How did I start earning six figures working only 25 hours a week?
I leveraged 15+ years of experience in my field of expertise.
Working hard runs through my veins which was prevalent as a young high school math teacher at the age of 23. I would spend hours on end outside of the classroom planning lessons and learning new technologies to engage my students and hopefully make an impact. That lasted 3 years and then I went back to university, again, because they say, “third times a charm.” I ended up earning my Ph.D in 2.5 years which was a record at my institution. After graduation, I moved out of state, to the go-big-or-go-home state of Texas where I became an Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education; teaching pure math courses and those courses geared to pre-service teachers. After another 3 years, I moved to Chicago for a similar position but in a smaller and private university. Then I decided to pursue the corporate side of education by taking on a Curriculum Development role for a year, followed by becoming a Regional Manager of Professional Development for an Ed Tech Company.
Life happened...I won’t go into details, but I took the leap and became self employed.
How did I do it?
I sent emails out to key players in my well established professional network of 15+ years. In these emails I said that I was freelancing full time and would love to pick up any projects. Keep in mind, I have a very niche background in mathematics, education, instructional technologies, and the services I offer are often completed by different individuals. I can develop content and curriculum, media such as videos or animations within PowerPoint lectures. I have both Mac and Windows platforms with access to different programs used in mathematics and publishing. Essentially, I’m a one-stop-shop whereas clients would have to hire multiple people to complete what I can do on my own.
Additionally, I had already started dabbling in freelancing around 2009 so these emails were my launching point of obtaining clients. Not only did my immediate network offer me projects, but they started spreading my name to their colleagues, and the referral process was golden.
Creating an LLC
In the past when I freelanced just a little, I contracted under my name and SS number. I'd receive 1099 tax forms when it was time to file my taxes. Since I knew I wanted to freelance full time, starting in July 2017, I used incfile.com to establish an LLC for $254. The process was simple and it provides me with an EIN number which I used to open business checking and savings accounts. My company name is not very creative (my initials): CLG Consulting, LLC. However, I learned quickly that my company name or website was non-essential in my business because I am in a niche market and referrals fuel most of my business.
Super Low Startup Business Expenses
If you click on the link above, you’ll be directed to my free business website, like this one. I don’t pay for a domain because my clients almost always comes from referrals or my profiles on UpWork and LinkedIn. There’s no point in spending money on something that is nonessential for a business. That’s also why I don’t have a professional logo. I believe there’s a huge misnomer that every business needs things like these, and mine is proof that it’s not essential.
I bought my first business laptop from my first large client that specified they needed a project done on a Windows device, and at the time I only had a Mac. So they fronted the money for me to go purchase a device that would work for their projects. I also invested in a Blue Yeti microphone for the audio recordings I create for math videos, a wireless mouse with batteries, an iPad that I use for a second monitor, 100GB Google Storage plan, and my cell phone / international data plans.
After 2.5 years of being in business, I can estimate my mobile office to cost less than 4K, if I need to replace every piece of equipment. I anticipate a potential need to replace my Windows based laptop every 3 years and my Mac every 7 years. Regardless, my annual business overhead is fairly nominal.
Show me the $$
There are two types of contracts I sign with clients, flat rate and hourly. The sooner I finish any flat rate project, the more money I earn. For example, I get asked to complete a project for 2K, and they give me 6 weeks to complete the work. If I finish the project in 4 weeks, I can pick up more work which means I can make more money.
Hourly contracts are simple. Multiply my hourly rate by the number of hours I work, and that’s what I earn. In a previous post I mention my account on UpWork, where I obtain some great clients that often pay for services at hourly wages. At first, my rates varied between $50-$75 per hour. As I complete projects the client gets to rate me and the more ratings and time within the platform, my profile becomes more easily discoverable by other potential clients. So once I established myself on the platform, I raised my rates to be between $75-$100 per hour.
Why am I charging these rates?
I’m an established professional in my niche filed. The demand for my services are high and the number of people that do what I do is nominal. Additionally, I’ve researched compensations for various positions related to the services I offer and then I did some reverse engineering with the calculations by dividing the income I would like to make by the number of weeks I plan to work in a year, and then by the number of hours in a week I assume to work. This gave me a base to work off of, after accounting for taxes and health insurance too.
Building a Team
Once I started balancing 5+ projects from various clients, I was working around the clock. Granted, I was making a lot of money, much more than I had with any previous career. However, there are so many hours in the day and I didn’t want to work 60-80 hours a week anymore. This is when I started reaching back out to my network again, contacting very specific persons who I’ve worked with in some capacity in my field, and that’s how I started finding quality subcontractors who are amazing to work with. By utilizing subcontractors, I can take on more projects and parse out certain portions; hence, the growing capabilities of my small but mighty business. Today, on average I tend to log around 25 hours/week, and sometimes when I really get into work mode, I’ll put in up to 35 hours.
Why am I not working more?
Because I don’t have too. I am very pleased with the growth of my business and my 6-figure income. Because I’m living in very low cost of living, I’m able to save and invest bundles; putting me on par to reach my financial independence goal so I can retire around the age of 45, if I wish to do so. Additionally, with many more hours available in the week, I can explore and experience the countries I’m visiting. I can attend events and functions whenever I want because I sit down and crank out any projects around my social and life calendar.
This brings me back to my two goals: travel the wold and reach my FI goals.
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