Freelance Content Marketer Earning $150,000CAD/year

Welcome to another post in the $100k Club series. You can see the full series here. This is "My Morning Routine" for content marketing folks making six figures. The goal is to shed light on the skills and habits that enable people to achieve lucrative jobs and help get more people in this club.

These will be anonymous and updated regularly. If you make more than $100k/year and want to contribute, fill out the form here.

For more info on content marketing salaries, check out our salary report.

If you'd like to see more info on salary by job title, check out these resources: Content Marketing Manager Salary, Content Strategist Salary, Head of Content Salary, and Content Director Salary.

What was your first full-time job in content? What was the salary?

My first full-time role in content was as a writer at an investment publication called Investment News Network. I joined as a full-time in-house writer for their customer-facing editorial team and was paid $40,000 CAD to start.

List out your income by year for as long as you've been working in content marketing.

• 2017: Year 1 at INN: $40,000
• 2018: Year 2 at INN: $48,000
• 2019: Year 3 at a content marketing agency: $50,000
• 2020: Year 4 at a content marketing agency: $65,000
• 2021: Year 5 at a content marketing agency: $72,000
• 2022: Year 6 freelancing: $120,000
• 2023: Year 7 freelancing: $150,000

How much do you earn today? What's your job title?

$150,000 CAD as a freelance content marketer.

What's single biggest salary jump you've made? (either from job-hopping or a promotion/raise)

The move from being a full-time employee at a content marketing agency to working for myself.

What is your most valuable skill?

My ability to build trusted relationships with my clients as a result of my strong writing skills, timeliness, and active communication. This has led to a number of word-of-mouth referrals that have grown my business.

What's the best book you've ever read on writing, marketing, sales, business or productivity? (Feel free to suggest more than one!)

Can't say I've read a lot of books on the subject, but I get a lot of value from Tracey Wallace's Contentment newsletter.

Have you had a career mentor/coach? If so, how did you find them and what have you learned from them?

I have not.

What skills or habits help you thrive at work?

I am a super organized individual. I know how to leverage the tools at my disposal (e.g. Notion) to sort out my projects and assign myself the time I need to do the work. This helps me deliver my projects on time and also gives me the space to take time off when I want to.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to join the $100k club?

Create a set up that's sustainable to you. You know how you work and thrive best, so enabling those situations is always going to open the door to you getting more earning power. Also, if you're freelancing, the goal should always be to work less for more money. Build up the quality of your work, keep raising your rates, and continue building strong, trusted relationships with your customers.

Where do you live?

Vancouver, BC, Canada