6 ways to get your first client

A little while ago, I asked IWT readers two questions:

1. Who was your first high-value client (>$10,000)?
2. How’d you close the deal?

The answers I got back were amazing.

AWESOME.

If you want to be able to land the same kind of high-quality, high-paying clients, I’ll show you the six ways to find them and the best tactics and systems you can use that’ll have them watering at the mouths for your services.

And the best part about the people who replied to me on Twitter? None of the tactics they used were overly complex.

They didn’t rely on viral marketing campaigns or blogging or any of the other typical “advice” you find when looking up how to get clients — they demonstrated their value and closed the deal.

And yet, beginner freelancers get intimidated when confronted with the question of how to get clients. That’s because you’ll always run into helpful tips like, “You just need to start a blog and get to the number one spot of Google’s search results for 1 million different keywords.”

Jeez, thanks. I’ll be sure to get right on that.

Because this is IWT, I’m not going to give you that. Instead, I’m going to show you 6 straightforward, no-nonsense ways to get a pool of high-quality clients using a few proven systems.

That’s right. You don’t need a website, Facebook page, or a big stack of leads a la Glengarry Glen Ross. All you need is determination and the right systems.

How to get clients

The places you can go to find potential clients can be broken down into two different levels:

Beginner clients

• Craigslist
• Networking events
• Where your clients live

Higher value clients

• Referrals
• Cold email potential clients
• Industry-specific job boards

Using this system, you’ll be able to begin scaling your work and earning even more money in no time.

Beginner clients

When it comes to finding clients, I’m frequently inundated with questions from new freelancers along the lines of, “How do I get a dozen clients in my roster??”

My answer: Get one client.

Freelancers are so wrapped up in attaining as many clients as possible that they ignore the importance of attaining your first few clients and then scaling from there.

Utilize the resources below to find those first few.

#1. Craigslist

Craigslist gets a bad rap…for good reason.

BUT between the live duck parties, the questionable items for purchase, and missed opportunities for love, the site is also a great place to find a new gig.

And you can do it with the appropriately named Craigslist Penis Effect (CPE).

The CPE is the scenario wherein everyone else is so terrible that, by being just a little bit decent, you look 1,000 times better than your competition.

Consider the humble moron on Craigslist sending pictures of his mediocre manhood to women on the personals section over and over without any results. Instead, if they just wrote a few semi-thoughtful messages, they’d get A LOT better responses.

You can leverage that exact framework to find great clients on Craigslist. If you took the time to write a great email reaching out to these companies, you’ll immediately separate yourself from 99.9999% of others on the site who are just sending boring boilerplate emails that’ll get them nowhere.

So go on the Craigslist job board for your specific market. Here are the links for a few common freelance hustles out there:

• Writing and editing
• Web design
• Video production
• IT support
• Software engineer
• Graphic design

If you’re looking for a fantastic script to help you reach out to these clients, be sure to check out my article on how to make extra money on the side.  

A NOTE ON FREELANCE-FOCUSED JOB SITES:

There are a lot of “freelance focused” job sites out there such as Upwork or Fiverr. However, unless you’re completely inexperienced at the kind of gigs you want to do (in which case, these sites can give you that experience), I suggest you stick with Craigslist.

Don’t get me wrong. I love sites like Upwork and Fiverr…but only as a client. I can get some of the best people online to do work for me at an extremely cheap rate on these sites. Sound unfair? Totally. But that’s the way it is.

#2. Networking events

I know what you’re thinking: Networking events SUCK.

But that’s because people typically go to them looking for clients.

Don’t be that creeper at the networking event. Instead, go to networking events to find CONNECTORS. These are people who may not turn out to be a client, but can help introduce you to potential clients.

Now that you know that you’re not going to be finding leads at a networking event or mixer, you’re not going to go in there and try to constantly pitch your business. Instead, you’re going to be finding connectors.

Here’s a good script you can use to connect with a connector:

“Hey, if you know of anyone who’s looking for a video editor, let me know. Here’s my card. You can pass it along to them.”

Of course, you should mold the script to fit your individual situation.

If you live in a big city, networking events are a dime a dozen. If you don’t, that’s okay. There might be a few in your area happening occasionally.

Be sure to check out event boards like the following for great opportunities for networking events.

• Meetup.com. One of the biggest sites for friendly meet-ups and networking events.
• Eventbrite.com. This site aggregates many different types of events happening near you. It also has a “networking” events filter in its search function.
• Facebook. No matter what your industry, there’s a group of like-minded freelancers on Facebook for you. Many times, these groups will notify you of upcoming events you can hit up.

Afraid of introducing yourself or not knowing what to say? Here are a few great resources on IWT to help you get started building amazing social skills so you can dominate any networking event.

• How to be popular. Use these proven steps to become more charming, make more friends, and learn how to be a social butterfly.
• 5 thought-provoking questions. 5 of the most intriguing questions for networking events, dates, and small talk.
• How to master conversational skills. Master these 3 fundamentals of conversation and you’ll be able to talk with anybody.

#3. Where potential clients live

No, this doesn’t mean stalk potential clients and go to where they live (unless you want a restraining order).

Instead, you’re going to go online to the places where potential clients might frequent.

It’s what Luisa Zhou, entrepreneur and writer for GrowthLab, did to help her earn $1.1mm in eleven months.

From Luisa:

I started spending all my free time hanging out where my potential clients were online (free Facebook groups) and directly engaging with them by sharing valuable content and answering any questions I could about advertising.

That’s how I got my first client. A woman I’d been helping for free — answering her questions about how to set up a basic advertising campaign — asked me how she could work with me, and when I told her the price — $5,000 for six months — she said, without missing a beat, “I’m in.”

You can use the exact same framework for your potential clients.

• Are you a graphic designer? Find a Facebook or subreddit group for small business owners who need your services.
• Are you a writer for a niche industry? Start answering questions on Quora regarding your niche.
• Maybe you’re a video editor. Find online groups for bloggers looking to expand their content media.

No matter what you choose, you need to make sure you stay engaging and provide high-quality answers to your potential client. By doing this you build your brand and make connections you would never have otherwise.

It all goes back to the 80/20 rule. The little bit of effort you put in now will pay off in spades in the future.

Higher value clients

So you think you’re ready to scale and start targeting higher level clients? It’s actually incredibly simple once you’ve attained your initial 3 – 5 clients.

All you need to remember is to keep delivering incredible, white-glove service to your clients. After that, it’s all a breeze.

#4. Referrals

Referrals from existing clients are one of the best ways to not only get more clients but also earn more for your services as well.

I have a friend who used to do the occasional freelance project management gig on the side for a small consulting firm. The job paid $25/hour — but after a while, she wanted to earn more because:

1. The firm’s owner was very disorganized and non-responsive.
2. $25/hour didn’t add up to as much as she wanted to earn.

So I suggested that she do two things: Ask her current clients for referrals and raise her price for them.

As it turned out, one of her favorite clients was more than happy to refer her to someone he knew at a different organization.

“You wouldn’t believe it,” she told me one day. “I quoted him $50 an hour and he didn’t even blink. Shit! I should have asked for more.”

YES! That’s what I’m talking about.

Here’s why referrals work so well:

1. Always raise your price when you get referred. A lot of freelancers fall into the trap of keeping their rates the same when they get referred thinking that their old client told the potential client your rate (they didn’t). DON’T DO THIS!! Your old client added more value to your work by recommending you. Reflect that in a higher rate.
2. More incentive to do good work. This is yet another example of why you want to treat every client that comes your way with respect while going above and beyond to provide them world-class service. There are always areas where you can add value, and it’ll only help your client and yourself.
3. You get higher-quality clients. If you charge more, that means you’ll start to weed out the high-quality clients who can afford you from the lower quality ones. Also, by paying you more, they’re less likely to waste your time and money. It’s a win-win.
4. Blow up your income. My friend went from $25 an hour full time ($52,000 per year before taxes) to $50 an hour ($104,000 per year before taxes). This is a MASSIVE WIN.

