How to Make Over 6 Figures on Upwork as a Freelancer

Morgan Overholt 0:00
They say I think, 'I'll be a great Freelancer for you. I feel I can get the job done on time. I believe I can deliver a quality product.' Don't say any of that. I know I can deliver a quality product. I will get the job done on time there is no I think there is no I feel to be confident enough to say like, you know what, you're welcome that I applied for this job. Just having that confidence and not me coughing here's gonna be an absolute game-changer as well.

Chris Misterek 0:31
What's up everybody and welcome to another episode of the self-made web designer podcast. So glad that you're here with me this week and sincerely hoping that you all are staying safe, you're staying bunkered down and you're staying sane wherever you are. I know that this is a tough time. You're probably a little on edge from being around your family. 24 seven, and listen, don't get me wrong. I love my family. They're wonderful. They're fantastic. But you can only listen to Frozen II playing in the background so many times before you go nuts. Hopefully, this podcast is a break in your week. Hopefully, this is a light point in your journey and it encourages you in this really weird season of the world that we have to go on right now. This week, we have an amazing freelancer with us giving some awesome insight to you on your journey as a web designer, and guess where she's doing it from? She's mainly getting projects from Upwork. And you're like, Chris, how could that be? Upwork is a race to the bottom. There are no good projects there. Everybody's underbidding everybody and it's a waste pool for freelancers. And I'd like to propose that you are very wrong. Just this last week, Morgan crossed the $300,000 mark from projects she has gotten on Upwork. You better buckle up and you better get ready. Grab a cup of coffee, get your hair brushed, sit back, and let's give it up for Miss Morgan Overholt. Well, hey everybody today we have Morgan Overholt of Morgan media LLC. Morgan is an incredible graphic design Freelancer has who has been doing amazing things. Last year alone, she earned $200,000 off of Upwork, which is just fantastic. She has an incredible background, and I'm excited for you to hear her story. Morgan, thank you so much for being on the show with us today.

Morgan Overholt 2:41
Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Chris Misterek 2:44
I was wondering if you could just tell us a little bit about your background. Tell us your story, how you got to where you are today.

Morgan Overholt 2:49
All right. So basically guys, I've always been a bit of a nerd at heart. I'm a proud card-carrying geek will say when I was a teenager I was the kind of kid that would sit at home, like on the weekends in the summer, you know, on her computer working on her Harry Potter fan page website. I'm doing all these super early, early things that would have seemed probably geeky or, or even to my parents. Probably if you asked their opinion, a waste of time back then really I was silently honing the skills that would eventually pay the bills one day so it's pretty incredible. And that's kind of the origin story if you will, I eventually went on to go to college, I did receive some professional training in graphic design. After that, I would enter into the corporate realm where I work as a graphic designer for nearly two years. I was feeling rather unfulfilled I tried to make several different career changes you know, blaming this blaming that when people are holding me back blaming the glass ceiling for not getting to where I wanted to be blaming graphic design, blaming, you know, the categories, all these different things. When one day I finally just snapped and thought, Okay, why am I not being called here? And it's because I wasn't able to call the shots. After all, I was able to have that control. And I started to consider a life of what if I was in control? What if I started my own company instead? And that's finally when I decided if I want to do that, I would have to explore the possibility of freelance full time.

Chris Misterek 4:17
Yeah, that is awesome. And I think, you know, something, something that you kind of realize when you start calling the shots is that there's still some difficulty to it, you know, it's still a grind. And sometimes it's even harder than going to work just at a company full time. But it's, it's worth it. If you have that in you to see like, hey, like, I'm doing this thing like this is my everything rises and falls on whether or not I can do this. So talk a little bit about that trade-off of like, being full time doing your own thing versus being a part of a company.

