How to Quit Your Job and Take your Freelance Business From Side Hustle to Full Time in 7 Easy Steps [Financial Freedom]
What would it actually take for you to turn your freelance side hustle into a stable, full-time income without guessing your way through it?
If you’ve been juggling freelancing with a full-time job, you already know the frustration: inconsistent income, unclear direction, and the constant question of “when (or if) this can become real.”
This episode speaks directly to that moment: when you’re ready for more freedom, flexibility, and control, but need a clear path to make the leap confidently.
Tune into this episode to learn:
A step-by-step roadmap to transition from occasional gigs to a predictable, full-time freelance income
Proven strategies to attract higher-paying, long-term clients instead of chasing one-off projects
A mindset and business framework that helps you leave the “side hustler” mentality behind
Press play now to learn the exact shifts that can fast-track your journey to full-time freelancing and help you start building consistent income sooner.
Connect with Kiri, the host:
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Episode Transcript:
[00:00] By the end of this episode, you're going to have eight easy steps to take your freelance business from a side hustle to a full time career. Welcome to the Freelance to Freedom Podcast. This podcast podcast helps early freelancers learn how to get more clients with clear strategies that help your freelance business make more money in less time. I'm your host, Kiri Mohan, founder of Flourishing Freelancer.
[00:22] Let's dive in. Take a listen to this episode because we are going to be going into the steps I took to take my freelance business from side hustle to full time career, why you should be focusing on certain types of clients, and the marketing strategies you need in order to succeed. Welcome back to the show. Like many of you, I started freelancing as a side hustle.
[00:43] It was not something very serious for me. I decided that I was going to do it on the side just to make a little bit of extra income. And as some of you know, I had a lot of pregnancy troubles with I had two failed pregnancies, one right after another. And I had been freelancing kind of here and there. And those pregnancies kind of forced me to make a decision.
[01:06] Do I want to continue working in an office? What is this going to look like if I continue to have doctor's appointments and multiple issues further down the line, which seemed to be the case at that point? And I decided I was gonna try to make freelancing my full time career. I was gonna make it a business. I was gonna be a business owner, and this is how I was gonna create
[01:27] my income and everything. And it was hard when I made that decision. And, honestly, I was just freelancing under my name before. And I remember the moment when I went to the town hall. It was during a lunch break. Right? I I can't let me go off on this story for a second. So I went on my lunch break to the town
[01:45] hall, and the woman also was on her lunch break. And I was seething because I only had an hour, and I was I had to drive back to my town because I had to do register my business in my town as a sole proprietor. That's how I started out. Right? And I was just so mad that that woman had also gone on her
[02:01] lunch break. So then I had to go back to the office, and then I did it again the next week, but I went a little bit later so I could try to catch her when she came back. And I still had to wait, and I remember still my husband remembers the woman's name. I'm not even gonna say it, but I still remember her name, and I complained
[02:15] about it, like, all the time. But I remember that moment because when it finally happened, I said to myself, oh my gosh. I have a business. And this is why I recommend like, okay. You don't have to register your business. You can work, right as like with your under your social just as a single person freelancing and not even doing a separate bank account.
[02:39] But the little steps you take like registering your business, setting up a separate bank account, getting an EIN, all those things contribute to a mindset shift that makes your system and your brain go, this is real. This is for real. I have a responsibility to this business, and I'm gonna make it work. That was like a huge shift for me when I had that paper in my
[02:57] hand finally and said, this is my business. I'm not side hustling anymore. April 2014. Still remember. What are the steps I started taking after that moment in time to say, this is not gonna be a side hustle anymore. I'm gonna make this my full time career. Number one, I started marketing myself daily. Before I was just responding to job posts, people who said I'm looking for ex
[03:22] freelancer because I was doing everything at that point, like copywriting, social media management. Anytime there's a job posting out there or a request on LinkedIn, I would respond and say, that's me, and I would follow-up, and I would be incessant about it. But then I began to realize that I needed to market myself. So I delved into marketing. I read so much. I was also I was always
[03:41] on the social media examiner site. I was reading everything I could. I had the buffer app. I was scheduling posts to go out. I was responding to people during lunch breaks. I mean, I marketed myself daily. I set up a schedule so I was always going to be visible and in front of people. And that definitely accelerated the amount of time it took to be
[04:01] able to quit and go full time. Was just because myself I was putting myself out there all the time engaging and making sure I was doing the right marketing tactics. Number two was that I started pitching more. I would start conversations two to three times a week. So this was actually part of my schedule. I would set up time twice a week, Tuesday, Thursdays, where I would go, and
[04:20] I would DM people on LinkedIn. And it was a little different back then because you got unlimited, I think, DMs on LinkedIn. Now you don't. But even so, if I was doing this all over again, guess what? I would absolutely pay to have unlimited DMs because it really, really increased the amount of time between starting my business and quitting my full time job.
