Earning Money Freelancing: Why The "Easy Way" Costs You

Jerrin Finney is the owner and author of blogs on The 1099 Life. Remember to always do your research and gather all the information necessary to make the best decision for yourself possible. 

DISCLAIMER! No part of this website or any blogs written here is career advice and it should not be taken as such. These blogs are written from the experience of me, Jerrin Finney, and only express my opinions and thoughts - which could and more than likely will in some cases - change. I'm learning and evolving as time passes and so will my thoughts and opinions. So nothing here is set in stone, nor is it professional and/or legal career advice of any kind. Take what you read with a grain of salt and do your own research to find the best solutions for your career/business goals. I don't claim to be correct in everything I do, either. Some things may be wrong and if you want to have a discussion or call me out on something, reach out to me on social media. Please make sound and reasonable financial decisions and please have discussions with qualified professionals if it makes sense to do so. With that out of the way, enjoy reading! Glad to have you here!

Passive Income? No One's Paying You To Be Lazy!

As I've been learning more about "passive" income and how to build a business, I've noticed something disturbing. People on the internet are selling people on a dream, not reality. What am I talking about? I'm talking about the people who get on the internet and say that passive income is lazy income.

There are people with blogs, YouTube videos, social media posts, TikToks, and so on that suggest there's an easy way for you to earn money. If it were so easy to earn money, don't you think you would've found that way on your own? If it were even a fraction as easy as some of these people try to make it out to be, then you could get rich by accident. But you're not rich, are you? And it is hard to earn money. For most people, it is. For me, I know it is.

If you're coming into freelancing or self-employment to earn an easy paycheck, I'm afraid you've come to the wrong place. Freelancing or self-employment isn't about having an easy time. It's about finding other people's problems and resolving those problems with a solution those people are willing to pay for. You are actively looking for a challenge that people are having a hard time fixing themselves. That means you have to have some talent and skill to get paid to resolve some people's problems.

Things do get easier with time. But learning a skill never starts out easy. If you lack skills that people are willing to pay for, you have to build those skills and ensure they can resolve someone else's problems. That's very active, wouldn't you say? But you're saying, "What about throwing money in the stock market?" Okay. Do it if you think it makes financial sense to you. But seven to ten dollars isn't going to get you to that wealthy lifestyle you want. Sure, it's a start. But is it a start that moves the needle? You're not going to live forever. Do you have two hundred years to wait for your seven dollars to grow into millions?

But what if you invest seven dollars every week? Okay. Now, it takes one hundred and fifty years to have the wealth you want. Okay, I'm embellishing things a lot here. My point is that a little bit in the stock market won't transform into billions in three to four years. Look at Warren Buffet's story. Look at how old he was when he became a billionaire. And look at how much work he had to do to research and invest that money in businesses likely to get him money. He wasn't very "passive" in his investing. He was very active in his investment research and decisions. So why do you think you can sit back, relax and chill with seven dollars to your name and make millions?

If we're being honest, I want you to be lazy. I want all freelancers out there to be lazy. That's less competition for me. I always look better against lazy people. Not only that, but the lazier the competition is, the lazier I could be - specifically in attempting to win clients' attention. There's a lot of fierce competition out there. Thinning out that competition benefits me.

Then again, I want competition. I wouldn't be motivated to grow and find creative ways to improve myself. So, this post continues in hopes that a light I little fire in some of you with an entrepreneurial/freelancer's spirit! Anyway,  being lazy won't get you the money you think you'll get by following the superficial fluff from impressive-looking people on the internet. There is no way to get a steady income by being lazy.

Lazy and Easy Aren't The Same Thing

Let's get one thing clear, though. Yes, we should make things easier for ourselves. For example, we have a much easier time today than we would have hundreds of years ago before our modern technology was invented. We can travel all around the globe and get in touch with anyone worldwide with a few swipes on our phones, and central air conditioning and heat are a thing. I know that many people worldwide don't have access to central air conditioning or heat. But hundreds of years ago? It wasn't even a thing. No one could have it, no matter how wealthy they are.

And as our lives have become easier, our living standards have risen thanks to today's technologies. I am poor by today's standards. However, I have more advantages and comforts than even the richest of the rich from five hundred years ago. But I do struggle in modern times, even though my life is way easier than even the most privileged people of five hundred years ago.