Morgan Overholt 4:53
Well, I always tell people to look freelance, it's not for everybody. Okay, that's the number one thing that I hear all the time and I just talk to my friends about, you know, freelancing or starting your own small business. And by the way, that is what I consider myself to be. I mean, I am a small business, essentially, at the end of the day, I think that sometimes the term freelance is almost overused, because Well sure, freelance is associated to gigs and more or less, that is what I do. 90% of my clients are long term clients, in fact, of the current clients that I have right now. I would say I've been working with probably 75% of them for more than a year now. So it's not quite as a gig and as temporary in the short term is, as I think that people often have in their heads. And but I digress. That's oftentimes something I hear from people they say, Oh, I could be a freelancer, oh, I couldn't do what you do. Because there is a certain amount of grit required to do this. I knew in the back of my in my head and my heart that this was something that I could do just because when I was an employee, I was that person who was staying at the office late, who was going home on the weekends to like to study to Be a better employee putting in the overtime, you know, wishing desperately that my bosses would take note of what I was doing going the extra mile just I was convinced if I just worked hard enough, I just showed enough passion if I, you know that someone would notice me that they would give me the opportunity that I needed. And yet every single time I did those sorts of things, I just wasn't seeing that return that I wanted. Meanwhile, I felt as though I would see other people come in because they were Bobby Sue or, or Billie Jean's cousin, you know, come in, in half the amount of work, get that promotion that I've been trying to score for the last, you know, three, four years, and I'm sitting over here like, wow, hello. So I knew I had that personality going into it. Honestly, I knew that I was an incredibly hard worker. I knew that success was insanely important to me, I knew that I was a risk-taker. And I think that if you're that kind of person, like if you're putting in those hours, I mean He was always about me, I'd come home to dinner and I would say, Oh, you know, this happened at the office be up late at night, and I would sit there and worry about it. 24 seven, I mean, it was playing, it was taking a toll on my mental health, like that was me. And so when you ask about the differences in as far as you know, what I was doing before, what versus what I am doing now, a lot of it to me, as far as the workload is concerned, is very similar. The difference now, though, is I see the immediate payoff for putting in all that hard work, versus before, I mean, almost net, nothing like no, duh,

Chris Misterek 7:35
you said something I think is interesting that you have, you know, the majority of your clients are people who have been with you for a long time. And to be honest, like, I think that's something in the freelancing world that is rare. And so can you talk a little bit about that, how you've kept clients, how you've kept people who are just super fans of Morgan media and everything that you're doing?

Morgan Overholt 7:58
I would like to see some statistics on that, and it might just be my field. But I don't think it's fair at all. I think that that's very much at least in graphic design, that's very much the name of the game is finding a set of clients who need that ongoing work. You know, I, in fact, I even actively seek out clients and small businesses who probably need that ongoing work in a part-time or even almost full-time capacity, but can't quite afford to have that on-staff graphic designer, 24 seven. I'm a full-time person, full-time freelancer. So I'm here Monday through Friday, you know, like 10 to six every single day, let's say, I have an office for a meeting or something like that. I'm reliable, I'm responsive. So I don't think it's all that unusual. And specifically, because I keep the hours and the way that I work and the way that I communicate the way that I am incredibly responsive. I think that I just fill that niche for a lot of small businesses and a lot of entrepreneurs and That's kind of why we have that, you know, ongoing bond. Additionally, that's where I generally think the money is out as well. Especially, I know we're going to get into this a little bit later. But freelancing marketplaces and freelancing websites, like Upwork, very much encouraged that model, because certain platforms have fees that you incur early on. But the longer that you go, those fees get less and less and less until they almost, you know, nonexistent. And so that can be a great way to reduce your fees reduce your overhead as time goes on as well.

Chris Misterek 9:30
Let's talk about Upwork a little bit because I know in general, it's looked at negatively, like, you know, the freelance talent pool. I hear it a lot as an objection like, it's a race to the bottom. You can't find any serious money there as a freelancer or small business. But you've had the opposite experience of that.

Morgan Overholt 9:50
Oh, my God, the complete opposite. So I was just talking about this with a friend the other day when I was at my wit's end at work, and let me tell you, the mindset that I was in Like people always ask me when you know when it's time to pull the plug. I was at the end of a nine-day in a row work week nine days straight, no sleep no days off and it was I just got off the double holiday shift it was the day after Easter and I work a double my boss called me into the office on a Monday morning and the Monday after my double holiday shift and she says to me, I think you should spend more time in the office. I feel like my eyes twitching you know. Oh my gosh, I just snapped.

