All right, I’m going to take a slight detour from talking about freelance writing tips today. I want to talk about another topic that is very near and dear to my heart -- earning more money.

My biggest goal with this blog and my upcoming course is to teach other women how to be self-supporting and make lots of money. I want to teach you that no matter what your background is, you can find a career you love and make as much money as you want.

I’m really passionate about this topic because it was something I struggled with for so many years. Like many people, I really bought into the narrative that you have to go to college to be successful.

And that was a problem for me because I really didn’t want to go to college.

My rocky history with college

I like to say I took the “scenic route” through college. I would attend for a semester or two, then drop out for a semester or two.

Then I would half-heartedly start going again for another semester, and so on and so on. I did this for SIX YEARS and never graduated. (Insert facepalm emoji.)

I met my husband when I was 23, and shortly after we had our daughter. I loved my husband and I loved being a mom. But I have to be honest, I was also really relieved because I felt like I finally had an excuse not to go to college!

But this lingering anxiety followed me into my motherhood because I knew that eventually, my kids would go to school and I would have to go back to work.

Then in 2014, my husband was out of work for a year. We had a lot of savings so things never got too bad for us financially, but it was very unsettling for me emotionally.

I knew I had put myself in a position where I was unable to help provide for our family. And I have to be honest, I spent a lot of time wallowing in self-pity over that fact.

Then thankfully, I really had this realization that I absolutely had to figure out how to be self-supporting and not have to rely on my husband for money.

And so I decided that I was going to figure out how to earn $100,000 a year. Somehow, I knew that if I met that goal, I would be proving to myself that I could take care of our family.

5 steps to earning more money

After four years and more failures than I can count, I finally got there. In 2019, I got to six-figures in my freelance writing business.

It’s hard to quantify that kind of goal with a checklist. But if your goal is to make more money in 2020 then here are five steps I believe will help you get there.

1. Figure out how much money you want to earn

This is an important first step, and I want to make one distinction. I want you to figure out how much money you WANT to earn, not how much money you think you can earn.

As an example, let’s say that the most money you’ve ever earned is $2,000 a month. But you really want to earn $100,000 a year, or $8,333 per month.

Then your goal should be $8,333 per month, not $2,000 per month.

When you set this type of goal, your brain is really going to fight you on it because part of you will think it’s not possible. But if you have the desire, then that means it’s entirely possible.

Look, four years ago, I was working at Starbucks for $8 an hour. A lot of people would say that it was impossible for me to earn six-figures as a freelance writer.

I had no samples. I had never graduated from college. The first writing job I was ever hired for paid me $40. How does that work out to $100,000 per year?

But I’m telling you, the belief HAS to come first. You have to believe it’s possible because once you believe it’s possible, you’ll be willing to put in the work to make it happen.

2. Get around people who think differently about money

If you really want to change your results with money, you have to start spending time with different people. Guys, we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with.

So if all your friends are broke, and they’re constantly complaining about money, it’s just going to be very hard for you to do anything different in your life. Unconsciously, you will take on the limiting beliefs of other people.

And look, I’m not telling you that you can’t continue to love those people. You can absolutely can. But you need to find people who have the results with money that you want, and notice how they think about money.

Because if you earn $5,000 a month, and someone else earns $30,000 a month, then I promise you that person has very different thoughts about money.

When I first got started on my self-employment journey, this point always frustrated me because I didn’t personally know anyone who had the results I wanted. So for the past three years, I’ve paid for my friends.

I paid money to get into a Facebook group and network with freelancers who earned between $30,000 and $40,000 per month.

I paid money to attend conferences and sit down with editors from Forbes and Credit Karma.

I paid money for courses and coaching programs from people who were massively more successful than me.

Now, you may be thinking, “Well, I don’t have any money. I can’t afford to pay for these types of programs and networking opportunities.”

And I get that. Nobody feels like they have the money for things like that. It feels frivolous and irresponsible, especially if money is tight and you have any kind of debt.