[04:43] The pitching was so essential. It was proactive. And and you guys have probably heard me talk about this before, and I talk about it with my students. I want you to be proactive in your marketing and putting yourself out there, not just reactive. Reactive, it's just like posting on social media, engaging, and doing that, going to networking events. And, you know, this podcast is a very reactive marketing channel, but
[05:04] you also need to be proactive, which is reaching out to people, putting yourself out there, following up, and trying as much as possible to get new business. And that is also what I did. Number three, I started staying away from project based clients. Now I have nothing against project based clients, but I needed to have a steady amount of income if I was gonna quit my job, and I was
[05:25] going to take it from a side hustle to a full time career. And I wanted to have a little bit of predictability in the income. And a lot of what I've been doing before were project based because I was working full time. I didn't want to have to have someone relying on me when I had a full time job. I intentionally shifted and began to take on retainer
[05:45] clients. Now there was difficulties with that because I was working full time, but I was able to schedule emails to go out at the appropriate time. I was able to go home and do calls. I was lucky enough that I lived close to home. But let me tell you, sometimes that just didn't happen, and I would do calls in the car. I always, always push for a call as
[06:03] opposed to a Zoom or a video chat because I was in the office, and I didn't want people, like, you know, having to I remember, like, once I I had to rent a conference room and go in and do a Zoom. And I was like, oh my god. What if someone walks in? What if someone walks in? What if someone it was so nerve racking.
[06:19] I hope my former employer is not listening to this. But that is basically, like, what I started doing is starting shifting to retainer clients and managing that. And it was hard. I'm not gonna lie, but it gave me predictability in income. And I had six month contracts with these retainer clients that I managed to nab. So I knew that for six months, least I would have some
[06:39] kind of steady income. Number four, find an industry that's doing well and pitch to people in that industry. Right? They have the money. Follow the money. And this will require research on your end. Where are companies the most lucrative right now? And let me tell you, when I was starting out, it's not like the economy was great, not by any means. We were still recovering from the two thousand
[07:01] eight recession, but there were clients out there who had money. There were startups out there who wanted the extra help, who needed the help from a freelancer, and they could not hire someone full time. So that is what I targeted back then was startups. So right now, it's like, where is this industry where companies are starting, where people
[07:17] are beginning to get funding? Do the research and pitch those companies because they might need that help. Now, number five was when I was side hustling, my rates didn't matter as much because I had a full time job. So I was happy just to cover groceries and stuff like that and extra stuff I wanted to do. But when I would decided to take it full time, I
[07:37] began to raise my rates. Right? And I began to raise my rates rapidly with every prospect that came to me because I made sure that every single client I worked with, I got a testimonial from, and I got a reference. So that allowed me to have that social proof and that credibility to raise my rate. Now what I recommend with my students is actually raise your rates every five
[07:57] clients that you get that are in at one rate, then raise your rates. But for me, I wanted to quit, and I wanted to quit quickly. And I didn't wanna have to deal with asking employers for time off when I was going to doctor's appointments. So I made sure to raise my rates really rapidly with clients. And that coupled with getting retainer clients really helped me have that predictability,
[08:16] that higher income, and allowed me to quit sooner than later. Number six, save your money. Alright? This is really important, especially if you're trying to take your side hustle full time. If you already have income, which is if this is a side hustle, then you should save all the money you're making from your freelance business. Alright? My mistake was I decided to pay myself because everywhere I read
[08:40] online was like people saying, make sure you pay yourself. It can really be ungratifying. You'll burn out if you don't pay yourself. But they were talking to people who were already freelancing full time, but I misinterpreted that. So I started paying myself. And I actually it was my acupuncturist who said, why are you paying yourself? Save that money, girl. You're gonna need it for a
[08:57] rainy day. So by the time I quit my job, I had to get about, like, $20,000 in savings because I just saved every single invoice that came my way. And, yeah, I had to do taxes and whatnot. But save that money because you don't know when a client might leave you. Number seven, shift your mindset to become a business owner. And that kinda ties back to the story at the beginning.