So, of course, I did my research and I would have done anything and use any method of making money you know, to not have to go back that terrible situation again. And so I did my research like everybody else you know, how do you freelance on full time you know, googling it and all this stuff. And when Mike and I did have some friends and family that had used UpWork before and who were familiar with, in fact, my brother in law, had seen some success on Upwork. And so, but the problem was when I was looking up the information, I read all these horror stories, people online, they, they beware of up work, you know, this terrible thing happened to me. And it was almost so scary that I thought for a moment Well, maybe it's not worth taking that risk. You know, it was these stories are so petrified. And I thought, Oh gosh, well, what if it happens to me? And it's funny now because Looking back, I mean, as you said earlier, I've been an Upwork. Now for about two and a half years, almost three, and I've made a total of just over $264,000 and remit that they tell you as far as oh, it's a race to the bottom, you can't find work on that platform. I can individually debunk every single one of those things and tell you how, why that was not the case group. I'll tell you this much. When you go into something like that, if you listen to the haters you have in the back of your head, you know, I'm going to fail, you probably will. So step number one to be a successful freelancer, forget about the haters. Get rid of the negativity, get your mind in the game.

Chris Misterek 12:15
I think it comes down to a lot of people who, who tried and were unsuccessful in a short amount of time and just didn't keep going or, or figure out why they weren't finding good projects or figuring out like, okay, you had a crappy client, like, it happens to all of us, you know, so, pick yourself up, wipe yourself off, and keep going don't just, you know, spin some story about how it was the platform and not something that you did like not taking personal ownership of your mistakes versus like, hey, this, this platform just sucks. Don't use it, you know, right.

Morgan Overholt 12:50
Well, and honestly, that's another thing. You should always go into it, you know, into freelancing into using a platform like Upwork like it's a small business. So you can look at any small business, right? You could walk into the local, you know, CVS down the street or the local office, the store down the street. And I guarantee you they have a certain amount of loss every year because of theft. I guarantee you they have hateful clientele. They have you know, employee problems. No small business. Well, no business in general, small or large is a walk in the park 24. Seven, you're going to have obstacles, but the difference between a successful business owner and one who is not, it's a successful business owner, it looks at those obstacles and says, Okay, well, how can I overcome them? So A, B, and C happened to me, how can I prevent a BMC from happening is often How can you know, fix that adjust and then move on. You know, Upwork Upwork is no different than that issue. We two weeks on the platform to even get my first nibble. But I sat there and I apply for jobs every single day and I was convinced to convince myself I was gonna make it work. And I just did it and sure I had a couple of better experiences early on with a couple of clients that were less than ideal. Even still, today, I'm three and a half years, almost three years into it now. And every once in a while, I still get that client, I would say happens 1% of the time that just you know, or not really, or not clicking. So this does just business, it is just a business, you have to take the hits, you got to take the punches with the successes, and you've got to learn how to grow from the punches.

Chris Misterek 14:26
Yeah, and I love your mindset for looking at what you do not as well, I'm just a freelancer. But actually, I'm a small business. And so having that mentality, I think it is very helpful for growing and, and also sustainability, you know, when it comes to staying into what you're doing for as long as you have because I think, you know, I would love to see some stats on this too. But I imagine that there are a lot of people who get started in freelancing dabble in it a little bit and then give up after a few months. So, talk a little bit about your mindset because I think that'd be helpful for people to hear.

