Learn to sell, learn to build. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable - Naval Ravikant
A few weeks ago, I held a session with my WhatsApp community, explaining how to monetize their digital skills, especially in the foreign market. At the time, I didn’t know just how powerful these tips were, but the feedback from that session stunned me.
Within days, I began to get text messages from freelancers who tried what I shared and got positive results. For many people, it was their first-ever job in the digital space; for others, they got higher paying gigs, and for many others, it was just the push they needed to start or remain consistent. Now, based on popular demand, I’m uploading all I shared in that session right here, so you can always access it.
It is my sincere hope that it gives you clarity along your journey, but most of all, it helps you get adequately rewarded for the skills you have.
Without further ado - here is the session
Any digital skill can net you between $500 and $5000 every month.
This is a reality that many other digital natives and I live in every day, yet, many others can’t seem to make even a quarter of that.
Today, I’ll show you what many people get wrong and how to avoid these errors and start making decent money from your digital skills.
For this session, I’m assuming:
You have a digital skill to monetize, such as copywriting, UI/UX design, media buying, etc. If you want to start learning a digital skill, I have a class coming up for that.
You are willing to put in the work. If you’re looking for a magic wand or shortcut that will give you plenty of dollars overnight, I’m very proud to tell you that you won’t get one.
There’s nothing special about digital skills in themselves. It’s simple demand and supply. Traditional skills you learn in school don’t pay much because the supply is far more than the demand. How many engineers, teachers, lawyers, etc., graduate every year? For digital skills, though, the demand is so much greater than supply, which is why it’s so lucrative. Secondly, the internet breaks traditional boundaries; you can offer services to anyone, anywhere, unlike traditional skills where you were restricted to the opportunities in your immediate locations. These two features make digital skills extremely lucrative.
Now, to start earning from digital skills, you need three major things.
EXPERTISE
POSITIONING
LEVERAGE.
I’ll explain each of these 3 pillars in detail, so follow closely.
Expertise
Let’s start with Expertise. It’s a measure of how good you are at what you do. See, nobody will pay you the kind of money you’re looking for unless you’re highly skilled. And this level of skill comes from practice and experience, not from taking courses.
Prioritize volume over pay
When starting, look for positions that provide you opportunities to practice extensively. As a copywriter, look for a role that requires you to write copy every day, even if it doesn’t pay that well—the same thing with design, or software development, or any skill.
When starting as a freelance writer in 2018, I deliberately kept my rates low so that I could get lots of jobs. I was charging ₦1 or ₦1.5 per word when writers with less than a quarter of my skill were charging ₦3 or ₦4 per word. Consequently, I wrote between 1000 words to 3000 words daily, and I did this for almost two years. This means I wrote more in those two years than many writers will write in their lifetime. My mentor, Ajulu, got his first design job of #300k by creating one UI design daily for 100 days. Again, prioritize volume over pay.
Take on daunting projects.
To gain expertise faster, take on projects bigger than you. Staying in your comfort zone will kill your earning potential. The only way you’ll grow, and increase your earning potential, is to keep expanding your limits. It’s scary but do it anyway. You’ll learn faster and earn bigger that way.
Learn the business of your skill
Finally, you have to learn the business of your skill. Learn how to price yourself, package your deliverables, and so on. For example, if you are a designer, you should be listening to Chris Do. You’ll learn how to build a business around your skill.
For many reading this, even when high net worth clients come, you’ll unconsciously repel them with low pricing and unprofessional packaging. Good clients know that quality is costly but are willing to pay for that expertise. This leads us to the next pillar of the earning equation.
Positioning
This has to do with being at the right place, at the right time, to get noticed. As you build expertise, you have to position yourself properly. Find where quality clients are, and accurately position yourself there. To do this, you need to do two things:
Increase your visibility. Give your clients more chances to find you.Open a LinkedIn profile and optimize it. Optimize your Twitter as well. If you’re a designer, get on Behance or dribble and showcase your best designs. For developers, GitHub and other similar platforms should be your best friends.
Build in public You see that thing that your parents told you about hiding what you’re doing so that they don’t spoil it? It does not apply here! Be vocal about what you’re doing and what you’re working on. Share insightful thoughts about your skill and industry on social media.
And yes, take time to go through your social media and remove everyone that’s not connected to the skill you’re building. Then follow thought leaders in your space and begin to drop insightful comments on their posts. Create and share useful, thought-provoking content with your network.
Share how you created your last deliverable. Ask questions. Let your growth be evident to everyone.
Leverage
Finally, you need Leverage. Leverage is a force multiplier; it allows you generate better results from little input. The primary way you can create leverage is with content. Ajulu calls it cloning yourself with content. Find a platform and consistently create content about your industry on it.
If you can write, start a medium publication or substack newsletter. If you like talking, start a podcast. If you prefer videos, start a YouTube channel. But writing is the easiest to start with. Also, build leverage with free and paid tools. Pay for classes and tools that improve your efficiency.
The only way you can create leverageable content is to consume better content. Identify thought leaders in your niche and listen to them voraciously.
So, in conclusion,
✅ Build expertise by prioritizing volume, tackling harder projects, and learning the business of your skill.
✅ Position yourself by increasing your visibility and building in public.
✅ Leverage yourself by putting out thought leadership content.
For more content like this, follow me on LinkedIn
Also, I wrote a really insightful piece on how to gain leverage here
Finally, share this with that friend of yours that wants to earn in dollars in 2022.