes to travel and do the “digital nomad” thing mentions the 4-Hour Work week as influential.
I’m looking to get myself location independent too ever since reading it. Was looking into creating a Muse and/or using the skills I already possess to make it a reality.
I love Tim Ferriss
Wonderful blog post! It is great to read and learn from this article because it gave me a perspective of how freelancing works. 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing this one. 😀