Morgan Overholt 15:02
Well, as I said, I was at my complete wit's end when I quit my last job. You know, I was working overnight. It's like I said, before I work, holidays, I remember the New Year's Eve before I quit. I had to get up for work the next morning at two o'clock in the morning, so I went to bed on New Year's Eve, I think at 5 pm Yeah, as my husband brought me like a little champagne flute with like a little half glass of champagne. We watch the fireworks and like Germany or something, I can't remember some other countries that I would feel like I was there. Um, so I was just I felt like I'd missed out on so much of my life because I had given my soul My heart and soul to the corporate culture and the companies I worked for that I would have done anything not to go back to that corporate world. I felt like I had pretty much exhausted and I tried, I tried everything. I mean, and the more I gave of myself, you know, the less return I was seeing, I was just, it was just taking toll my mental health. So when I went into all of that, yeah I, I told myself all right, look, you know, if I have to once again stay up late or work weekends or work crazy hours, it's not going to be that different than what I was doing before. This time, I will see the benefit of it. I'm in my heart and the back of my head that that was the eventual goal. And so I treat my clients, you know, like I, I would personally want to be treated if I were, you know, in their shoes, I made customer service I priority. I made communication and responsiveness a high priority. I didn't worry about things like incurring fees, I worried about things like growth, I worried about things like return on investment, ROI. I mean no small businesses without some sort of fee. I run into freelancers all the time who say oh, I can't do that because you know, this site charges a 2% fee or what have you all once again if you want to look at their retail model, you know, it costs money for them to stock their stores. What small business owner doesn't have some kind of fee or some you know something Something like that, that they have to have to pay to make a profit or have to invest in to make a profit, whether it's renting out an office or renting out a retail space or, or getting the product or, or what have you. And I think when you go into it with the business owner mindset, everything seems a little bit different going into it with the mindset of I'm going to make this work. Just how am I going to a week at work? You're way better off and that was very much my mindset early on. I mean, it's not without its freakout moments, don't get me wrong. I had plenty of moments where I'm like, I got it wrong. I think I, you know, it's difficult to wake up every morning and be like, you got it together. But for the most part, you just got to keep yourself in that mindset and concentrate on what you're building. And let's focus quite as much on the risk.

Chris Misterek 17:49
Well, you mentioned something about customer service. And I think it's it's the soft skills a lot of time that play into really making a wow moment for a client as a freelancer than it is even sometimes the hard skills, you know, and I think a lot of the freelancer community focuses on the hard skills of like, Okay, how good are you are at designing How good are you at coding? How good are you at web design? But, like, you know, I've had more positive feedback from people who I just, I've treated them well, the website that I built for them was okay, you know, it was fine. But it was because I was responsive. It's because I followed through with my word just being a good human in general.

Morgan Overholt 18:37
Yeah, exactly. And it's so funny that they do that. And I always wondered why, especially with web developers or programmers or graphic designers. I've kind of seen that as a reoccurring theme. Exactly like what you said. They focus on those technical skills, and not so much in the top skills, knowing how to talk to somebody, more importantly, even knowing how to how to sell yourself. Also, hold your ground in a way that's not disrespectful to your client. Right before we hopped on this call today, I was talking to a brand new client on Upwork I'd never worked with before. And he had never worked with a graphic designer, he had never worked on the platform ever. And so there's always a little bit of a curve there that you have to communicate with your client kind of how it works and what the expectations should be. Well, I told him, Look, my rate is $100 an hour, or 95 bucks an hour, but let's say 100 for easy math. And what he needed to be done is he just needs some like product photos for his website, which is quick and easy for me, I estimated each product photo just take about like five minutes worth of time. And the guy right, so look, you're gonna be looking at about, you know, six $7 per image essentially. And he said, Okay, well, I'll just go ahead and send you $25 now and then you let me know if any more money and I said, Oh, I'm sorry, you know, I work outwardly only on Upwork it's $95 an hour and the time it takes me you know, it may vary but that is the rate that I would like to earn. The method and the contract payment that I would like to go forward with. And he came back again, he said, Well, why don't I just send you the $25 an hour now. And if you need more money, I'll give you more money. And I just stood my ground. And I said, I completely understand if that doesn't work out for you, unfortunately, that is just my policy. No, so if you need to find another freelancer, there are no hard feelings and, and he said, No, it's fine, I'll just pay you hourly, the thing is, you have to stand your ground, you've got to be confident, you've got to explain, you know, the reasons that you're doing things a certain way. You know, for instance, I know with a project like that, like 25 bucks, I'll literally go through that in 25 minutes, pretty much and then I'll need you to know, more cash again, it doesn't make sense for doing you know, 100 product photos to do witness increments. So you just have to be clear to your client as to you know, your expectations. You know why you want to do things a certain way. And typically speaking, if they're a reasonable person, they will understand now every once in a while you reach you will encounter an unreasonable person, alright? And if that person pushes back too much or they're disrespectful, especially in the early communications, before you taking the offer, I just suggested that you cut bait and bail. That's a great red flag. You don't want to be in contact with that person anyway.