Referrals are a simple yet powerful way to start charging more. Not only does it allow you to increase your rates, but you’re also able to gain more clients.

And the best way to ask for a referral is right after you’ve delivered a high-value product to your client.

Did you…

• Just finish a landing page that generated a ton of qualified leads?
• Create an email campaign with a record-high open rate?
• Have a blog post go viral and increase traffic by 200%?

Once you’ve delivered great service, you can ask for referrals and rest easy in the knowledge that your client will want to tell others about your work.

You can use a similar script to the one you use at networking events:

CLIENT,

I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed my work. If you know of anyone else who’s looking for my services as well, I’d be grateful if you passed my contact information along to them.

Thank you,

Ramit

It’s simple, direct, and gets results.

#5. Cold email potential clients

Cold emails don’t have to be scary. In fact, they can be shockingly effective if you use the right techniques.

For example, check out this amazing email I got from a reader a while back.

I LOVE IT.

This email is the perfect example of everything that you need to snag a client for three reasons:

1. He showed that he actually knows me. Nothing is going to make a potential client trash your email faster than a boilerplate message. Instead, do what the guy who sent me this message did and showcase how you know me and how I’ve helped you (don’t forget to lay the compliments on thick).
2. He made me care. Let’s face it: I’m a busy guy. And, most likely, so is the person you’re trying to email. That’s why you need to make me give a damn. If you and the person you’re emailing have a warm connection, drop that in the message. You can also do what this guy did and touch on a subject that matters to me (in this case, the sender knew that I’m always on the lookout for talented developers).
3. He made it easy to say yes. The reader who sent me the email made it clear that, though he was looking for paid work, he would be willing to work “to network and receive a little advice” while acknowledging that I did have a few projects that I didn’t have time for.

By the time I finished the email, I was clamoring for the phone to call him.

You can use the exact same framework in order to reach out to VIPs or potential clients that you don’t know. Here are a few great resources that’ll help you do that:

• How to write the perfect email introduction
• How to cold email a VIP (and actually get a response)
• The definitive guide to building your network (with scripts)

#6. Industry-specific job boards

A great place to find clients who know exactly what they want (and, therefore, are willing to pay top dollar for it) are industry-specific job boards.

These are job boards specific to certain industries that can help you generate great leads. If your hustle is niched down enough, you’ll be able to pick up clients from many different job boards.

Here are a few good industry-specific sites you can check out for your leads:

• Media/publishing: MediaBistro.com, JournalismJobs.com
• Healthcare/pharmaceuticals: AllPharmacyJobs.com, HealthcareJobSite.com
• Non-profit: Idealist.com, Encore.com, CommonGoodCareers.org
• Developer/engineer: iCrunchData.com, Engineering.com, Toptal.com, SmashingMagazine.com
• Illustrators/designers: 99designs.com, Designs.net

“What about my marketing strategy/Facebook campaign/hashtag optimization??”

It’s very easy to get excited about all the sexy tactics like marketing campaigns and creating a blog — but the truth is, none of that really matters.

Do you think that doing high-level tactics like SEO, blogging, or viral marketing is easy? Absolutely not.

Do you think it will help you when you’re just starting out? Same answer.

What DOES matter is that you get your first few clients. Once you have a reliable base of people who’ll pay for your services, THEN you can start the complex marketing strategies like Facebook or blogging.

The most important thing is getting your first few clients though.

To help you get started, I want to give you a FREE 15-page guide to finding your first client: Hustle Your Way to the Top.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

• How to get inside your potential clients’ heads
• How to overcome the automatic “no” and score big wins by deeply understanding your prospects
• How to use psychology to identify the most likely customers and get them to say yes

I’ll also show you the one huge mistake freelancers make so you can avoid it and separate yourself from the rest.

Just enter your info below and get the bonus lesson today.

6 ways to get your first client is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

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#money #finance #investing #becomerich

How to ask for payment politely (and firmly)

It is a truth universally acknowledged that clients are TERRIBLE about paying on time. That’s why you need to learn the art of the payment request if you’re a freelancer…

…but when it comes to how to ask for payment, what’s the best way to do it?

You do it politely — and with scripts.

Specifically, this one:

Of course, you’re going to have to mold this script to fit your situation, but I promise you it works.

I know because it’s based off the same one I used when I freelanced.

During college I consulted for venture capital firms on social media. And though it was awesome to get paid while freelancing, it was always a total pain whenever a client was late on payments.

That’s when I decided enough was enough — and created a system (including the script above) to help me get paid.

The system can be split up into two parts:

1. How to ask for payment politely
2. How to break a client’s legs firmly ask for payment

How to ask for payment politely

The following system only works after one stipulation is fulfilled:

You’ve done great work for your client.

If you haven’t fulfilled your obligation to your client and given them great work that you both agreed you’d provide, then you only have yourself to blame if they’re not going to pay you.

To help you with this, be sure to check out my 16-minute video with Steve Dublanica on how providing world-class service to your customers can attract even better customers.

Step 1: Send your client a payment request

When you complete the deliverables for your client, it’s time to pull out that email script we gave you up front.

What do you notice about the email?

First, it’s friendly. When crafting an email asking for payment, it’s easy to default to the this-is-super-serious-business-so-I-need-to-be-super-serious tone — but you have to remember that you’re trying to develop a good relationship with your client, and that’s built on friendliness.

Another great reason this email just works is that the subject line does not contain any mention of prices at all. There’s no easier way to let your email go unread than to include the price in the subject line and your message will have a 100% better chance of being read if it didn’t.  

A few more observations:

• Ask for the payment simply and be straightforward. Tell them you have included the invoice as part of the email and how you want to be paid.
• The conclusion is polite and lets them know that you’d love to work more with them in the future.
• This script also uses the exclamation point very strategically. Its placement at the end is intentional and leaves everything on a playful tone.

Overall, it’s simple, direct, and actionable. You can use this email for both old and new clients. Use this script and most of your clients should pay you within two weeks.

Step 2: Send a follow-up email

If your client hasn’t responded in two weeks, send them a follow-up email. This message will be more firm and apply a little bit of pressure while making it seem like you’re doing them a favor.

Here’s the script:

Notice the framing. You recognize that they’re probably busy and that you didn’t want the message to “fall between the cracks,” so you’re simply reminding them of the invoice before they’re charged with a late fee. You don’t want to accuse your client of anything, or else you risk alienating them. So always give them that bit of deniability.

Make it easy for your client to get back to you by attaching the invoice as well as the original email.

However, this email is clearly not as playful as the last one. Notice there’s no exclamation point at the end. When compared to the initial email, this message projects that you’re much more serious. You want your client to know you are serious about being paid.

How to break your client’s legs firmly ask for payment

In life, though, there are four things that are guaranteed:

1. Death
2. Taxes
3. Frugalistas being wrong
4. Clients not paying you on time

And you might be at a point where you’re ready to really shake down your client in order to get your payment. That’s okay. Trouble clients happen from time to time. It’s inevitable.

What matters most now is that you take action in order to get them to pay you. That means you’ll have to start dialing the phone.

Step 3: Pick up the phone

If your client hasn’t responded to your messages after 3 – 4 weeks since the first email, you’ll want to call them.

Calling people takes away the protective layer of anonymity that emails provide — making it MUCH harder to ignore your payment request.

And if you’re worried about not knowing what to say, fear not. Because I have a script that will kick the conversation off:

“Hi, [CLIENT’S NAME]. It’s [YOUR NAME]. I worked on XYZ project with you about a month ago. I’ve sent a couple of emails about payment for the project, and I think you might’ve missed them. Have you received them?”