However, I would also add that you can really start small with this. If investing in a course or coaching program feels out of reach for you, then why not find a podcast that really inspires you?

My favorite podcasts are the Design Your Dream Life Podcast with Natalie Bacon and the Life Coach School with Brooke Castillo. Both of those podcasts have had a major impact on how I think, and they’re 100% free.

3. Put all your efforts in one area

Okay, by now you know how much you want to earn and you’re getting inspired by other people. Next, I want you to decide what is the ONE area you’re going to put all your efforts into for at least a year.

One of the biggest mistakes I see many people making is that they fragment their efforts. They try a BUNCH of different side hustles instead of really committing to one thing.

So what they end up with is very mediocre results in a bunch of different areas. I don’t care what you choose to focus on, but I want you to pick one thing and go all-in on it.

In 2015, I joined an MLM and I really stuck with it for a year. I mean, I did all the things.

I posted on Facebook six times a day, I messaged people about the business opportunity, and I definitely annoyed my friends and family. (Sorry, not sorry.) I bought and used the products and I traveled to attend live events.

I went all-in for a full year.

And after a year, I knew I didn’t want to continue with my network marketing company. But because I had stuck with it all year, I felt good about leaving. I wasn’t just giving up because things were hard, I just knew I wanted to go in a different direction.

Once I decided I wanted to do something else, I found freelance writing. And the amazing thing is that being part of that network marketing company really set me up for success in my freelance writing business.

That year I spent in an MLM wasn’t a waste at all. It was the perfect setup for what I was meant to do next.

Next, I focused solely on freelance writing for more than three years. I didn’t try to do anything else. Once I hit six-figures, I knew it was time for me to expand into blogging and selling digital products.

4. Expect things to go wrong

Okay, I know this won’t be the most encouraging point for many people but it’s important to talk about. Whenever you set a big goal for yourself you should absolutely expect that something won’t work out.

In fact, things may even get worse in the short-term. You may start having more money problems, and you’ll feel like you’re actually going backward.

This is totally normal and definitely not a sign that you should give up. And I would argue that it’s actually a necessary part of the process. Here’s a little example to explain what I mean by that.

Last summer, my husband and I wanted to have the inside of our home painted. And because we are not DIY people in the least, we hired professional painters to do the job for us.

A crew of about six guys came to our house and painted the inside for us. And let me tell you, our house looked like crap for most of the week.

All of our furniture was moved around and disorganized. They had to caulk all the holes in the walls. There was tape on the walls and different shades of paint. And there was more dust in the air than usual from moving around the furniture.

But at no point were my husband or I tempted to panic and call the whole project off. We knew it was just part of the process.

Sometimes things have to get worse before they can get better. We understand this when it comes to things like home improvement projects, but it’s less clear when it comes to our personal goals.

5. Re-evaluate and make changes

In general, I’ve noticed that there are two different types of people when it comes to goal setting. Many people will just give up at the first sign of a setback.

But then there’s another type of person. This individual doesn’t quit, but they don’t ever make any changes either. They know things aren’t working but they keep taking the same actions over and over again, all the while expecting different results.

In my opinion, this is almost as big of a mistake as quitting too soon. You feel like you’re accomplishing something because you’re taking action, but you never stop and think about whether you’re taking the right action.

A huge part of being successful is trying something new, receiving feedback, and then changing your actions based on what you learn. I have had to do this over and over again in my freelance writing business.

What helped me earn $1,000 per month in my freelance writing business isn’t what got me to $5,000 per month. And what got me to $5,000 isn’t what got me to $10,000 and beyond. I had to re-evaluate at every step of the way.

Bottom line

If you’re at a point in your life where you want to earn more money, I hope you understand that it’s possible for you. You don’t have to keep recreating the same crappy circumstances that you don’t like.

Figure out what you want, find some new friends, go all in, expect problems, and constantly re-evaluate your actions. If you take these five steps, then I promise you can create a completely different financial future for yourself.

As always, I love hearing your feedback on my blog posts. So send me an email at jamiejokcmo@gmail.com and let me know what you want to hear about!