So things can become easier for us. We should accept new concepts, technologies, and so on that improve our lives. But can I sit around and do nothing just because instant oatmeal, hot water, and cars exist? No! I can't! If I do, I won't have a very happy life. I'm not hating on anyone because they have followers, money, rented Lambos, or rented mansions. Do you want those things? Great! Go for it if it makes you happy. None of that stuff makes me happy. I hate attention. I don't care about money - just the experiences I can get out of my life. And what do I need with a huge ten-bedroom, ten-bathroom mansion? I don't need it. At all. And I'm good with a Toyota. I've worked on building luxury cars (BMWs) and seen what they're made of. It's only a status symbol meant to get people's attention, which I don't necessarily want. And I've owned a Mercedes.

But I realize I can't be completely closed off from the world. I have to put myself out there and display my skills to make money and have the life I want. Anyway, let's stay on the subject. I'm not jealous of anyone because I have the skills and abilities to get the Lambo, a rented mansion, followers, and money. I can tell people exactly what they want to hear and what they want to believe is true so they will give me their money for a superficial online course.

All online courses aren't bad. There's just way too low of a barrier to entrance when it comes to building an online course. Finding quality ones that benefit your needs takes a lot of research and time. But you're desperate. You fall for the emotional manipulation because few people wouldn't. Even as someone who says he doesn't like being around people, I would be lying if I said I didn't care about what people said or didn't say about me. It's almost like it's "programmed" in me to be concerned about how socially accepted or rejected I am, regardless of if I want to care about that or not. So, there's a chance I could become susceptible to someone's sales pitch on a scammy course. Some of those people who sell courses are great salespeople. They know how to pull at people's pain points.

But an online course promising you that you can easily make $100,000 a month by completing a step-by-step guide? Get out of here! That's just not happening. The only one who can get rich from that kind of course is the one selling it for $2000 dollars. Why? Because that course creator is the only one with a guarantee of getting money when you enter your credit card/debit card information on the checkout screen. And that's my biggest problem with online courses. The only one with a guarantee of getting money is the one who took your credit/debit card information. Or your Paypal, checking, or whatever method you used to pay.

Earning money may be difficult,  but let me give you some advice. It's not financial advice, but a good rule of thumb.

If you aren't the one being paid, you're not making money. If you pay to get information, the only one who made a profit was the one you paid. I don't know if that makes sense to you, but it helped me make better choices about where to spend my money.

What It Boils Down To

From my personal observation - as I sift through the internet and find tons and tons of information - it boils down to people looking for the easiest route to take care of their own needs. That's all good, but in business? That's bad. Business is all about making connections with other people. It's about understanding the needs of clients/customers, employees and other people. When you have a business - and you have a business when you're a freelancer - what matters the most are the problems you can solve that people are willing to pay you to resolve. It doesn't have to be world-changing. Nobody's asking you to fix global warming - though it would be appreciated if you could fix it?

If you spend time thinking about what you want and how to get money while you want to be a freelancer or business owner - which heavily involves dealing with other people and resolving their needs in order to get paid - I don't know why you're here. Why are you attempting to be a freelancer or business owner when you don't understand a vital component of freelancing or business? That vital component is resolving someone else's problems so well that they'll pay you for a solution.

When people know they can trust you to resolve their problems, they'll keep coming back to you. They'll even bring you other people who need your services. But you have to put yourself aside if you want to make money. I know it sounds counterintuitive - and maybe it is - but it's what you have to do to be successful as a freelancer and a business owner.

Maybe a better way to phrase it is like this:

If you are a freelancer or business owner and you care about yourself, you'll focus on resolving someone else's problems to the best of your abilities. The better you can resolve other people's problems, the more likely you are to earn more money. So stop trying to make things easy for you. Make things easier for your clients and/or customers. They're important because they have the money you want to access the life you'd like to have. Look at that! I'm giving you that information for free - and you can use it to give yourself a chance to make money!

Jerrin Finney is the owner and author of blogs on The 1099 Life. Remember to always do your research and gather all the information necessary to make the best decision for yourself possible.