Chris Misterek 21:08
There comes a point where you have to be okay with hearing no, or with saying no. And I think a lot of freelancers, especially as they're first getting started, I struggle so much with that. So tell me a little bit about your mindset with when it comes to like, I've got my boundaries, I've got my limits, and I want to make sure that I'm communicating that to clients and I'm okay if one walks away because another one is gonna be right there. Right behind them.

Morgan Overholt 21:33
Well, I've also been told no a lot in my life.

And so I don't fear any of those things. It as much as I dog and criticize, you know, the corporate world. I will tell you, it prepared me for what I do today. I mean, Lord knows I have heard the word know so much in my life. I dealt with difficult clans I dealt with Pro cool coworkers, these things, I just don't fear them in the way that I probably would have, you know, 10 years ago or when I was just getting started, because it's exactly like what you said earlier, you know, as a freelancer and a small business owner. After all, you are calling the shots, you know, one missed client, it's not the end of the world, you have a line over here of additional clients who, you know, are excited to work with a professional and somebody that they can trust to get the job done on time and, and deliver a quality product. So, you know, just you don't need everybody to tell you yes. And honestly, it's not that different I would imagine from you know, using those dating websites, right, like, you don't have to marry every person you go on a date with I mean, there's, there's a whole getting to know you process and the longer that you spend that process, you know and develop that trust, typically speaking, the better the outcome is going to be, you don't need all yeses.

Chris Misterek 22:57
So so let's pivot a little bit and talk about upward I think a lot of people are going to be interested in, in your process for finding projects for bidding on projects, communicating with customers. So So give me an overview of what that looks like for you.

Morgan Overholt 23:12
Alright, so I have like a Jedi, fairy Jedi as a theory on how to win clients of work. So first of all, you have to learn how to sell yourself, period. If you don't know how to sell, get a book, listen to a podcast, what have you know how to ask for that call to action. Like for instance, I can ask you what time it is right now

Chris Misterek 23:35
is 1137 right now,

Morgan Overholt 23:37
and see that was the call to action. It's funny because if I want to know the time, and I just sat there and I thought, Man, I really wish somebody would tell me the time and I just hope that happens. I wish that client would hire me. I wish that client would contact me, but I don't physically ask for the client to contact me or to hire me or I don't physically or verbally ask. You know Somebody's telling me the time, guess what, guys, it's probably not gonna happen, those little tiny things, learning how to ask and be very specific for what you want your clients to do, it makes all the difference in the world. Every single proposal that I send out, I tell my client messaged me here on Upwork, contact me, we will speak we will talk about this. Those are the kinds of words that I use. And it's amazing because you change the verbiage to sound more like that, instead of if you want to work together. If you choose me versus contact me this afternoon. I can't wait to talk to you. The difference is wild. And so the very first thing I tell people to do is learn how to sell, learn how to write those proposals in that tone of voice. Second, this one's mostly for women, but I'm sure some men do that too. related to the proposal thing. A lot of women make half their sentences. They say, 'I think I'll be a great Freelancer for you. I feel I can get the job done. on time, I believe I can deliver a quality product.' Don't say any of that. I know I can deliver a quality product. I will get the job done on time. There is no I think there is no I feel I've seen some proposals because every once in a while I coach my friends on how to write you know a better proposal for up work. I swear to you I had a girl approached me one day and she sent me her proposal and she said, Well, this is what I send to my clients. You know, what do you think what's wrong with this? In just a probably 400 word proposal, she thanked them six times. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you for looking at my proposal is not a charity you know, to thank your clients that much you'll be confident enough to be like, you know what, you're welcome that I applied for this job, just having that confidence and not kneecapping. Here's the and this is going to be an absolute Game Changer as well. The third thing you've got to do and this is also incredibly important is you've got to be persistent. That way people who get on up work they Apply for a couple of jobs the first day, they don't hear anything and they're like, up work doesn't work. I give up. It took me two weeks of applying consistently. And I probably sent in, gosh, 567 proposals every single day, two weeks before I got my first nibble two weeks. And I find that that story is fairly consistent. I did a very unofficial poll on my Twitter before this call today and just kind of asked, you know, how long did it take you to get your first job on Upwork. And most people who responded that it took them two weeks or more to get their first job on Upwork. And so I think it is par for the course. anything worth having in life is worth working for. So you've just got to stick with it.