A few things of note:

• The script reminds them of the project and your agreed upon payment.
• You’re still friendly and even assume that they haven’t seen your emails (this shows that you trust your client).
• If something did go wrong (email went to spam folder, you used the wrong email address, etc), you and your client can address the issue to prevent it from happening again.

When you’re finished, make sure you close the loop using this script:

As with the emails, you want to remain friendly and never lose your cool. It’s surprisingly easy to start blowing up at a person and demand, “YOU PAY ME NOW, OR ELSE!!!” but the moment you do that, you stand to both tarnish your reputation and lower your chances of ever getting paid.

Remember: Be like Fonzie.

Step 4: The nuclear options

If for some reason your client continues not paying after three emails and a phone conversation, you have three options:

1. Cut ties with the client
2. Be annoyingly persistent
3. Hire a collection agency

Cut ties with the client

I actually suggest you do this option above all others. 

You’ll want to cut ties with the client as soon as possible. The reasoning is simple: As a freelancer, you are your own best asset. You need to value your time and energy as such by not wasting either on awful clients.

Be annoyingly persistent

If the payment is worth the trouble, you should email your client the invoice and call them…

…Every. Single. Day. Until they pay, that is (or you put them on Clients From Hell and call it even).

You need to make sure you keep your cool during these emails and phone calls, because it’ll be easier now more than ever to blow up at them.

When you connect with them on the phone, you can use this simple script to get the conversation started:

“Hi, [CLIENT’S NAME]. It’s [YOUR NAME]. I worked on XYZ project with you back in [TIME FRAME]. I’ve sent a couple of emails about payment for the project and also tried connecting with you on the phone. When can I expect my payment?”

After a while, your client should realize that you’re not going to give up and pay you. If they don’t, though, you can always try the next option.

Hire a collection agency

This tactic is typically reserved for situations where you put a lot of work into whatever it was you provided for your client (and so the bill is LARGE).

Collection agencies exist to help businesses (e.g. you) attain any debt that is owed to you. In order to do that, though, they typically require that you have all the debt that is owed to you in writing, so make sure you have records of all the email exchanges (as well as the invoices) with your client.

Unfortunately, many collection agencies have a bad rap due to a few that continually harass debtors. That’s why you’re going to want to find a reputable agency that will help you get your money back without resorting to unscrupulous means.

Here are a few ways you can find one that’ll work for you:

• Refer to the Better Business Bureau. The BBB provides ratings for all of the collection agencies near you. Definitely check them out if you’re looking to hire one.
• Search the IDCA and ACA directory. The International Debt Collectors Association and the Association of Credit Collection Professionals are organizations made up of debt collection agencies that exist to promote ethical standards and practices in the industry.
• Ask other business people. Referrals are another great way to find out whether or not an agency is good.

No matter how they’re found, the agency you hire will take payment through a percentage of the recovered debt (typically 10% – 30%). Yes, it’s a bummer that you won’t get paid the full amount for the work you put in — but something is better than nothing.

If you’ve let the back payments stack up so much that they are worth bringing in an agency, you should learn a valuable lesson: Respect your own time enough that you never continue work with someone who is behind.

How do I avoid this in the future?

Remember: Prevention is always better than a cure. So to avoid getting a late-paying client again, you’ll want to make sure you:

• Did the work. It might sound obvious, but nothing’s more embarrassing than asking your client for payment on deliverables you…well, never delivered. That’s why you want to make sure that all the expectations you and your client agreed upon have been fulfilled on your end.
• Invoice promptly. As soon as you’ve finished doing the work for your client, make sure you immediately send an invoice. That way, it’ll be fresh in your client’s mind while they’re happy because they received your service.
• Include a due date. Make sure your invoice includes a clear due date that the client needs to pay you before — lest they incur the wrath of your late fee. Also make sure you didn’t write down the wrong due date or even charged your client for the wrong things.
• Don’t deliver your service until you are paid. Another option is to have very strict criteria for when you deliver your product or service. If lazy clients know they don’t need to pay to receive the deliverable, why would they?

These things might seem small but can go a long way in ensuring a solid relationship with you and your client.

Get the scripts for any situation

As a freelancer, there are a seemingly unending amount of problems you’ll have to deal with over email.

That’s why you need proven email scripts that can save you a lot of headache AND a lot of money.

That’s why my team and I have crafted 5 bonus email scripts you can use today to help you learn:

• How to cold email a stranger for advice.
• How to write a pitch for a consulting gig or job interview.
• How to set up an informational interview with anyone.

And more. Just put in your email below to receive them for free now.

How to ask for payment politely (and firmly) is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

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#money #finance #investing #becomerich

How to make a million dollars (with advice from actual millionaires)

Do you want to learn how to make a million dollars?

Of course you do. It’s practically part and parcel of the American Dream, right behind buying a house with a white picket fence and eating hot wings with Guy Fieri.

 Luckily for you, making a million dollars is incredibly easy as long as you do one simple trick…

…just kidding. It actually takes a lot of time, energy, and sweat equity in order to make a million dollars.

You could always try things many other people have tried before, like:

• Buying lottery tickets. Though your chances of winning are 175 million to 1.
• Joining a multi-level marketing company. Even though the people who take part in these schemes rarely make money (if at all).
• Start investing in the stock market. Typically, this comes after a single viewing of Wall Street followed by aimlessly purchasing and selling stocks and never really making money at all.

But why would you do that when you can turn to people who have actually made a million dollars and find out what they did to get there?

In fact, when you take a look at how the most wealthy Americans got their wealth, almost all of it is because of their business and investing.

Luckily for you, we did that.

We spoke with two millionaires who were able to earn their money through a powerful combination of two things:

1. Investing and saving
2. Earning more money through side hustles

And we’ll show you exactly how to do both. But first,

The millionaires we talked to

Our millionaires are…

Luisa Zhou

From the outside, Luisa seemed to have it all. A Princeton graduate with a job that gave her a healthy six-figure income, she decided one day that she wanted more.

“I wasn’t feeling fulfilled or challenged in my job,” she says. “Even though I was making a great salary, I was just doing powerpoints all day! But I really pushed it into the back of my mind.”

That is until a series of sporadic illnesses and accidents in her immediate family caused her to reassess her situation.

“I couldn’t take work off to spend time with them for a significant amount,” she recalls. “That’s when I realized that I need more control in my life. Even if things are good, if I don’t have the freedom to spend with the people I love then I can’t do this.”

That’s how she got started with her side hustle consulting people in digital advertising, before moving on to teaching aspiring entrepreneurs how to launch their own business.

“A lot of people want to be millionaires overnight,” Luisa says. “My response to that is there’s no such thing.”

She’s since scaled her business and was able to earn $1.1 million in sales within 11 months. You can read about that journey on our sister site GrowthLab.

Shannon Badger 

With three kids to take care of, Shannon knew she had to really learn the art of the grind in order to quit her job and take her freelancing seriously.

“Back when I had two kids and a third on the way, I just wanted more flexibility and be my own job and be able to work more remotely from home,” she says.

And so she did. That’s how she was able to grow her freelance CPA consulting hustle into a full-fledged business (Badger and Badger CPA) that she runs with her husband. It’s helped earn her her first million dollar year in 2017.

“It was a huge mentality shift to how much can I ramp it up while still working full time in my other job,” she says. “There’s a quote by Dave Ramsey that goes: ‘Live like no one else, so you later can live like no one else.’ My husband and I were really disciplined when we got started, and it made the process less difficult.”

And now, these two millionaires are going to divulge their strategies on how they got to where they are — and how you can do it too.

How to make a million dollars

Remember, our two millionaires were able to earn their money through a powerful combination of two things:

1. Investing and saving
2. Earning more money through side hustles

Though you can actually make a million dollars on investing and saving alone, you can watch your net worth explode if you combine them both — which I suggest you do.

