12: Freelance to Freedom: From $30k a Year to $30k in a Day

“You have a skill, but you’re not using it correctly."

That the tough love advice Vincent Pugliese's father gave him.

Vincent was working what he thought was his dream job as a photojournalist. He'd just won the most prestigious award in his industry (International Sports Photographer of the Year), and he and his wife Elizabeth had a baby on the way.

Yet the newspaper job didn't pay well. With the impending arrival of their son, Vincent took a hard look at his financial picture: he was in his mid-30s, 6-figures in debt, and earning $15 an hour.

Not great.

Something had to change, and something did.

Four years later, the family was debt free and self-employed, thanks to the success of their freelance photography side hustle.

Note: Click here to download Vincent’s top tips for creating freedom through freelancing.

I met Vincent at Podcast Movement and invited him on the show to share his inspiring and relate-able story. With a growing trend toward freelance workers, his transition is one many people will need to make over the next few years.

With his newfound time freedom, Vincent has kept busy with a number of new projects including his upcoming book Freelance to Freedom, and an online course teaching parents how to take better sports pictures of their kids.

(Even though Vincent had no "audience" of his own to sell to, the course did over $30k on launch day, giving us the hook for this episode.)

Tune in to hear how he and his wife got it done and how you can apply the same strategies to the skills on your own resume.