[09:21] Right? I had not been looking at myself as a business owner. I'd been looking at this as something on the side and no stake in it. Like, if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. Whatever. And on top of that, it was kinda like, if a client wasn't happy, they weren't happy. Whatever. I'll move on to the next one.
[09:34] Again, not many retainer clients at that point, if if at all. When you become a business owner, you shift your mindset. All of a sudden, it was like, okay. What are my revenue goals? How am I gonna build systems around this that look professional and help me save time? I'm gonna watch the data from my marketing and see what's working and what's
[09:51] not working and make sure I'm focusing my efforts in marketing correctly. Correctly. Right? And I want you guys to go back. We're gonna put this in the show notes. There's a whole lesson on podcast episode on tracking data and how to use data and watch it so that you're making sure you're making the right decisions in your marketing. So that is what I was
[10:08] doing. I was like, okay. If this is gonna be my full time career, I need to take this seriously. So those are the things I started focusing on. Income, revenue goals, marketing data, systems, automations, all of that to try to make it my own business. And finally, this is kinda like a bonus one. But really, take the time when you need it because it is exhausting trying to
[10:29] take a side hustle to full time. And I've done it twice, right, with the coaching and with the freelancing. The coaching, I had I've I have kids now. And it it was a lot longer and took and I've been taking a lot more breaks. Okay? With the freelancing business, I didn't have kids, but I was working full time. So that meant I was working really early in the morning.
[10:48] I was working really late at night, and I was working on weekends. But I always made sure if someone invited me anywhere, I always said yes. I did not say no because there's always something to do. There was always something I could be doing and pushing myself harder in the business. But I knew that I also needed to take breaks.
[11:05] So I never ever said no to people just because I had work to do. So take that time. If you feel like you're like, one night, you're like, you know what? I just I don't even wanna do this. I don't wanna look at it. I don't wanna pitch to people. I don't wanna put out a post. I'm exhausted. Listen to yourself and take that
[11:21] break because you need those creative juices flowing in order to grow your business and make it your full time career. That was seven steps really with a bonus step. So I guess you could call it eight steps. To recap, you wanna be marketing yourself daily, pitching as much as possible, trying to get retainer clients instead of project base, finding an industry that's doing well and has the money, raise your rates as
[11:44] much as possible, save your money, shift your mindset to becoming a business owner, and finally, take that time when you needed it. Alright? Because this is all just so important for taking it full time and making sure that's what you need. We got tip of the week coming up next week where we're gonna be talking about your energy levels kinda, you know, and how to make sure your business is
[12:05] operating properly around that. And then next week, I want you to stay tuned because we're gonna be talking about the central tools you really need to get clients and start freelancing. So if you're someone who is, you know, looking at this and thinking you should do it and take it full time, we're gonna be talking about what you really need in place in order to succeed and get clients as a freelancer.
[12:25] This is a very tactical episode as well. I'm Kiri Mohan. I am the founder of Flourishing Freelancer. I would love to hear from you and your freelance business. So set up a call with me. Link in the show notes, totally free, and I'm excited to chat. Are you struggling to get the income you desire as a freelancer?
[12:43] Download my money mapper for a clear view of the earnings you need to achieve your dream salary. It calculates monthly income while factoring in taxes, expenses, and the best part is that it grows with your business to include contractors and a SEP IRA. Head to the link in my show notes to calculate what you should be earning to start increasing your income.