Then you’ll be able to dive into a huge pool of money — a la Scrooge McDuck — sooner rather than later.

(Well, you might have to turn all of your assets into pennies…)

Part I: Investing and saving

Step 0: Get out of debt  

The number one barrier preventing people from living a Rich Life is debt.

That’s why this is Step 0. Before you even think about investing, saving, or earning more money, you need to take steps to get out of credit card debt.

“A [freelancing business] is not the solution to your money problems,” Luisa says. “If you’re struggling to pay your bills or are in debt, the first thing you want to do is get a job that can help you. That’s the easiest way to really help you first.”

That’s why getting out of debt was also a priority for Shannon when she and her husband/business partner first got married.

“When my husband and I were first married, we were really disciplined about getting out of debt and saving,” Shannon says. “We paid off all of our debt out of college. We paid off all of our car debt. And now we’re paying off our house.”

Paying off your credit card debt is one of the most important investments you can make into your Rich Life. I’ve written about how to get out of debt before, but I’ll give you a breakdown of the exact same system in my book that has helped thousands of readers finally escape their debt.

If you want a more detailed look at the system, I highly suggest you read my article on how to crush debt. 

For now, here’s a brief overview:

1. Find the exact amount you owe.
   
   

   You’re probably thinking, “Well, duh. Of course you should know how much debt you have,” but it’s actually wayyy harder than you think.

   In fact, a study found that many don’t actually know how much debt they owe. It makes complete sense too. Humans are sensitive creatures who would rather run from their problems than tackle them head-on.

   However, this just leads to you blindly paying the minimum payment instead of actually owning your debt. Only then can you start a good strategy to get rid of it.

2. Pay off the highest interest rate first.
   
   

   Not all debt is made the same. That’s why you want to start paying off the debt with the highest interest rate first.

   For example, imagine you have $10,000 in student loans that have a 6.8% interest rate and a 10-year repayment period. You could pay the minimum of $115/month — but if you spent another $100 more each month, you could save thousands of dollars.
   

   
   The minimum will leave you saddled with more debt. Even $20/month more helps save you a lot of money.
3. Don’t be tempted.
   
   

   If you want to get rid of your debt for good, you can’t keep adding to it. That’s why you need to stop yourself from taking on more, at least until you’ve gotten rid of your existing debt.

   So do yourself a favor and get rid of your credit cards (at least until you’re out of debt). Give them to a friend or a family member to hold on to. If you have a safety deposit box, put them in there for a while. Anything works as long as your cards are out of sight and out of mind.  

4. Negotiate a lower interest rate.
   
   

   Did you know that you can actually save over $1,000 in a single phone call with your credit card company? Using simple negotiation systems, you can lower your credit card’s APR and put that money back in your pocket. For the exact scripts that you can use during your negotiations, be sure to check out my full article on eliminating debt.

5. Decide how you’re going to pay your debt.
   
   

   There are a number of ways you can approach this. You can use the money you got from step four and put it towards chipping away at what you owe. You can also tap into hidden income to free up some money. If you’re really enterprising, though, you can start EARNING more money — I’ll explain that in a little bit.

A while back, I created a video all about negotiating your debt. Don’t be thrown off by how old it is or how I filmed it using a potato. The advice can still help you expertly negotiate with credit card companies.

Step 1: Save money for when you need it most

“My husband and I were really good about saving money,” Shannon says. “We created a six-month emergency fund that allowed us to take a small step back financially when I quit my job. But because we saved early, it gave us a lot of freedom to invest and earn.”

By saving money, she gave herself the freedom to earn more money.

That’s why it’s important to set savings goals.

Shannon continues, “If we didn’t have our savings fund as a safety net, it would have been much more difficult to start our business.”

To find out how much you need in your emergency savings fund, you simply have to take into account three to six months worth of:

• Utility bills (internet, water, electricity, etc)
• Rent
• Car/home payments
• Food/groceries

Basically, any living expense that you have should be accounted for.

You should also start an account exclusively for your emergency savings fund. Most banks allow you to create a sub-savings account along with your normal savings account. (You can even name them too!) So create one for your emergency fund.

And you can start putting money into the account through my favorite system: Automating your personal finances.

The process only takes one to two hours at the most, but once you set it up, you don’t have to worry about it again.

AND it’ll save you thousands of dollars over your lifetime.

Here is a 12-minute video of me explaining the exact process I use below.

Step 2: Invest in your future

Investing your money is the best way to guarantee you become a millionaire. In fact, I promise you, if you follow the systems below you will eventually become rich.

Shannon knows that too.

“My husband and I have been putting 10 – 15 percent of our earnings into our retirement accounts for a while now,” she says. “We also have a 529 plan for each of our kids.”

When it comes to accounts for retirement, you have two options:

1. 401k
2. Roth IRA

These are retirement accounts. That means you’ll be able to accrue gains with big tax advantages with one caveat: you promise to save and invest long term. That means you can buy and sell shares of almost anything as often as you want as long as you leave the money in your account until you get near retirement age.

Let’s take a look at each one.

401k: Free money from your employer

A 401k is a powerful retirement account offered to you by your employer. With each pay period, you put a portion of your pre-tax paycheck into the account. That means you’re able to invest more money into a 401k than you would a regular investment account.

But here’s the best part: Your company will match you 1:1 up to a certain percentage of your paycheck.

Say your company offers 3% matching. If your yearly salary is $150,000 and you invest 3% of your yearly salary (~$5,000) into your 401k, your company would match you that amount — doubling your investment.

Check out the graph below that illustrates this.

This is free money!!! If your company offers a match, you should ABSOLUTELY take part in their 401k plan.  

For more on 401k’s, be sure to check out my article on how the account is the best way to grow your money.

But 401k’s are only one part of the equation when you want to start saving for retirement. The other account you should get is a Roth IRA. And ideally, you have both.

Roth IRA: The best long-term investment

A Roth IRA is simply the best deal I’ve found for long-term investing.

Remember how your 401k uses pre-tax dollars and you pay income tax when you take the money out at retirement? Well, a Roth IRA uses after-tax dollars to give you an even better deal.

With a Roth, you put in already taxed income into stocks, bonds, or index funds and pay no taxes when you withdraw it.

For example, if Roth IRAs had been around in 1970 and you’d invested $10,000 in Southwest Airlines, you’d only have had to pay taxes on the initial $10,000 income. When you withdrew the money 30 years later, you wouldn’t have had to pay any taxes on it.

Oh, and by the way, your $10,000 would have turned into $10 million.

That’s an exceptional example, but when saving for retirement your greatest advantage is time. You have time to weather the bumps in the market. And over years, those tax-free gains are an amazing deal.

How to open a Roth IRA account

To open up a Roth IRA, find a brokerage account. There are many out there, so I highly suggest shopping around and taking a look at the options out there.

Certain factors you want to consider when looking at brokers can be:

• Minimum investment fees
• Customer service
• Investment options
• Transaction fees

A few brokers I suggest, though, are Charles Schwab, Vanguard, and E*TRADE.

These brokers offer fantastic customer service and are well-known in the investment community for their great stock options.

Special note: Most brokers typically have minimum amounts for opening a Roth IRA, usually $3,000. Sometimes they’ll waive the minimums if you set up an automatic payment plan depositing, say, $100/month.

Also, it’s worth noting that there’s currently a yearly maximum investment of $5,500 to a Roth. (This amount changes often so be sure to check out the IRS contribution limits page to keep updated.)

Once your account is set up, your money will just be sitting there. You need to do things then:

1. First, set up an automatic payment plan so you’re automatically depositing money into your Roth.
2. Second, decide where to invest your Roth money; technically you can be in stocks, index funds, mutual funds, whatever. But I suggest investing your money in a low-cost, diversified portfolio that includes index funds such as the S&P 500. The S&P 500 averages a return of 10% and is managed with barely any fees.

