Practical tips to diversify your income and make more money

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How many organizations currently pay you?

Every freelancer knows not to put all of your eggs in one basket. Yes, it’s great to have a few anchor clients — those clients you work for regularly to have a dependable source of income — but building a successful freelance business can also mean building out different types of income.

Here’s something I learned very quickly when embarking on my own freelance journey: Journalistic writing — what I thought would be my default as a freelancer — is the least lucrative type of freelance writing by orders of magnitude. For example: One of my first freelance assignments I took when I went independent was for a 1,000-word story for a very prominent national outlet. The rate? A flat $600 — or 60 cents a word. A month or so later, I took on a copywriting gig that worked out to roughly $6 per word. Did I get a fancy byline out of it? No. Did it offer me the freedom to skip a week of doing any work whatsoever just because I felt like it? Sure did.

I think a lot about the conversation I had a while back with a freelancer who made $27,000 in one month, and something they said to me still sticks out: “I’m also at a point in my career where I’ve come to terms with the reality that, for me, money is more important than prestige. I care more about paying off my loans and building savings than, say, writing for prestigious or ‘cool’ publications that may pay less.”