Chris Misterek 26:41
Yeah. And it was three months for me before I even got in. And then it was another three months until I got another nibble after that first job. Well, tell me a little bit about what's next for you what you're working on right now. I know you've got a project that you've been pursuing, and I'd love to hear more. about it. Yeah,

Morgan Overholt 27:00
well, I mean, now that I've got the entrepreneur bug, I mean this, this whole thing honestly worked out so very well. And it continued to grow every single day. So about a year into my freelancing full time, I essentially launched a small agency model. And so today, it's no longer just me, I employ one full-time graphic designer, as a contractor. And then I also have three other subcontractors. I have a branding expert and illustration expert, and I have somebody to help me with bookkeeping and proofreading, which is great. And so I have a whole little small team assembled, I call them my little graphic designer vendors. That's what they feel like. So we are growing and we're still growing every single day and able to take on, you know, additional work that we couldn't before. And we've seen so much success like I have caught the bug now that I'm constantly looking for additional ways to grow. You know, we've been exploring other platforms and other types of work. And then of course, because I can never be satisfied I've also started my side project, a travel website called the Smokies calm and I hope to be able to launch that in the next. Well, we did a soft launch the other day but like a full launch and sometime this year, which we're excited about, and the Smokies calm is essentially a travel website for my hometown where I come from I'm originally from Tennessee even though I now live in Miami, Florida. And we just kind of give you know visitors and tourists you know, insight and guides about how to explore the area and you know, tips and tricks and like told them where to get discounts and that kind of stuff. But it's great because I now that I have this little team of my design Avengers and have the talent base, I can almost throw them on any project and us our small corporations we can take on like internal projects like that, you know, and see where they go. So the possibilities right now for us in my company to tell you the truth, they feel endless and it's a really good feeling. Certainly, I would have never had these kinds of opportunities and the kind of flexibility to explore all those different avenues had I stayed in that corporate world and you know where I had people tell me no, you will do this you will fit inside this box, you will do this for me. And, you know, do as you're told, don't ask too many questions.

Chris Misterek 29:14
Right, man, that's awesome. So So is are the people that worked for your design Avengers? Are they a part of Morgan media LLC? Are they an agency on Upwork itself? Or how does that work for you?

Morgan Overholt 29:26
Oh, yeah, I just pay them through work. Immediate LLC. They are not an official Upwork Corporation. But at work Upwork agency, I believe they call it mostly just because I'm not even sure if word agencies exist did when I first started or if they did, I didn't know about them. And we work we don't just work on up work. We also have clients outside of the platform. And so I've just found it easier just to pay them directly through Morgan media LLC. But I am always transparent with my clients. So like if you do the agency model Like I if I'm on vacation, or I need a day off or something, you know, I'll even have, you know, my freelancers say, Okay, well, I'll contact that client for you, even if it's on Upwork to make sure they get their job done, you know, always be transparent with your clients. Upwork doesn't mind if you do it that way, as long as you are 100% on the up and up and tell your clients what's going on. Don't be sitting there farming at work, and your clients think you're doing it and somebody else is doing it. Alright. So as long as they know that your crew exists is perfectly fine. Transport is key. Yeah, just because of our current model. I just pay them directly.

Chris Misterek 30:34
Yeah, that's awesome. So, one, one final question. Let's say somebody sitting out there thinking about going for it. They've had a corporate job, they're not satisfied. What would your advice be for them?

