In 2016, I was making $50,000 per year as a copywriter at an advertising agency downtown Chicago.

Then, I quit my job.

But I didn’t just quit out of the blue. I’d made my first $5,000 on the internet with an eBook called Skinny To Shredded after one of my Quora answers (about how I’d gone from a 100-pound teenager with undiagnosed Celiac Disease to a 175-pound shredded body builder) went viral. I’d seen the power of writing online and I wanted more of it.

So after a few months, I quit—with less than 60 days runway to keep me going.

What happened next was a rollercoaster. After 30 days, I was making $20,000 per month as a ghostwriter. Then I went through 5 months of ups and downs. But 18 months later, I’d grown a ghostwriting agency to $180,000 per month.

I learned a ton of lessons along the way. If I was starting my ghostwriting business from scratch today, here’s what I’d do.

Let’s dive in!

Step 1: Become a master of ONE

When you're just starting out in the world of ghostwriting, it's tempting to try and do ALL the things:

• Ghostwriting eBooks
• Ghostwriting newsletters
• Ghostwriting marketing materials
• Ghostwriting thought-leadership articles

This is inefficient. And this is why a lot of writers burn out so quickly—because they get overwhelmed trying to do everything.

Instead, hyper-focus on one thing and then deep dive into learning everything you can.

• Pick one type of client
• Pick one type of writing
• Pick one problem to solve

Say you want to ghostwrite newsletters for fractional CMOs who work with tech startups.

If you want to get better at writing newsletters, start your own newsletter about marketing for tech startups. Post on social media about this topic. Curate the work of the big names in your field. Talk about what you’re learning (and what you already know) in your newsletter.

This helps you do three key things:

• You refine your thinking about your niche
• You understand how to write and run a successful newsletter
• And you create your own credibility because you can prove to potential clients that your newsletter “works” (and they can even sign up for it!)

Use this “Practicing in Public” strategy to build out your profile and show off your skills.

Pick 1 thing. Master it.

And if you're looking for the most lucrative ghostwriting service to pick, then here are the top 5 we recommend.

Step 2: Work for free

After you’ve been “Practicing in Public” for a while, you’ll either attract clients through what you publish on social media and/or your newsletter, or you’ll contact them by pitching them.

I encourage every ghostwriter who’s just getting started to actively pitch people they want to work with. Start by making a list of all the fractional CMOs who work with tech startups. Reach out to them directly. DM them on X or find their email using a tool like Hunter.io and fire off a message.

But don’t send any old DM. ”Hey do you need a ghostwriter?” is a poor excuse for a cold DM. Instead, offer them free advice (or “Free Consulting”) on a problem they are having. Explain how and why they should solve the problem.

For anyone who responds, offer your services for free.

You’re probably thinking, “WHAT?! No way! I deserve to be paid for my hard work!”

But writers who make a lot of money don’t get paid for their hard work or their time.

They get paid for the RESULT they are able to deliver for the reader, customer, or client. Which means, before you should even start worrying about how to make money, you first need to PROVE that you can solve people’s problems using your service.

Work for free, and let the outcomes speak for themselves.

• Prove yourself
• Keep sharpening your skills
• Show you can deliver the result

The money will follow.

(Note: While you are working for free, keep writing, keep curating, and building in public. Show you are in the game and actively participating. Stay consistent, and you will become a recognized authority on your topic.)

Step 3: Start charging $$$

Your first client project is a test.

• A test for you, to see if you can achieve the client’s goal
• A test for the client, to see if you’re someone worth working with

If you're successful, they'll want more. If not, you know what you need to work on.

Once you pass the free test, offer to do more work with them (and make sure they know it’s not free!). This is where most new ghostwriters go wrong. They ask the next logical question: “How much should I charge?” But this is the wrong question.

Writers who charge per hour (or worse, per WORD) are killing themselves.

Here’s why:

Your value is not the number of hours you work.

It's the result you deliver.

Charging on an "hourly" basis puts emphasis on the TIME and not the VALUE of your skill. Customers then question how LONG it takes you to do something opposed to how DIFFICULT or how SPECIALIZED the task is. This leads to a race to the bottom: "hire the cheapest person possible."

The right question is: “What is the client’s time worth?”

Recognize who you are selling to and how they value time and money.

Your time is irrelevant. Removing hours from the equation makes it easier to build trust. "I'm less concerned with how long this takes me, and more concerned with driving the end result for you." This 1 phrase makes it 10x easier for customers to say YES, because they trust you won't run the bill up.

Pro tip: If your client offers consulting services, search for their hourly fee. This is the value of their time. Multiply their rate by the number of hours it will take you to complete the project.  This is your fee.

Charge for the outcome, even if it feels uncomfortable.

And if you want more help on figuring out how much to charge, this guide will help you get started.

Step 4: Leverage your 1st client into a 2nd client

The secret to building a ghostwriting business is having clients.

And the easiest way to get new clients is through referrals. Don't be afraid to ask your first client for an introduction to someone:

"I'm passionate about ghostwriting. Anyone else you know who might need a ghostwriter?"

If you've done good work for a client, they'll be happy to vouch for you. And even if they don't know anyone who needs a writer like you, they'll probably be willing to connect you with someone who does. Being introduced by someone who knows and trusts you is a huge advantage for any ghostwriter.

This is the power of credibility.

Step 5: Don't wait for clients. Sell!

Don’t wait for someone to call you, be proactive, and start pitching your services.

• You've done some free work
• You've proven you can do it
• You've leveraged your credibility into a second client

Now get out there and sell!

DM people you want to work for, cold email them, tap your network and get busy selling! Even if that means offering to do the first thing you do for them for free.

Take it upon yourself to sell your services. And it's super easy—anyone with an internet connection can do it. Here's my $3,000,000 cold outreach framework.

Pro tip: Ditch the hard sell. People don't buy writing services, they buy a transformation and outcomes. As a ghostwriter, you are taking the burden of writing off your clients shoulders. You are saving them valuable time, and you are creating an asset for them that they can leverage for more sales in their business.

Focus on the outcomes you create.

If you follow this roadmap, you’ll grow a successful ghostwriting business.

Now the temptation is to keep adding more clients, hire a team, and scale to the moon.

But before you do that, consider this.

Instead of adding more writers and clients, here are four actions you can take to make 10X more money:

• Trim your mediocre clients. Ideal clients save you time. Mediocre ones cost you time.
• Raise your prices. The better you get, keep raising your rate and look to replace your lower-paying clients. Tell them you need to up the cost. The right ones will stay. The wrong ones will leave.
• Productize your work. Once your client roster is full and 80%+ are paying full rate, and you’ve raised your prices as high as they can go, the only way to scale beyond is through products. Start turning your knowledge into books, courses, or software.
• As product revenue increases, shed clients. Look at the revenue for each of your clients, and when a product starts making the equivalent amount, let the client go. Get your time back for higher level work and invest your product.

Then, if you want, you can scale by hiring a team. But your overarching scaling goal is to flip client revenue with product revenue.

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