It took me more than five years to get to a point where I made at least $10,000 per month. Making $10,000 per month was a massive goal for me, and I worked hard for a really, really long time to get there. Now, I think often about what I would do if I had to start over – if my whole business went up in flames and I had no social following, how could I get to that point quicker? If you’re just beginning in your business, you might be at a similar starting point. Here’s how I would make $10,000 per month if I had to start over right now!
How I Would Make $10,000 per Month if I Had to Start Over RIGHT NOW!
Want to watch a video version of this post? I’ve got you covered!
I think about what I would do if I started over often, and it’s one of the questions I get asked most often. What would you do if you were brand-new, just starting out? The reality is, I know exactly what I would do! And I would want to do it much quicker than I did in my first business to hit those money milestones earlier on in the process.
If I was brand new, starting over with 0 – 0 followers, 0 dollars, 0 everything, here is what I would do.
Get the Digital Product Blueprint
How I Would Make $10,000 per month
A few days ago, someone from my “real life” sent me a message on Instagram asking me to call her. When we got on the phone, she told me she HAD to quit her 9-to-5 and get out of corporate, but she had no idea where to start to make money.
Everything I teach and preach is about passive income and selling things on a one-to-many scale. I think everybody should work towards having that in their business eventually. If you’re just starting out and have no audience, it’s going to take a long time to create sustainable income that way. You have to have an audience of engaged people who want to buy what you’re selling. And, if you have $0 from the get-go, you can’t spend money on ads to build your audience.
This person needed to quit their job ASAP and didn’t have the luxury of waiting years to grow their business. So, I told them the same thing I told my first coaching client (and what I’m about to tell you).
Start with Client Services
If you need to hit that $10,000 per month marker, you NEED to be offering a service. Pick a one-to-one service that you are good at, can charge a premium for, and that you can market well.
One-to-one services allow you to make money without the huge audience numbers you need to generate passive income. If you have one client that you charge $3,000 per month, that’s $3,000 per month guaranteed out of the gate.
If I was starting over, I would do exactly what I did the first time – except I would do it better and I would be more informed.
I would take on one-on-one clients and perform a done-for-you service. Way back when I started my business, that was web design. My problem was that I didn’t value my own services enough to charge decent money for them. I felt limited by my local area (which, to this day, isn’t paying people what they deserve for those services).
Then, I would focus on how many clients I needed to get to a certain income level per month. Focus really heavily on getting those people to become clients so I could make that money. THEN I would start building my audience.
I would NOT start trying to use a one-to-many model if I know I need to make a certain amount per month. Building up your audience takes time – but you can absolutely do it while you’re offering client services.
But what services do I offer? I don’t know my skill sets.
This was the exact question that I got asked in this phone call, and by my first business coaching client. Maybe you’re working in corporate right now but you aren’t doing something that directly translates to offering a service outside of corporate.
If you’re a clerk of court, you can’t just go be a clerk of court in the private sector. So dig deeper! Don’t get stuck on the surface level. What skills do you have? As a clerk of court, are you really good at data entry? Awesome. Go find clients for data entry. Are you someone who’s really good at bookkeeping? Awesome. Go do that. If you are in human resources in corporate, you’re really good at managing a team! You could offer that service as an OBM (organizational business manager) or a project manager.
You can ABSOLUTELY start a business using skills in your everyday job, even if your job doesn’t directly translate to a service. So many of us have the skills to do the highest paying one-to-one client jobs that there are right now.
Let's talk about how I started out…
I offered web design services in the beginning of my business, and I taught myself web design from a Web Design for Dummies book. I wish I was joking, but I am not.
Basically, I had one web design class in college and I learned the basics of HTML. I decided I wanted to build my own site, and I taught myself Dreamweaver (back when that was a thing). I had an infant. It was a LOT of long nights and craziness.
Then, I got into the world of blogging. You couldn’t blog on a Dreamweaver site, so I taught myself to use WordPress.
Even after putting in ALL of this work to learn web design and do client work, I didn’t charge the going rate for web design until the end of that business. If I had been charging what my services were worth from the beginning, I could have hit that $10,000 per month mark much sooner. I would have needed two clients each month to do that.
The skills you have in corporate, like management, data entry, or using the computer could easily translate into working as a VA (virtual assistant) or an OBM (online business manager). You could be a project manager or a social media manager.
I would pick one of my skills and create a package that I know would help me hit my monthly income goal. Then, and only then, I would start building my audience so I could transition to passive income.
Now, build that audience!
Once you’ve got the financial security down, you can start building your audience so you can work toward passive income. There’s so much more you can do with a passive income business model in terms of income and expansion.
I’m not saying you can’t scale the one-on-one model. You can! You can turn it into an agency and hire employees. I would get the clients I need to make that money and then start building my audience.
How can I build an audience?
First, start an email list so you have somewhere to send your audience. (I recommend ConvertKit!) Then, I would pick ONE social media platform to go all-in on and gain followers there to then send to my email list. Next, I would start either YouTube-ing or blogging.
For me, it would be YouTube-ing because I know how to do that and I know that YouTube is really great for 1) audience building and 2) making money while you do it.
So – if I had to start over, I would run my client-based business to make the money and then be doing the things I need to do to transition into a more passive-income based, one-to-many model.
That might not be what you expected to hear from the passive income queen, but I promise it’s the way to get to where you want to go!
