In essence, I am sitting here because of a speculative punt, followed by accidental success. The speculative punt is represented by the applications for writing positions I submitted via the ProBlogger Job Board back in September 2011. The accidental success was my blog becoming a client referral machine, despite a complete lack of intent on my part for that to be the case.
Launching and growing my service business (freelance writing) has been an experience that one could almost describe as being too good to be true. Flexible hours? Check. Great hourly rate? Check. Clients on tap? Check. I have to pinch myself.
The Benefits of Owning a Service Business
I don’t say any of the above to boast, because I think that nearly anyone is capable of launching a successful service business. I don’t consider my achievements remarkable. But what I am trying to communicate is how lucrative service businesses can be.
Unlike the many passive income pipe dreams out there, you can launch a service business and start earning money tomorrow. You don’t have to worry about overheads or stock, and your exposure to risk is essentially non-existent. And perhaps what I love most about running my own service business is that I dictate the hours I work. I currently earn a full time living with around 20 hours work per week, which gives me another 20 hours or so to focus on other projects (such as my freelance writing guide).
Even if your longterm dream isn’t to sell services, it can act as a fantastic stepping stone to whatever higher ambition you have.
In Search of a Great Guide
I write about freelance writing here on the blog, and also about freelancing in general. But what I haven’t offered is a guide to getting started with a service based business.
This issue came to a head when I was speaking to a friend recently. She is currently unhappily employed as a social media consultant, but does a bit of freelance work on the side. I asked her if she had considered launching her own social media consultancy business. She had, but didn’t really know where to start. I gave her a few tips, but I knew she needed more to feel like she could really launch herself into the idea wholeheartedly.
And guess what – she was emailing me to tell me about a new course she had just launched.
Introducing The Virtually Anywhere Shoestring
Michelle introduced The Virtually Anywhere Shoestring to me as a course that “answers all of the ‘How’ questions for someone wanting to get started providing a service online”. I couldn’t believe my luck. After skimming through the material, I could see that this was exactly what my friend needed, and exactly the kind of thing that would benefit a huge number of Leaving Work Behind readers. So then I went back to the start and digested the course thoroughly.
To say that I was impressed by its exhaustiveness would be an understatement. It is presented as 30 day program which takes you through every necessary step to launching a successful service business – from personal branding, to website and blog creation, to marketing, and even invoicing. I found myself thinking, “If only I had found this course a year ago”. What was even more interesting was some of the feedback Michelle was getting, such as this:
I can’t say I am surprised that the course is producing results like this, because Michelle has basically exposed all of the strategies she has employed to nurture her own successful businesses.
How Much Does it Cost?
The Virtually Anywhere Shoestring is priced at $99, but Michelle has a sale on until the end of August – it is currently available for $77, but only for a few more days.
If you are interested in creating a successful service business, this is basically the instruction manual. To find out more, click here.
If you’re not ready to take the plunge, then I definitely recommend that you check out Michelle’s blog, where she hands out a ton of free advice relating to service businesses, no strings attached.
If you are interested in launching a service business, will you be taking a closer look at The Virtually Anywhere Shoestring course? Let us know in the comments section!