I Diversifying My Income Through Buying An Investment Property And Starting An Events Company
This is a follow up story for Daniel Waldman Writing. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published almost 7 years ago, check it out here.
Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.
I’m Daniel Waldman, a former marketing/PR agency owner turned freelance copywriter. I work with businesses to help shape and tell their story through website copy, articles, case studies, blogs, video scripts, etc. With nearly 20 years of experience, I excel at making complex topics easy and digestible. I’ve worked with startups, Fortune 500 companies, and everything in between. On average, I earn about $4,000/month.
Be self-critical. It’s the hardest thing you can do, and it can sometimes lead you down the path of self-doubt. But that’s a good thing.
Tell us about what you’ve been up to! Has the business been growing?
Covid was actually very good for business--had my best year as a freelance writer ever. This year is back down to normal, though I’ve noticed a bit of a slow down in the past few months. To help bolster this, I’ve been reviewing all my own copy, offerings, and pricing. Because I live in France and most of my customers pay in USD, I was getting hit really hard whenever the exchange rate dipped.
It’s back up to a decent level now, but to help protect myself against fluctuations, I’ve slightly reduced the discount I give for larger orders. This might actually be impacting the number of sales I close, but it’s still a little early to tell.
I’ve also been working on diversifying my income through 1) buying an investment property and 2) starting an events company called Your French Events. Essentially, I’m looking to work with organizations and individuals in the US to hold events here in France. I actually started this before Covid, but obviously had to put everything there on hold. I have my first event lined up and am going to start building the website to properly market the company soon. I’m really excited about this first event because we have a really high-profile NYTs bestselling and Emmy Award-winning writer as the guest lecturer!
What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?
To be honest, this past year has mainly been about mental and physical survival. Keeping my head on, focusing on what’s immediately in front of me, and not letting the state of the world get to me, getting enough exercise, etc. You know, the standard avoidance of existential dread.
What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?
As mentioned, my immediate goal is to officially launch my events business. I’d like to get it up to 3-5 events/year. I’m also looking into other real estate investment opportunities. For my writing business, I don’t have any particular goals, but I’m certainly open to new opportunities.
Have you read any good books in the last year?
I tend not to read business books too often, though I’m proud to say that I played an instrumental role in editing Billion Dollar B2B Ecommerce, a comprehensive guide to ecommerce for B2B firms.
I’m a big sci-fi fan and I’ve been working my way through The Expanse series (currently on the 4th book).
Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business?
Be self-critical. It’s the hardest thing you can do, and it can sometimes lead you down the path of self-doubt. But that’s a good thing. You have to look at your business from time to time from an outsider’s perspective. To that end, I recently hired a friend and colleague (a fellow freelance writer) to review my Fiverr Pro profile to help me boost visibility on the platform. She had some great feedback and actually caught some things that had changed over the past few years since I set it up.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
Nope, I like working for myself, by myself. I’ve considered outsourcing from time to time, but my feeling is that if I need to spend any time editing someone else’s work, I might as well just be doing it myself.
Where can we go to learn more?
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
