Successful freelancers start by not calling themselves freelancers
Are you frustrated with competing for low-paying gigs on freelance marketplaces like Upwork, trying to satisfy clients looking for a bargain to complete their project? Working long hours for pennies is not the way to maintain a sustainable career as a freelancer in 2025.
The good news is that while getting-rich-quick is a myth, there are ways to build up your income as a freelancer relatively quicker than others, using powerful strategies that enable you to make money without relying on lowballing clients or endless hustle that injures your wellbeing.
Here are some ways you can make $200 a day as a freelancer this year (use these methods in combination for this to be most effective):
1. Stop Calling Yourself A Freelancer
Sometimes the greatest change occurs when you shift your perspective, and consequently, your language. If you want to be taken seriously, paid big money, and not classified with the millions of others who also identify as freelance professionals, you need to reconsider your approach to your work. Stop introducing yourself as a freelancer. Instead, get straight to the point and redefine your language with “consultant,” “specialist,” “agency,” “advisor,” etc. Saying that you’re a freelancer groups you with tons of other professionals in freelance marketplaces, who often get clients bartering them down for services. But when you shift the way you introduce yourself, you take your work more seriously and others do too.
This shift in perspective should also impact your strategy. Instead of thinking for the short term, conduct your market research and set out your business goals and action plan as if you were launching a multiple-person business. Set up systems that allow you to scale and even delegate some of your responsibilities to other professionals. Treat your freelance business like a start-up.
2. Offer High-Value Services
The key to making more money with less stress is to strategically think about what services you can offer and what skills you have that can yield the highest income within the shortest space of time. This usually comes from high-income skills–skills which are in strong demand within the business world and have a strong upward growth trajectory (you can research this online through using resources like Google Trends, Statista, LinkedIn, social media, and freelance platforms).
Examples of such skills include AI (including generative AI), social media management, marketing, copywriting, consulting, software development, and content writing.
With these high-value services you can easily make $200 or more in a day (for instance you could charge as low as $8,000 for an AI consulting project, and if you where to work on it for 30 days, you’d still be making more than $260 daily–and this is on the lower end of the AI consulting price scale).
3. Focus On High-Ticket Clients
The term, “high-ticket offers” or “high-ticket clients” is often thrown around quite a bit in the freelance coaching and consulting world. But what exactly does it really mean? High-ticket offers are services or packages specifically designed for clients who are more wealthy than your general target market. This customer base can afford to pay several thousands of dollars for a package or set of services with you.
The secret to why this business model is so effective and is worthwhile considering as part of your freelance business strategy, is that even with just two or three clients, you’ve already earned and far surpassed what you’d be making in a regular job, per day or per month.
For example, you could offer high-ticket business coaching, executive coaching, agile coaching for project teams, or even sales coaching for an organization’s sales leaders and teams.
The easiest way to get high-ticket clients is by deciding to work with business entities as opposed to working with individuals, as these tend to have designated budgets in their departments for outsourced training, and they would obviously be charged more due to their headcount. However, there are of course individuals who would benefit from your high-ticket offer. The key is knowing how to network effectively so you can find them.
So, just to revisit what we’ve covered so far: To successfully make $200 or more a day as a freelancer (yes, even while working from home) you need to:
- Rethink your perspective, language, and strategy
- Focus on high-income skills and deliver in a niche where there is demand
- Incorporate high-ticket offers into your business model
Freelancers that work with high-ticket clients get more value from their time and are able to … [+]
Making Money Online As A Freelancer FAQs
How can I make money online from nothing?
If you have no money, you can still make money online. You don’t need financial capital to launch a profitable online freelance business. You just need creativity and brain capital. (Brain capital refers to the skills, expertise, and knowledge that you already have, which you can monetize.) All you need is your laptop and reliable internet. You can even make money from your phone if that’s all you have to begin with.
What can I do to start making money online right now?
There’s no such thing as getting rich quick, and you should be on your guard against any scheme that promotes itself as such. However, there are things you can do to start making money today, this week, that will compound over time. Sometimes, you may find that you get paid sooner than you expected. Some ideas include setting up a freelancing profile on Fiverr or Upwork, joining TaskRabbit, or setting up a profile on other gig platforms. You can find some ideas here.
Source: 3 Ways To Make $200 A Day As A Freelancer In 2025