Six Figures in Sweatpants: A No-Bullsh*t, Practical Guide to Building a Freelance Career.

by Ellen Hunter Gans

A no-bullsh*t, practical guide to ditching the 9-to-5 grind and building the freelance career and life you want. Includes step-by-step advice for selecting a line of work, setting up a business, developing marketing materials, finding clients, making yourself stand out, and getting paid. Why? Because "real" jobs suck, and so do real pants.

Within the next 20 years, freelancing will be the norm. Get ahead of the curve and establish your hold on the market now. Whether you're unemployed or unhappily employed, Six Figures in Sweatpants can help you build a fulfilling, potentially lucrative career.

The best part? You'll be your own boss. You'll set your own hours. You'll work from home (in sweatpants, if that's your preferred style).

Six Figures in Sweatpants doesn't sugarcoat anything. Gans spells out the nitty gritty of starting a business, from deciding on an LLC vs. an S-Corp to the navigating the realities of earning an unstable income.

Say goodbye to your cubicle forever.

98 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 8, 2015

Reviews

[Jay French · Rating 3 out of 5]

When you read short books like this, you need to consider whether it is written for motivational purposes or to provide some how-to specifics. This one is short, so I'd tend to think this is more motivational. And it is, but given its length, it does pack quite a bit of how-to in, although at a high level. As I read through this book I noticed that a good portion of the content was more about how to decide if freelancing is a good idea, and to talk yourself into the idea. It gives some of the pros and cons of the freelance life, including the titular opportunity to make big bucks wearing sweatpants, possibly on a beach. The detail is mostly in highlighting some of the major pieces you need to put in place to be a successful freelancer, such as contracts and company creation. In these areas, the author kept to a pretty high level, just suggesting why you'd need each and a few topics these aspects would need to cover. In some other areas where, perhaps, the author felt more comfortable, there are more details included. One such area is in marketing materials, where the author suggests the contents of a package of info you might leave with a prospective client, with suggestions on documents and on style. Again, this is a very short book, so the bits that are covered in greater depth are minimal. I have read quite a few "starting a business" books and this is much like them in a short form. The part I liked best was the appendix, about how to select a gig that works for you. Good advice, good examples, and only a page or two.