For more, read my introductory articles on stocks and bonds to gain a better understanding of your options. I also created a video that’ll show you exactly how to choose a Roth IRA.

NOTE: After you invest in your retirement accounts, you can actually stop right there. After many years, your money will compound and earn you well into the millions if you continue investing.

Say you’re 25 years old and you decide to invest $500/month in a low-cost, diversified index fund. If you do that until you’re 60, how much money do you think you’d have?

Take a look:

$1,116,612.89.

However, if you want to be able to hit a million dollars sooner than that, there’s only one really good option: Earning more money through a hustle.

Part II: Earning more money

The reason earning money is one of my favorite ways to get to a Rich Life is simple:

There’s a limit to how much you can save, but no limit to how much you can earn.

If you’re willing to put in the work and develop a hustle that’ll scale and grow, you can earn as much money as you want. And while there are a lot of ways you can make more money, my favorite way is by starting a freelance hustle.

That’s what Shannon and Luisa did, and they’re going to show you how.

Step 3: Find a million dollar business idea (it’s easier than you think)

One very common misconception about starting your own freelance hustle is that you need to come up with the “perfect” idea to do it — when that couldn’t be further from the case.

“People think that they need a cool crazy idea like the next Facebook to make a significant amount of money,” Luisa says. “But what most people don’t realize is that they already have the skills to make a million dollars.”

I know it’s difficult to imagine that you might have profitable skills already — but you do. In fact, Shannon has a perfect solution to find out those skills: Look at what your friends ask you to help them out with. That’s how she got her start as a freelance CPA consultant.

From Shannon:

“I had a colleague who needed help sorting through her finances. She asked me to help her out, and she became my first client. Then I had another friend who started a law office and needed help, so I helped them out with all of their accounting. I’d meet with them to make sure that they were still compliant and help with their tax returns.

It just started with helping people as a hobby, but then my husband pointed out that I was getting clients without even trying. Eventually, I was able to start a freelancing business from it.”

That’s not the only way you can find a profitable freelancing idea either. There are actually 4 questions you can ask yourself right now to find an idea you can leverage for your hustle.

1. What do you already pay for? We already pay people to do a lot of different things. Can you turn one of those things into your own online business? Examples: Clean your home, walk your pet, cook you meals, etc.
2. What skills do you have? Now, what do you know — and know well? These are the skills you have that you’re great at — and people want to pay you to teach them. Examples: Fluency in a foreign language, programming knowledge, cooking skills, etc.
3. What do your friends say you’re great at? I love this question. Not only can it be a nice little ego boost — but it can also be incredibly revealing. Examples: Workout routines, relationship advice, great fashion sense, etc.
4. What do you do on a Saturday morning? What do you do on a Saturday morning before everyone else is awake? This can be incredibly revealing to what you’re passionate about and what you like to spend your time on. Examples: Browsing fashion websites, working on your car, reading fitness subreddits, etc.

Find an answer to those questions and I promise you you’ll find a great freelancing idea.

ACTION STEP: Find a profitable idea.

Spend about 10 – 20 minutes now writing down five answers for each of the four questions above. Once you’re done, congratulations — you now have 20 potential business ideas that you can grow into a flourishing side hustle.

For now, just choose one business idea. It’s okay, you can always change it later. For now, we’re going to just try one out and try to find a client with it.

Step 4: Find your first client

In order to start earning money, you need to find the people who will give you money for your ideas.

But the question is…how? Where do you find these people?

For Luisa, that meant going online and finding out where her clients lived.

“I spent a lot of time on Facebook groups talking with potential clients answering their questions about advertising,” Luisa says. “That’s when I found my first client.”

You can do the same thing.

Ask yourself:

• Who is my client?
• Where do they go when they want to look for a solution to their problems?
• Where are they ALREADY looking for solutions to their problems?
• How can you connect them to your service?

At this point, you’re also going to want to niche down your market in order to really tailor your services and draw in customers.

“Stay in your niche,” Shannon suggests. “We had a few instances where we veered from the niche and we paid for it dearly. It might feel cheesy to sit down and figure out what your target market is or what your goals are for the company, but you have to do that. All that legwork needs to be done upfront. It’s just practical.”

So think about who’s an example of a client who might want to buy your product.

A few questions to jumpstart your research:

• How old are they?
• Where do they live?
• What are their interests?
• How much do they make?
• What books do they read?

Using this information, find out what your clients need by going to the places they go.

For example:

• Want to pitch to moms that blog about children? Go to The Mom Blogs and start with the ones under “Popular Blogs.”
• Looking for physical or massage therapists within 50 miles of your house? Yelp should get you started easily.
• If you want to do large dog grooming and sitting, well there’s probably a local pet store or dog park near you where owners are all congregating just waiting for you to offer them a solution.

Here are a few suggestions of some other great sites freelancers can use to find business online:

• Writers: MediaBistro.com, Upwork.com, FreelanceWritingGigs.com 
• Illustrators/Designers: 99designs.com, Designs.net
• Programmers: Toptal.com, SmashingMagazine.com

Once you find a potential client, you’re going to want to reach out to them and pitch your services.

ACTION STEP: Find a client and email them (with scripts).

Find your client using the information, I’ve outlined above. Once you’ve done that, you can reach out to them using this handy script:

CLIENT’S NAME,

I saw your post on X and visited your website. I noticed that you’ve recently started using videos too.  

I’ve been doing video editing for three years and I’d like to offer to help you edit your videos and get them optimized for the web.

That would make them look more professional and load faster, which is important for your readers. And you’d free up time that you could use to create new content.

We can discuss the details, of course, but first I wanted to see if this is something you might be interested in.

If so, would it be okay if I sent you a few ideas on how to help?

Best,

Ramit Sethi

A few takeaways:

• There is zero fat in the pitch. Every word counts and is needed to help really sell the benefits of working with you.
• Don’t mention payment. There’s nothing that will kill a potential client’s interest in you more than pushing prices on them before they’re ready.
• Stress the benefits. This email shows the client why it would be in their best interest to buy from you in the third paragraph.

Once you get a client using this email, congrats! You just secured your first client — but it doesn’t end there. You need to actually do the work for them, and that means continually adding value.

“If your focus is to add as much value as possible, the revenue takes care of itself,” Shannon says. “We deal in a very organic, transparent way. People who want to work with us know that they’re going to be dealt with fairly, and also that we’re going to be adding value. Because of that, we get a lot of referrals, which really helped grow the business to earn what we do now.”

Step 5: Invest again — but this time, in yourself

Investing takes many shapes. It’s not all stocks, bonds, and retirement accounts. Investing can also be in yourself — and it’s something you need to do if you want to earn a million dollars.

From Luisa:

“I’ve always been big on investing [in myself]. Even in my previous businesses it’s been a lot of me putting in the cash into my business. I invested in my site. I invested in a copywriter to teach me how to make copy. I invested in someone to teach me how to make sales calls.

Thankfully, I knew what I didn’t know, so I invested heavily in those things. I’m not a big risk taker. But I do believe in calculated risk. After all, I am my best asset. My top priority is myself or my business.”

I love this. It hits on an idea that all IWT readers should embrace: Be continually curious.

Ask questions when you don’t understand something and don’t be afraid to seek out more information through books, courses, or schooling. It’s only then that you can hope to truly live your Rich Life.

That’s why my team and I have worked hard to create a guide to help you invest in yourself today: The Ultimate Guide to Making Money.

In it, I’ve included my best strategies to:

• Create multiple income streams so you always have a consistent source of revenue.
• Start your own business and escape the 9-to-5 for good.
• Increase your income by thousands of dollars a year through side hustles like freelancing.

Download a FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide today by entering your name and email below — and start blowing up your net worth today.

