The Freelance Writers Den is the online community where freelance writers learn how to grow their income — fast. Inside the community, there are two levels:
- The Freelance Writers Den is for freelancers who are just getting started, learning the basics, and giving this an old college try.
- The Den 2x Income Accelerator is for freelancers who are starting to get some traction, but not yet earning at the level they want. They have landed a few clients and writing gigs, but it’s inconsistent, unreliable, or unsustainable. If this is you, and you want to grow and take things to the next level, read on.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the second group, the Den 2x Success Stories. We’ll hear from people who dramatically increased their income in a short amount of time.
Before we dive in, let’s quickly cover what the Den 2x program is specifically designed to do. Den 2x helps freelance writers double their income over 6 to 12 months. Some writers hit that goal much faster, as you’ll see in today’s stories.
However, even if it takes you the full length of the course to hit your goal, that’s still a massive win. Imagine this time next year making double your income, or even more.
For some writers, it can be hard to imagine taking such a giant financial leap in such a short amount of time. That’s why having a roadmap to follow and steps to check off can help you from spinning your wheels.
Seeing other writers who were able to double their income and change their freelancing journey in such a short amount of time can be inspiring. It’s good to know that it’s possible and that it doesn’t require a ton of extra skills or hours upon hours of sending out pitches into the internet void.
You can make huge shifts from a few simple changes, each done with intention and focus.
Let’s dive into the Den 2x success stories.
Den 2x Success Stories: Neil Pope
Neil Pope is a freelance automotive writer and a star pupil in the Den 2x class. Within the second month of the program, Neil was able to double his income.
Where did you start?
“When I started, I had one big client. I’d been writing for about four years and I had really backed myself into a corner. My income was going down instead of up. I wasn’t pitching to new clients, I wasn’t doing any marketing, so there was a lot of big holes missing.”
He had a client who was eating up most of his time and he even was in charge of getting the images, formatting the posts, and uploading them on his own. As most writers know, those little tasks really add up over time and eat into your overall rate if it’s not factored in.
Even with four years of writing under his belt, it is a good reminder how easy it is to take a client because you need the income but then quickly realize it’s not a living wage. Plus, sometimes clients like that can take up so much time that you can’t find any time to hunt for more work.
It’s a spot that is easy to fall into for most writers, especially when they’re trying to make ends meet.
Where he was before joining Den 2x?
At the start of 2x, his income was $30 per day.
He wasn’t doing any pitching and he didn’t have time for marketing, which left some pretty obvious holes in his overall business building.
After getting set up in the program, by month two he was off to the races. After seeing some of his work on LinkedIn, a potential client asked for him to send in some ideas. The publication accepted 14 out of the 15 ideas he sent over.
That client immediately took his pay from $30 an article to $100 an article.
How has your hourly rate changed?
“My hourly rate went from $7 to $150 an hour. I’m writing articles for $600 now instead of $30.”
In just a few months, he went from no client leads to waking up to new client leads regularly. He hasn’t focused much on outbound marketing and already has more requests from his inbound methods than he could handle.
He also has been deeply studying storytelling and finding unique angles in his industry, which has been paying off in his overall writing.
Being able to take a step back
One of his favorite realizations was the ability to take a step back after so much success. When you’re worried about money it’s easy to just grind every day without taking a step back to strategize. Strategizing is how you break through the next level and start to push your freelance career ahead.
A great example of one of our Den success stories!
You can see more of Neil’s success in this article on creating recession proof writing.
Den 2x Success Stories: Celeste Ward Altus
At the time of joining Den 2x, Celeste was making about $300 or so per month as a writer.
The biggest change?
“What helped me most so far was optimizing my LinkedIn. I had no idea how well that could be a marketing machine.”
Before she could even get to the stage in the course where she’s sending out marketing material, she quickly received an inbound lead from a potential client. That’s the real power of LinkedIn and what happens when you fully optimize it to work for you.
What happened?
After receiving her first inbound lead, Celeste was a little skeptical. Due to the encouragement of the group, she pitched a higher rate than usual and was elated when they accepted it. That turned into a two month retainer, which was a true game-changer for someone looking to create reliable-steady income as a writer.
Results from the first few months
That client then turned into a $2,500-per-month client. That’s a huge change in a short amount of time. She hadn’t even gotten through all of the steps in the course before getting to this point, but she took it seriously and implemented each step at a time.
Sometimes just simply following a system and improving what you already have can help give your writing brand a much-needed boost.
What she implemented on LinkedIn
One of the first things she did was include a “proof bar” where she included names of brands she’s worked with in the past. Then she changed her contact information and her bio to attract her ideal clients.
Most writers might be shocked at how much some simple tweaks can completely change your leads and overall marketing online. When most writers sign up for social media, especially LinkedIn, they just fill out the basics and move on.
Instead, what you want to do is to make sure you’re utilizing every single opportunity to attract your dream clients and using the right keywords to connect them.
Want More Proof?
This page is full of written testimonials, from more freelancers just like you.
This page is full of video testimonials, from more freelancers just like you.
What Den 2x Can Do for You
Freelance Writers Den 2X Income Accelerator is a 6-month, small-group mastermind that also gives you one-on-one coaching. The goal is to get you to double your income within one year, but as you can see from some past students, it’s possible to hit it even sooner.
Each month is designed to help you focus on different aspects of the income-growing journey.
- Month 1: Analyze your current client base and set your mind on your new goals
- Month 2: Set up your inbound funnels
- Month 3: Quickly find easy-to-land clients
- Month 4: Find your ideal client and start to market to them
- Month 5: Double-down on your best marketing tactic
- Month 6: Streamline your marketing efforts to make it as smooth as possible
If you’ve been looking for a group to hold you accountable and also get feedback on your marketing ideas, you’ve found the right place!
