So, you have reached a point in your life where you now understand the critical nature of creating a secondary income stream (if you are reading my work, I assume you have figured this out). First, it never hurts to pad your savings account or to use it to pay off debt. We have never been at a better time to get rid of your debt, so seriously consider this. Or maybe you want some surplus cash sitting around to pick up real estate and other commodities on a fire sale when they eventually dump.

Whatever your reasons, there are no bad ones for creating an additional income stream. I have to be totally honest: I am biased because I write for a living. But if you are moderately good with the written word, there is no easier or faster skill to leverage for additional (and then primary) income than writing. It is by far the fastest, has the widest reach, the most demand, and drives the best pay.

Different types of copywriting

The generic terminology for sales writing is copywriting or just copy. This term is thrown around so much that it gets kind of hard to follow. I never considered myself a copywriter because all I’ve ever written are blog posts. But I’ve had enough clients refer to me as a copywriter that it finally dawned on me that is what I am.

Most people think of copywriting in terms of direct response:

• Emails

• Physical mail

• Etc

These are certainly the more prominent types, and email is probably the most easily established. It is certainly one of the most common. A lot of people are genuinely surprised that writing articles/blog posts is still such big money, which may be why I have so little competition. Trust me: companies still rely heavily on blog posts to drive traffic and improve their status on search results.

How it all came together

Now for the honest truth: I didn’t choose blog writing: it more or less found me. See, my work started out on Upwork, and I was clueless and totally reactive. Thankfully, there was so little competition on Upwork in my niches (firearms & aviation) that it was relatively easy to get to the top of both search terms.

So when people ask me how I did this (which they do), I hesitate to explain how much luck really played into it. I am not superstitious so I don’t have any better word to describe it. But a lot of it was just getting lucky and being in the right place at the right time, at least early on. Now, that does not consider my growth once I figured out what I was doing.

Initially, it was just a hobby, and I was terrified to ask for anything. Now, I set the bar dang high. If the potential client is a real player, they will negotiate, or maybe not even negotiate. If they aren’t, they’ll walk. And I’m great with that, as should you.

Singular focus

Looping back around to the original hypothesis, let’s talk focus.

One of my main problems early on was divided focus. I could never understand how to earn more for what I was already doing, so I decided I needed to learn other things. Maybe learn Excel or something else and focus on 4, 5, or maybe 6 niches.

Terrible idea.

First off, I hate Excel. I don’t want to be a web developer, either.

Don’t do this. By this, I mean don’t lose focus on your one main goal, your main service. You absolutely SHOULD start stacking skills ONCE you are established in your discipline. For instance, I have been learning WordPress on LinkedIn Learning because so many of my clients use WordPress websites, and often I end up posting them myself. This is skill-stacking, which is learning supplementary and complementary skills to your primary service.

But don’t even think about skill-stacking when you are just starting out in your service.

The ONLY thing you need to focus on is what you are building. If it’s ghostwriting on Twitter, then ONLY focus on that. If it’s blogs like I write, then only focus on writing the best dang blog posts on the internet. You get the drift.

And here’s the thing: it all comes together differently for some than others. For me, my unique set of skills (how many people do you know that have managed an airport?) positioned me into a totally unique position. Hardly anyone has my background, so I have been able to get into positions that no one else could.

Here’s the thing: if you have a super unique background like me, it can be a real double-edged sword. On the one hand, you can land things that very few can. On the other hand, when those dry up, you can get left high and dry.

I can’t tell you what will or will not work for you. What has worked for me probably wouldn’t work for 99% of the population. But I know that hard work, perseverance, and humility make up for that. If you keep hammering at that wall, you will break through, regardless of your goals or background.

Once you have settled on a focus, no matter what it is, focus all of your energy into that one thing. Craft that one offer, find that one niche of clients, find their contacts through something like hunter.io and then start pitching.

Don’t overcomplicate things, but don’t be afraid to pivot if things just aren’t working.

If you are ready to level up, Upwork is still the easiest place to start on your solopreneur journey. I highly recommend it because of payment security, arbitration services, etc. Don’t knock it just because internet gurus say it sucks. If it weren’t for Upwork, I wouldn't be writing this right now. Check it out:

As always, keep hustling. The only person holding you back is you.