Reading Time – 3 minutes

The question I get constantly regarding starting a location-independent business is: How much can I make, and how soon? The only honest answer is: it depends on variables that you control more than you think. Change the variables, change the outcome.

I can’t give you a universal dollar figure because your situation isn’t universal. Are you willing to put in real hours each week? Are you selling a high-margin service at a grown-up price? Do you move fast or spend three weeks “getting ready” to send one email? These aren’t rhetorical questions; they are the levers that directly determine how quickly money shows up.

If you’re using the models I recommend—consulting or a business service with strong margins—you’re not trying to win on volume at $99 a pop. You win by solving a meaningful problem for a narrow market and charging several thousand dollars to do it. That’s how you compress timelines.

The Three Variables That Decide Your Timeline

1) Work rate.
How many focused hours can you put in? Not “thinking about it.” Not watching business YouTube. Actual outreach, actual calls, actual delivery. If you can’t carve consistent weekly time, your ramp slows. If you can, it speeds up—surprise.

2) Price and margin.
Selling a $3,000–$5,000 outcome with high margin is fundamentally different from selling $200 widgets. Higher price + higher margin = fewer clients to hit your target and more cash to reinvest. You might not feel ready to charge $25,000 on day one (some do), but you can absolutely price in the low four figures and grow from there.

3) Speed of execution.
The modern economy rewards speed. Some people hear “do this, this, and this,” and it’s done in three days. Others drift for a month, then ask for new instructions. Same plan, different clock. Speed compounds.

If you focus, keep the scope simple, and sell something priced in the low four figures, you can make several thousand dollars within a few weeks. Many first wins land in the 6–10 week window, and 90 days is a perfectly reasonable target to be meaningfully profitable. That’s why a lot of people structure a 90-day build: tight offer, tight list, tight execution.

Typical pattern I see:

• First client: $1,000–$2,000 (confidence builder, proof of concept).
• Second or third client: $8,000–$12,000+ as you refine scope, tighten outcomes, and quote with a spine.

Could it go faster? Yes—especially if you’re between jobs, have no kids, and can stack more hours. Could it take longer? Also yes—if you’re juggling a demanding job and you move slowly. That’s the variables at work.

“Can I Hit $85,000 a Year—and When?”

$85,000 a year is roughly $7,100 per month. If you’re doing real work each week, quoting several-thousand-dollar projects, and moving quickly, you can get there in a few months. “A few” isn’t magical; think 3–7 months depending on your throughput, your niche, and how fast you implement. Stack a couple of $3k–$5k projects and one larger win, and you’re already in that neighborhood.

Six figures is very doable with consulting and business-service models. Plenty of solo operators and lean micro-teams do it. Seven figures is different. It usually requires a model shift—productized services at scale, bigger deal sizes, team or systems beyond one person, or a hybrid with information products/licensing. The skill set is adjacent, not identical.

A good rule of thumb: up to $500k–$600k/year can be achieved with the “classic” lean model if you’re consistent and keep your offer tight. Beyond that, expect to change how you sell, deliver, and staff.

Most people don’t fail because the model doesn’t work. They fail because they won’t do the same things that work for long enough. They get a few clients, then jump to crypto, then decide it’s time to build a massive YouTube channel, then pivot again. Shiny Object Syndrome is expensive. Choose one thing, give it a proper year or two, and let compounding do its job.

A Simple Path You Can Actually Follow

Pick one painful problem for one clear buyer. Make a short, outcome-driven offer in their language. Talk to 20–30 of them. Quote like an adult. Deliver a measurable win in 30–45 days. Then raise prices and tighten scope based on what you learned. That’s it. Not sexy. Very effective.

Your timeline is a math problem with human variables: work rate, price/margin, and speed. Control those, and your income ramps faster than you think. Ignore them, and you’ll spend a year “setting things up” with nothing to show for it.

You can start earning within weeks, be reliably profitable by 90 days, and hit ~$7k/month (≈$85k/year) in 3–7 months if you actually do the work, sell real outcomes, and move quickly. Stay focused, keep the offer simple, and execute. The money follows speed and clarity.

Leave your comment below, but be sure to follow the Five Simple Rules.