Is This Salary For Writers Possible? 5 Years to $20k/Month
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For most freelance writers who are starting out, the thought of earning $20,000 per month is unimaginable.
(Unless they took one of those "earn $10k/month in less than 12 months!" courses, lol)
In today's edition, I'll reveal:
☝️ What I earn in an average month (compared with when I started in April 2020)
🕓 The sacrifices I'm willing to make now to keep growing
📈 My $20k/month plan — and whether this salary for writers is realistic
😕 Why most writers never get to $5k - let alone $20k
☝️ What I Earn in an Average Month (Compared With When I Started 2.5 Years Ago)
I started with 0 clients in April 2020.
My first freelance writing gig involved writing for a psychologist I used to work with in my previous career.
Close to 2.5 years on from that first gig, my current income averages around $7,500/month.
85% of this comes from freelancing, contracting, and consulting for companies in the health sector.
Depending on who you ask, some will say it's an awesome achievement to grow to this level of income within the first three years. Others will think it's on the slower side.
My view is somewhere in the middle.
I'm happy I've made it this far. I'm proud I stayed on the path during the challenging moments of self-doubt and insecurity (believe me, there are plenty!)
Yet, while this is the most money I've ever consistently earned from month to month, I feel a long way away from writers with huge audiences and eye-watering high hourly rates...
I know of writers making $100k+ a year. $250k+ a year. $500k+ a year.
I'm small-time compared with them. So, what am I going to do about it?
🕓 The Sacrifices I'm Willing to Make Now to Keep Growing
In truth, I'm skipping ahead. $10k+ months are my next target to achieve and achieve with consistency. You'll see some freelancers announce "let's go, $10k month!" only to earn $2k the next.
That's not my game.
I believe I can get there by year three. But this s**t ain't easy. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise. So, what sacrifices am I making now that I hope will pay off later?
For a start, I don't work 20 or 30-hour weeks, taking it easy as a freelancer on the beach with a cocktail in hand. My hours are the same as when I worked a 9-5 office job...
I used to work 37.5 hours per week as a psychological therapist. Travel time was 2.5 hours a day - 1.25 hours each way on the tube into central London. Including the commute, this was a 50-hour work week. I work pretty much the same hours now.
Here's a recent weekly report from Toggl:
(FYI, Toggl is how I track my work time)
Warning: mental math incoming ➗➕
If we say there are four weeks in a month, then I earn an average of $1,850 per week ($7,500 divided by four.) Divide $1,850 by 50 hours of work per week and that's an hourly rate of $37.50.
Nothing to write home about. But of those 50 hours, I spend an average of:
6.25 hours engaging with my community on LinkedIn and Twitter
3 hours writing content - my newsletter, LinkedIn posts, and tweets
2.5 hours on outreach
1.5 hours on business admin
1.5 hours learning - I read other creators' newsletters and blogs, for example
That's 14.75 hours on tasks that don't earn me direct income.
I could dedicate all of those hours to freelance writing and get to $10k/month next month. But that's not my top priority.
The consistent posting on LinkedIn and Twitter, this newsletter...
It's all with a view to building an audience by (hopefully!) helping people.
An audience is a pivotal asset to increasing your income over time. It's what all of the $200k+ and $500k+ creators I referenced earlier have spent the last years doing.
When you build an audience, you can:
Sell courses
Provide coaching
Do affiliate marketing
Offer community access
And so forth. The opportunities to grow your income multiply and compound.
To me, earning $20k per month through a variety of channels, such as:
💰 $13k through freelancing/contracting
💰 $2.5k through coaching fellow writers
💰 $1.5k through affiliate marketing
💰 $3k through selling courses
Sounds safer and more fun than $20k/month through freelancing alone.
📈 How I Plan to Get Closer to The $20k/Month Threshold
Back to the present day. Subtracting the hours spent on tasks that don't earn me direct income now, my new hourly rate is $53.
Better than $37. But I'm ambitious, which leads me to...
As I'm fortunate to now be in a position of more financial security - and I've built a good amount of experience working with larger companies - I'm savvier about pricing. More choosey with the projects I decide to take on.
I can accept feeling exhausted on a Sunday and needing to let my body rest most of the day. It's not ideal. But one day of exhaustion is a sacrifice I'm willing to make at this stage. I don't want to feel exhausted every day though. Nobody does.
With this in mind, I continue to raise my rates every 3-6 months.
It's the most logical way to earn more income while working the same amount of hours.
The new minimum rate I've set for myself is $100/hour. It's worked out well so far. I use a spreadsheet template to calculate what my hourly rate will be for a potential project, according to the time I estimate it will take from past experience.
This calculation makes the decision for me.
Less than $100/hour?
I negotiate up or turn down the opportunity.
More than $100/hour?
It passes the first test. The next questions I ask myself are:
✅ Do I have enough availability in my schedule?
✅ Do I like the potential client? Are they respectful?
✅ Will this further my career in some way?
The last projects I've taken on have all earned me over $100 per hour: a landing page, an email sequence, a hero blog post, and coaching services.
It's been verified that people are willing to pay me that amount. So, I know this is my new baseline rate.
And the best thing?
I know that I'm worthy of this rate.
This wasn't the case six months ago.
A big, big mindset breakthrough.
😕 Why Most Writers Never Get to $5k - Let Alone $20k
Honestly, this could be an entire newsletter in itself.
The average salary for writers (or the freelance equivalent of a salary) is quite low.
So, let me summarize six of the main reasons why most writers never reach the income amount they desire:
1️⃣ They spend WAY too little time on direct, outbound lead generation in the first 1-2 years
2️⃣ They spend WAY too little time focusing on growing an audience and inbound lead generation in years 3+
3️⃣ They can't accept their writing will be pretty crap and that they won't get paid much in the first six months
4️⃣ They raise their rates every few years rather than every few months
5️⃣ They let one prospect telling them "you're too expensive" make them doubt themselves
6️⃣ They take these "12 months to $10k/month!" writing courses, get disheartened when they're not at that amount by then, presume they're a failure, and give up
Growth is never guaranteed. But if you can avoid the six mistakes above, you give yourself a fantastic chance of continuing to scale your income.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope this honest edition gave you context of where I'm at in my career and what I plan to do next.
I'd love to know how you're getting on too. Drop me a line on LinkedIn if you feel like it.
Declan Davey — Health and Wellness Copywriter
P.S. Want to see the sales call format that has worked wonders for me to sell my writing services?
Check it out here.
P.S. Here are a few options you may be interested in...
1. Get my LinkedIn growth course.
2. Grab my free copywriting course.
3. See new content on LinkedIn by tapping the notification bell on my profile. I post at 12.20 pm UK time, Monday to Thursday.