How to make a million dollars (with advice from actual millionaires) is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

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How to Fund Your Own Maternity Leave

Maternity leaves in the developed world vary in length and pay from nothing to 14 months at no pay to 100% covered. Canada offers one of the most generous government-sponsored leaves available: a full 12 months off at 55% of your salary. This consists of 15 weeks maternity leave to be taken by the mother, plus 35 weeks of paid parental leave that can be taken by either parent. Sad news surprise: as a self-employed person, I didn’t qualify. Whomp, whomp. In Canada, maternity and parental benefits come out of Employment Insurance (EI). In order to qualify for EI, you have to pay into it. Most self-employed freelancers and entrepreneurs opt not to because the costs far outweigh any of the benefits over your working lifetime. The upside of staying out of EI is self-employed Canadians get to keep an extra $2,000 in your business, and therefore your pocket. The […]

The post How to Fund Your Own Maternity Leave appeared first on Money After Graduation.

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How to travel cheap (with advice from pro travelers)

Here’s a hot take: People who say that they love to travel … rarely ever do it.

Instead, they’ll pepper you with excuses as to why they haven’t traveled but still wish they could.

“I don’t have enough vacation days!”

“I’m just way too busy with work/school/binge-watching-the-entirety-of-Game-Of-Thrones.”  

“I’ll finally go backpacking eventually.”

However, the most common excuse that gets uttered by people who wish they traveled is this:

“Traveling is too expensive.”

I’m sure you’ve found yourself saying it. Hell, I’ve used this excuse before too — and there’s a good reason for it. 

Society tells us that traveling (especially international travel) has to be expensive — that unless you’re dropping thousands of dollars on airplane tickets, hotel rooms, tours, museum passes, and expensive travel gear, or spending hundreds of hours studying the mysterious art of travel rewards hacking, you’re going to break the bank.

In reality, you CAN save money without having to do any of those things.

Ask the travel experts

If you know one thing about IWT it’s this: We’re all about expert advice.

That’s why we decided to talk to a few professional travelers to help give you the lowdown on how to travel cheap. You’ll find out exactly how to leverage your money to start traveling without breaking the bank.

Because once you remove the barrier of money…what’s your excuse?

Matthew Kepnes (aka Nomadic Matt)

Website: NomadicMatt.com

Started traveling: July 2006

# of countries traveled to: 80

Matt quit his cubicle job for a life of travel more than a decade ago and hasn’t looked back. He’s since launched his website, NomadicMatt.com, where he’s helped millions of readers get the most out of their travels financially. Oh, and he became the New York Times best-selling author of How to Travel the World on $50 a Day (which puts him in good company with other cool people).  

Bryce Conway

Website: 10xTravel.com

Started traveling: 2011

Favorite travel experience: Living like royalty in Thailand

Bryce first caught the travel bug after he was able to essentially score a free spring break trip during college using the rewards on just one new credit card. When his friends kept asking him advice on how to get into travel hacking, he decided to launch his own business to teach readers how to best leverage travel rewards and points. He’s since accumulated millions of travel points that allow him to travel abroad in luxury several times a year.

Gary Leff

Website: ViewFromTheWing.com

Started traveling: 2002

Number of travel credit cards: Lost count

He’s been called the “godfather of the [frequent flyer] hobby” — and with good reason. He started leveraging points while travel reward programs were still in their relative infancy. Gary’s knowledge and acumen in the world of maximizing rewards spans literal decades, and plenty of others have taken notice. He’s been featured on Good Morning America, The Washington Post, and even The Colbert Report.

Matthew Karsten (aka Expert Vagabond)

Website: ExpertVagabond.com

Started traveling: 2010

First place traveled to outside of US: Guatemala City, Guatemala

For the past 7 years, Matt has hitchhiked across America, gotten a magical tattoo by monks in Thailand, and went cage diving with Great White Sharks, all the while providing readers with insights on how to get the most out of traveling on his website, ExpertVagabond.com. No, he isn’t the Most Interesting Man in the World — he’s better.

NOTE: We have not one but TWO Matt Ks who are travel pros. (Go figure!) As such, I’ll be referring to Matthew Kepnes as Nomadic Matt and Matthew Karsten as Expert Vagabond.

3 rules on how to travel cheap

They all had a lot of a whole lotta great ideas on how to best travel on a budget that easily distilled into three simple rules:

1. Get the best travel credit card
2. Travel at the right time
3. Budget consciously

At the end of each rule, we’ll provide action steps you can take today to make that trip (and that Rich Life) even more attainable.

Cheap travel rule #1: Get the best travel credit card

We’ve written about travel credit cards before — but since I’m sure there is someone out there who hasn’t read it (shocking, I know), allow me to politely reiterate a lesson that goes for anyone who isn’t in any form of credit card debt.

*Ahem*

YOU SHOULD GET A TRAVEL CREDIT CARD!!!!!

Travel credit cards offer some of the best ways to earn Big Wins. By maximizing and accruing points through their associated rewards programs, you can save thousands per year on travel.

This is also the way most of these travel experts we’ve talked to do it so cheap: on points. It’s the bare minimum you should do if you want to travel cheap.

“The biggest bang for your buck when it comes to your travel is definitely rewards points and miles,” Bryce told us. “People think that if you don’t travel for work or travel all the time that you’re never going to earn enough points and miles, and that’s really not true. For the vast majority of people, you’re going to earn more points and miles on the ground through responsible credit card use than you ever will traveling for business.”

Though a good travel credit card has a number of components that make it great, when you boil it down, it all comes down to two things: points and perks.

Points

Airlines and travel credit cards give you points on certain purchases that you can exchange for things like flight tickets and hotels. However, not all points are made the same.

From Gary:

“What you really want out of your credit card earnings are points that transfer to a variety of frequent flyer programs. I’d rather have a point with Chase that can be transferred to United or to another airline or hotel programs than just earning a point with United.”

So you want points that can be exchanged to a wide variety of frequent flyer programs with different airlines. That way, you can maximize your spend when you want to exchange your points.

The airlines that you prioritize will depend on a number of factors, including:

• Proximity to your home. Does the airline operate at an airport near you?
• Your loyalty to them. Do you absolutely love your experience with a certain airline? Is there one you’d rather avoid completely?
• Your destination. Does that airline operate in the place you want to travel to?

By deciding on the airlines you’d like to prioritize, you can make a better judgement about which rewards card you get.

The amount each point is worth in dollars varies from rewards program to rewards program. Luckily, our good friend Brian Kelly over at ThePointsGuy.com keeps a monthly tally of how much certain points are worth.

Perks

Each travel credit card rewards program is unique in the perks they will offer you.

Often times, those perks can be amazing.

“I’ve flown with all the bells and whistles using perks,” Bryce says. “Lying flat seats, amazing meals with a chef on board, Dom Perignon champagne before take off. That’s all what you can really understand your perks. That alone has been life changing in a travel perspective.”

That’s why it’s so important to take the time to understand all of the benefits that come with a certain card before you get it. The small amount of time you spend learning about your card can actually save you a lot of headache later on.

“Take ten minutes to understand the perks of your card,” Bryce suggests. “Many people don’t understand the perks that they have because they get the card and don’t read the fine print or read blogs like mine. That’s why people still contact me saying their flight got delayed and how much it sucked — when many times their card might reimburse them $500 to cover those issues. And they had no idea!”

And while you’re going to want to tailor your card to your goals (more on that later), there’s one travel credit card that recently came to market that has been making waves for its undeniable awesomeness: The Chase Sapphire Reserve.

The king of all travel credit cards: Chase Sapphire Reserve

Annual fee: $450/year

Bonus: 50,000 points (after you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months)

If this card went to your high school, it’d be the prom king quarterback who still managed to get straight As and become an Eagle Scout. It’s really that good.

