This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Welcome to Side Hustle School. Welcome as well to Throwback Thursday. My name is Chris Guillebeau, your host. And in this segment, we take an in-depth look at someone whose story has evolved considerably since we first featured them. Yesterday, we were talking about cameo shoutouts.
Can you in fact create a fictional character and offer shoutouts on cameo for sale? As I said, it's kind of difficult to do that. They don't actually like it. So maybe it's possible, but you might actually get your account shut down. Who knows?
Anyway, in Throwback Thursday World, last week we heard from a remote programmer who petsits in different states for weeks at a time. That guy's been able to do something he enjoys, make extra money. Today in our latest feature, we'll hear from a tech employee who moonlights as a freelance copy editor and proofreader. All right, this is Edith. Edith is actually doing all sorts of copy editing and proofreading from tech reports to marriage proposals.
So let's hear a bit more about this from her, what's happened since her business first got started. I forget when we first heard from her last, but let's hear an update along with a couple of tips for anyone interested in this particular business. [Music]
The journey into my side hustle as a copywriter and proofreader began of all places in a bookstore. As a content manager at a tech startup, my days were filled with refining and reshaping a wide range of writing styles into persuasive, concise content. Outside of work, I found myself frequently offering free editing skills to friends and colleagues who needed help polishing their resumes, cover letters, and even personal correspondence.
During one such casual editing session, the idea occurred to me, I could monetize this. Why not turn this proficiency and proofreading into a part-time venture? That's exactly what I decided to do. I began to promote my services on LinkedIn and various freelancing platforms. I started with a modest hourly rate of $25, offering my promise of thorough, precise edits with a quick turnaround time.
At first, the response was slow, but after about a week, the first client request came in. When I first started out, my pricing strategy was based on the typical market rates I saw other proofreaders and copy editors charging on freelancing platforms. I began at $25 per hour, which seems like a reasonable place to start given my level of experience. In the early days, the number of projects coming in was erratic and the income fluctuated correspondingly. However, as I started taking on more projects and delivering high-quality work, the positive feedback I received led to an increase in demand.
The growing demand was my cue that I could incrementally increase my rates without fear of losing clientele. I began charging $30 per hour, then $40, then 50, until I reached a point where I was comfortable with my hourly rate of $75. Notably, this rate increase was gradual and happened over several months. I was keen to ensure that my charges remained reasonable and affordable for my clients, while also providing a fair reflection of the quality of my work. At the same time, I was getting more efficient at editing, so even if a project had the same number of pages, I could complete it more quickly than before.
This increase in efficiency meant more earnings in less time. Additionally, as I began to establish a steady roster of clients, I started offering package deals, for example, a flat rate for proofreading and copy editing, a predetermined number of pages per month. These packages provided a consistent income stream and allowed me to better schedule my work. In retrospect, the transition from charging $25 per hour to earning an average of $2,000 per month was a combination of strategic rate increases improved efficiency and offering package deals. My transition from a casual editor to a part-time professional proofreader and copy editor has been both a fulfilling and lucrative one.
One particularly memorable moment came when a client asked me to edit their marriage proposal, which was cleverly disguised as a short story. Not only did their partner say yes, but I also found myself with a new title to add to my resume, romance editor. And as for what lies ahead, only time and the next document to proofread will tell. [Music]
Awesome, Edith, thank you so much. Really appreciate the story as well as the advice in particular about pricing.
That's always something people struggle with. Listeners, let me know what you think, who you'd like to see featured from our archives of more than a thousand stories. I'm excited to bring you lots of stuff over the summer and going into the fall. My book comes out next month, "Ganzo Capitalism." I'll be sharing a good bit about that as it gets closer. Hopefully I'll have a chance to meet a lot of listeners and readers on book tour as well.
So stay tuned for that. If you have a question or an update for us about your hustle, sidehustleschool.com/questions. This has been episode 2,378. You can always find the notes for any episode just by going to sidehustleschool.com/that episode or number. Okay, that's all for today.
Much more is coming up tomorrow and beyond. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