Morgan Overholt 30:45
Well, first of all, prepare. I was really lucky. I have freelance pretty much for the last 15 years. You know, when I was in college, I was approached by a couple like realtors in town who knew I could, you know, do some basic graphic design and, and they were like they would pay me on the weekends and knock out a quick flyer here or there and, and, you know, and it's funny because I didn't think about at the time but those things started to add up. And they would go out until their friends who would tell their friends who told their friends and, and it grew into this like supplemental income. And before I quit, I was probably making, you know, 10 grand every single year freelancing while I was working a full-time job and I've been doing that since I was 18 years old. Um, Funny thing is I just never saw it as sustainable or I just didn't think I guess I always just thought it was going to go away or it's temporary. I don't know why. I never stopped to think oh, wait a minute. It's been pretty consistent for 10 years, without me even trying. I don't know why that didn't occur to me at the time. But I would say if you're not like me, and you're looking to make that switch, then you probably need to dip your foot into that water a little bit. You know, go out on the weekend and put yourself out there, you know, try to network try to sign up for one of those, you know, one of those platforms like whether it be Upwork or fiber or freelancer.com you know, give any of those a try. You dip your toe in the water, see how it goes, you know, study up, read success stories from other freelancers, don't waste your time reading about stuff about you know, scary stories from the trolls are just going to get your head waste, read, read stories from successful people, take advice from successful people, you know, and if it's something that you're seeing a little spark, you're saying, okay, you know, this isn't too bad isn't too scary. I'm, I'm pulling in a little bit of extra income, then put yourself towards a little bit more. I always tell people to say in the beginning that like, oh, I don't want to work afternoons and weekends, I don't want to do it. Well, then maybe business ownership isn't for you. Because anything that you're going to grow is going to require a little bit of investment, whether that's your time or money, but once again, it's just like anything else in life anything worth having is worth trying for us. worth working hard towards. So if you think you're thinking about doing it, you know, dip your toes into it a little bit, kind of see how it goes. you test the waters before you dive in completely. Else it wouldn't hurt to have small savings account just in case you know, if you do rage quit your job as I did, it wouldn't hurt to have enough money to make sure you've got your mortgage covered for the next month or two just in case something bad happens. So just prepare yourself you into it. Work hard, and you can get there.

Chris Misterek 33:29
Thank you so much for being on the show today. Morgan this your advice has been so fantastic. If you could tell us one more time how somebody might connect with you or find you online.

Morgan Overholt 33:39
Yeah, so two different ways. You can go to Morganoverholt.com you can connect with me there or you can find me on Upwork and once again that is just MorganOverholt.com.

Chris Misterek 33:52
And if you're looking at doing any kind of traveling and the Tennessee area thesmokies.com is that right?

Morgan Overholt 34:00
Yes, thesmokies.com. We do a soft launch early this year. We're going to be doing a full big launch later this year. So, yes, gonna be brought to you by Morgan media LLC and her team of Avengers.

Chris Misterek 34:17
Awesome. Well, thanks so much again. Good having you on. I'd love to have you on again sometime in the future.

Wow, I know there are some awesome great little golden nuggets for you just to walk away with and start to implement in your freelance web design business. Or if you're just getting started, something for you to consider as you're reaching out to potential clients. You know, I love the idea of not kneecapping what you are saying to potential clients, you're not saying thank you so much for just giving me the time of day. Now you're coming with confidence because you know what you have to offer is worth something. So I know that's valuable instruction, a valuable piece of knowledge and I hope you use it. I hope it helps you I can't wait until next week we've got another freelance web designer who is crushing it. Her name is Aaron Flynn. She's only working two to four hours a day, five days a week, but she's doing that and making six figures a year. If that doesn't make you a little bit interested, I don't know what will. So stay tuned for next week, same time, the same place And hey, if you haven't yet subscribed to this channel, give me a rating give me some feedback. I would greatly appreciate it and it will help others find this podcast who needs it as well. I hope you have a great one. Hope you stay safe. Hope you stay sane. And don't forget if you don't quit, you win.