“This is by far the best card to go with. It’s been very widely publicized in the financial press and with good reason,” Bryce says. “It comes with a ton of perks including free travel insurance, car rental insurance, TSA PreCheck, and Global Entry.”

NOTE: TSA PreCheck allows you to breeze through the line at security, while Global Entry allows you to breeze through the line at immigration. It’s totally worth all the dirty looks you’ll get.

And if that $450 annual fee throws you off, don’t worry — the card practically pays for itself with $300 in annual travel credit as well as its perks.

“Many people get scared away though because of that $450 annual fee,” Bryce continues. “Sure, you’re paying $450, but the perks alone are worth that each year, plus the big sign-up bonus on points.”

The card also offers 50,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 in the first three months, and you’re earning triple points on dining and travel.

Other fantastic perks:

• Lounge access in over 900 airports. Chase gives you access to airport lounges all over the world. These are areas where you can escape the hustle and bustle of the airport terminal, grab a drink, use Wi-Fi, relax in comfy chairs, and even shower in some lounges.
• Reimbursed Global Entry and TSA PreCheck ($100 value). If you travel frequently for work or life, this perk should have you salivating. Free Global Entry means you’ll be able to speed right through the immigration line at the airport AND get access to TSA PreCheck, allowing you to speed through the line at security.
• Better protections if your flight is canceled. If your flight is delayed more than six hours, Chase reimburses you for up to $500 per ticket.

And while we recommend the Chase Sapphire Reserve, we encourage you to get a card that’s tailored to your goals so it’ll best suit your individual needs (Hop down to our “Set a travel goal” section for more info).

How to maximize your travel rewards

Once you get your card in the mail, there are 3 great tactics you can take in order to get the most bang for your buck.

1. Stop using cash.
   
   

   “Use your card for everything you can,” Bryce says. “Try not to pay cash.”

   The best way for you to get as many points as possible on your travel rewards program is to spend it on everything you normally would. That means leaving the cash in your wallet (unless you’re at one of those weird bars that don’t take credit cards like it’s the dark ages).

   You can even spend it on things you wouldn’t have expected.

   “The amount of money you spend is often more than you mentally think it is,” Bryce says. “You can start paying off your utilities on your card. There’s even ways to pay off your student loans, mortgages, and rent.”

2. Don’t go into debt.
   
   

   While this may seem painfully obvious, it’s a lot easier to be more liberal about spending when you know each dollar is going towards that awesome trip to Nairobi.  

   “When you get a new card, it’s easy to get really excited about points,” Bryce explains. “You decide maybe you do need that new flat screen TV and that new coat when you might not otherwise have purchased it.”

   Instead, don’t change your lifestyle for your travel credit card. Instead, be judicious about your purchases and make sure you pay your credit card bills.

   You can do both of those things through one of my favorite financial systems: Automating your personal finances. Keep reading to find out exactly how to get started doing that today.

3. Track your points.

   If you decide to really get into the weeds of travel rewards hacking and get multiple travel credit cards, you’re going to want to keep track of all of your points in one place.

   Gary’s tip for the best way to do this? Use AwardsWallet. It’s an incredibly helpful online travel rewards tracking tool that’ll even notify you if there are any changes in your flight.

   “AwardsWallet lets me track most of my points in one place and it’ll flag when your points are going to expire,” Gary says. “It also helps me track when there are changes to the itinerary or if I have to change my seat. It’s really helpful.”

For more information on how to maximize travel credit cards, be sure to check out our article on the best travel credit card of 2017.

While your travel credit card is only one part of how to travel cheap, the most important thing you could do to get started is setting a goal.

Set a travel goal to help you choose the best card

Much like literally anything else you want to do in life, set a travel goal. Not only will setting a goal help you keep focused (and as a result, increase your chances of accomplishing said goal), it can also help you save money when it comes to travel.

“The important thing to do when you begin travel hacking is to come up with a plan,” Nomadic Matt says. “Have a goal in mind. What do you want?”

And I get it. The question of what you want to get out of your travels is a HUGE one. After all, we’re talking about a literal world you can travel here. That’s why Nomadic Matt suggests you niche down your goal with some specific questions:

• What do you want out of your perks?
• Do you want free flights?
• Do you prioritize hotel points?
• Are you loyal to one brand?
• Is there a specific trip you have in mind?

The answers to these questions can help you come up with goals that can help you decide on which travel credit card you want to go with.

From Nomadic Matt:

“If you’re a loyal flier with American Airlines, the best cards to start off with would be the Citi/AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard (50,000-point sign-up bonus) and the Starwood Preferred Guest Card from American Express (25,000-point sign-up bonus, plus a 20% bonus when you transfer your SPG points to one of their partner airlines like AA). That way you get the perks the card comes with (free checked bags, special discounts, and priority boarding) and can jumpstart your point balance right away.

Just want free hotel rooms? Sign up for the card from the hotel brand of your choice.

Having a trip in mind and then working backwards to see what cards get you there is the best way to optimize your spending. That way you don’t get any card with a flashy bonus, you get the right card. I skip a lot of cards because they just don’t meet my travel needs.”

ACTION STEP: Sign up for a travel credit card

Now it’s time to actually sign up for a travel credit card that’s tailored to your goals. Doing so is simple — but it’ll take a little bit of time (one to two weeks). But if you’re patient and you do your research, you’ll end up with a card that’ll be earning travel points for you in no time.

Step 1: Set a travel goal. Use the questions above to help you find out what exactly you want out of a travel credit card.

Step 2: Research 3-5 travel credit cards. Based on your goals, you’re now going to try to find a good travel credit card that’ll fit your needs. Start with a simple Google query for your goal (ex. “Best travel card for hotels” “Best travel credit card for flights”) and go from there.

Every travel credit card has a web page that’ll contain all of the minutiae related to the card’s perks and rewards program. Spend 10 – 20 minutes reading through each of the pages so you understand what each card has to offer.

Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

• Best for hotels: AmEx Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card. With the sign-up bonus that gives you 25,000 points to spend on hotels, as well as 2 points for every dollar spent for Starwood properties (not to mention the fantastic transfer partners), this card is great for the accommodation conscious.
• Best for beginners: Chase Sapphire Preferred. This one is a perfect introductory card as it has a relatively low annual fee ($95) that’s actually waived the first year. You also have plenty of great rewards as well including 50,000 bonus points if you spend $4,000 in your first three months.
• Best overall: Chase Sapphire Reserve. Seriously, this card is just GOOD.

Step 3: Sign up for one.

Eventually, you’ll want to niche your choices down to one — and only one for now.

We’re going to start slowly here because you don’t want to run up a bunch of new lines of credit and go crazy. Instead, choose the one that’s the best for you.

Signing up is easy. Simply go to the credit card’s website, click on the “Apply Now” button (each site will have a variation of that), and start the application process.

The application itself is relatively simple and will ask you for the following information:

• Name
• Address
• Date of birth
• Employment status
• Yearly salary

Once you’ve applied, the credit card company will find out your debt-to-income ratio (your risk as a client) to determine whether or not you can get a card. If you’re approved, great! You’ll receive your card in the mail in one to two weeks.

If not, that’s okay! I have a great system that can help you improve your credit score and get out of debt.

Cheap travel rule #2: Stay flexible about travel

Much like comedy, travel is all about…

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.

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…timing.

Flexibility can mean the difference of hundreds, possibly even thousands, of dollars in airfare and points.

More specifically, you should be flexible in these three areas:

1. When you fly.
2. Where you stay.
3. Where you go.

When you fly

“Flexibility is the most important thing in finding a cheap flight,” Nomadic Matt says. “You need to be flexible in either your date or destination. If you have to go to Paris on a specific date, then you have to pay the fare. There’s no magic bullet to make the price go down.”

He continues, “But by changing your date by a day or two, you might be able to drop the price. Same works for destinations. If there’s a cheaper flight to London instead of Stockholm, consider going to London instead.”

It also helps to travel during times when there are drastically less people traveling. Off-peak season for uber-popular destinations like New York City or London can have a huge effect on not only airline prices but also hotels, museum entry, and tours as well.

From Bryce:

“One of my wife and I’s favorite thing to do each year is to go to Western Europe either over President’s Day weekend or MLK Day weekend. Those days aren’t holidays over there and everything is half the price it would be if you went during the summer because summer is the peak travel season.

For example, we were in Paris just over a weekend and in just a couple days we were able to hit all of the highlights of what we wanted to see because you’re not waiting 2 hours in line for the Louvre, you’re not having to buy Eiffel Tower tickets weeks in advance. You can just walk into all these places!

Also, our flights were insanely cheap.”

Along with traveling during off-peak season, you can also leverage a variety of online tools to help you travel on a budget.

“Using multiple flight search engine websites like Google Flights, Skyscanner, and Momondo before you choose helps narrow down the cheapest options,” says Expert Vagabond. “You can sign up for fare alerts on these sites too, and they’ll notify you by email if the prices for your destination change.”

Where you stay

This means you can skip the expensive Big Box hotels that are looking to squeeze you of as much money as possible.

“But Ramit,” you might be saying. “I don’t want to stay in a hostel that’ll require me to get a tetanus shot afterwards.”

A common misconception is that traveling cheap means you have to stay in sketchy hostels or flea-ridden hotels.  

“When people picture hostels, they picture the dirty, smelly, cramped places of the 70s and movies that have entered our cultural consciousness,” Nomadic Matt says. “That’s not really the case. Hostels have modernized themselves to meet the demands of the market. They often have nice beds, restaurants, bars, free Wi-Fi, offer tours, and all have private rooms and showers.”

He continues, “I’ve stayed at hostels that rival boutique hotels. I wouldn’t count them out as an option. You can find some really nice ones out there.”

If hostels aren’t your thing, websites such as Airbnb offer a wide array of fantastic alternatives to hostels AND hotels.

“If you’re not into hostels, then hands down the best way to save money on accommodation is via Airbnb (or similar websites),” Nomadic Matt says. “You have a huge selection and great prices. That’s the only way to go if you want something that’s between a hostel and a hotel.”

Where you go

While big cities like Paris, New York, and Tokyo are undeniably alluring, they’re also insanely expensive. In fact, those three cities I just mentioned consistently rank in the top ten most expensive cities in the world.

If that is enough to turn you off from traveling, have no fear! Instead, you can choose to travel to a place with a lower cost of living. Doing this can help you save a ton of money.

“One of the best ways to travel cheap is to go to places that have a cheaper cost of living than the place you currently live,” Bryce says. “People get caught up with costs of the $1,500 to fly to Asia. What they don’t realize is that once you get there, you can live a really similar lifestyle to what you do in the States for about $30 a day.”

HOWEVER, this isn’t to say that in order to travel cheap you have to avoid places like Paris and Tokyo at all costs. If you want to go to a more expensive destination AND not break the bank, you’ll need to learn how to practice conscious budgeting.

ACTION STEP: Use the right tools to book your next travel

So if you’re flexible about when and where you travel, as well as where you stay, you’ll be able to save a lot of money.

Use the tools below to help you book cheap flights and find good accommodations.

Flight tools

• Skyscanner. This is an excellent flight aggregator that allows you to receive price alerts on specific flights when the price goes down. Skyscanner also comes with a handy mobile app that’ll alert you as soon as price for flights drop.
• Google Flight Alerts. Another great flight data aggregator by everyone’s favorite search engine (stop trying to make Bing happen, Bill Gates. It’s not going to happen). This one will send you an email notification as soon as there’s a price change.
• Scott’s Cheap Flights. A best kept secret amongst travel budgeters, Scott’s Cheap Flights will send you insanely low deals right to your inbox.

Accommodation tools

• Airbnb. This site is great to find some really cool places at a relatively low cost (you can even stay in a freaking castle!).
• HostelBookers.com. With over 35,000 hostels in over 170 countries, HostelBookers should be your first stop when trying to find a good hostel. You’ll have no trouble finding an awesome (yet budget friendly) option here.
• HostelWorld. Another great option to find hostels. The site’s 24/7 customer support is also at your call in case you have any questions or concerns about your bookings.  

Cheap travel rule #3: Budget consciously

Budgeting for travel is going to come in two different forms:

1. How you save money for travel
2. How you spend money while traveling

You can approach budgeting for both of these things through painless, automatic systems that do the work for you.

Here’s how.

How to save money before travel

Long time readers can probably guess what the best way to save money for travel is, so let’s all just say it together:

“Automate your finances.”

For those who don’t know what that is, I’ll give a quick breakdown.

Automating your finances is a system wherein your money works passively for you. It’s the ultimate cure to never knowing how much you have in your checking account and how much you can spend.

When you receive your paycheck, your money is funneled to exactly where it needs to go — whether that be your utilities, rent, Roth IRA, 401k, or your savings account.

How do you save for travel using this system? Simple: You start a sub-savings account exclusively for travel and automate your finances so money goes there every month.

Most banks allow you to create a sub-savings account along with your normal savings account (you can even name them too!). Create an account for your traveling goals and start saving today.

“You need to make travel a priority [if you want to do it cheap],” Nomadic Matt says. “Start a separate savings account. Audit your expenses. Keep track of everything you spend money on for a few weeks and find out where the low hanging fruit is.”

“BUT RAMIT! THIS GOES AGAINST YOUR RICH LIFE PHILOSOPHY! WHO AM I TO BELIEVE???”

Look, there’s more than one way to save money. I actually LOVE that the experts and I disagree on this topic. It goes to show that Rich Life philosophy might not work for everyone…and that’s fine. What matters more to me is that you are willing to put forth the effort and start saving money for your goals, whether it be traveling, buying a new house, or getting a new car.

“Not everyone can save a ton of money or even has the means to travel all the time,” Nomadic Matt says. “But with enough time and dedication, the majority of us can get somewhere.“

How to save money while traveling

This one can be boiled down to one line: Live like a local.

“Do you think local Costa Ricans pay for tours all the time when traveling in their own country?” the Expert Vagabond asks. “Or stay at fancy hotels? Or eat out at nice restaurants every night? No. They go to the beach and chill. They stay with friends or in cheap guesthouses. They take the bus. They visit a National Park. They eat at cheap mom & pop eateries. You, as a traveler, can do the same. All you have to do is pay for a flight to get down there!”

And often times, there are also resources at your destination tailormade to help you get the most out of your travels while saving money.

“Go into the local tourism office too,” Nomadic Matt suggests. “They exist to help you save money. They know everything going on in your destination and can point you to free exhibits, attractions, and discounts you won’t find in your Lonely Planet guide. When I was in the Loire in France, they sold discounted entrance to all the castles. I saved about $30 bucks by just walking in. Too many people skip them.”

ACTION STEP: Automate your finances

If you want to learn more about how to automate your finances, check out this 12-minute video of me explaining the exact process I use below. Setting everything up won’t take more than one or two hours out of your day, but it will save you thousands of dollars over your lifetime.

Earning money while abroad

Saving money isn’t the only way you can hold onto cash during your travels. There are actually a variety of ways you can earn money while abroad too.

That’s why my team and I have worked hard to create a guide to help you navigate all the systems that’ll help you earn more money today: The Ultimate Guide to Making Money.

In it, I’ve included my best strategies to:

• Create multiple income streams so you always have a consistent source of revenue.
• Start your own business and escape the 9-to-5 for good.
• Increase your income by thousands of dollars a year through side hustles like freelancing.

Download a FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide today by entering your name and email below — and start blowing up your net worth today.

How to travel cheap (with advice from pro travelers) is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

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