How To Make Money From Coding - A Complete Guide

Learn coding, unlock unlimited earning potential, and transform your life.

The video that you're about to watch breaks down literally everything I know about making money from coding. This is raw, unedited, and unscripted; it's just me talking directly to the camera and sharing with you pretty much everything I've learned over the past 10 years and how I've been able to earn a full-time income from my coding skills.

You should know that this video is broken into four sections, which used to be individual videos in a private community that I had. Now, I'm no longer running that community, so I simply spliced the videos together and decided to make them public so that all of you could enjoy and learn from them. With that in mind, if you do actually want to put this video into practice and start making money from coding, you do have to have some coding skill. I know a lot of you already have that, but if you don't and you're looking for a roadmap to explain what you need to learn, I have a free introduction course which you can check out from the link below. This is a part of my premium coding course with Course Careers, but the free introduction course is free; you just need to sign up, and then you'll get access to it. You can watch about an hour and a half of completely free content where I give you as much value as I can and break down exactly what you need to do in order to get to a junior software engineer level, which is kind of the level you need to be at when you can start really monetizing this skill.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy. Let's get into the video.

Hello everybody and welcome to this course where we're going to break down for you how to make money from coding. What I'm going to do is explain to you the value of coding, what my journey looked like, and how I started from making 20 bucks a week to now making sometimes over $20,000 per week. Then, I'm going to discuss all the different methods you can potentially follow. There are so many different categories, many of which you've probably never heard of before. If you want to earn a full-time income or sometimes much more from programming, I'm thinking to talk to you about going from a developer to an entrepreneur, what that looks like, and the mindset shift that needs to take place if you want to make some serious income. Finally, I'm going to talk about thinking long-term and how you make this more of a career rather than something you do on the side.

Okay, so let's get into it here with this first video: Value of Programming. Learning how to code is one of the most valuable skills you can have. Not only does it teach you problem-solving, critical thinking, and reasoning, which is something that's going to carry with you the rest of your life, but the risk-to-reward ratio is so low. What I mean by that is it takes you maybe 6 to 12 months to get decent enough at coding where you actually can provide some value to the marketplace. In that time, you're immediately able to start making a ton of money, and the upside is completely uncapped. You could easily be making hundreds of thousands of dollars in your second year being a developer. I know developers who made $300,000 to $400,000 in year two or year three of their career, and I know guys that sold startups after just learning how to code for 2 to 3 years.

The upside is just so high; it's potentially uncapped. Even if you go all the way down to the low side where maybe you land some junior entry-level position at a subpar company, you're making $50,000 to $60,000 a year, which is still a lot better than having to go to school, spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, and waste four years of your life just to get into a career with no growth and no upside. Beyond that, the number of ways to make money is unlimited. You don't have to get a job, and in fact, a lot of the options I'm going to share with you here don't involve working a 9-to-5 job. You can work anywhere in the world you want, in any economy you want, which I think is really important. You don't have to be a US citizen, Canadian citizen, or from a more developed country. You can be from a developing nation and still make a ton of money.

For example, I pay guys that live in Tunisia around $7,000 per month. Why do I pay him that? Because he knows how to code. I don't care that he lives in Tunisia. If I don't pay him that, someone else is going to pay him that and they're going to steal him from me. It's about the value you can provide, not where you live, and I think that's really a great thing.

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You can make serious money coding from anywhere in the world, regardless of where you're from.

Working a 9-to-5 job is no longer a necessity; you can work anywhere in the world you want, in any economy you want, which I think is really important. You don't have to be a US citizen, Canadian citizen, or from a more developed country. You can be from a developing nation and still make a ton of money. For example, I pay guys in Tunisia around $7,000 per month. Why do I pay him that? Because he knows how to code. I don't care that he lives in Tunisia; if I don't pay him that, someone else will, and they'll steal him from me. It's about the value you can provide, not where you live. This eliminates barriers present in different industries because you can work anywhere, anytime, and for as long as you want. You could do 70-hour weeks or 20-hour weeks; there are just so many different ways to make money.

I figured this out quite early in my journey. I started learning how to code at 12, and by the time I was 14, I was making money, not very much, but I was tutoring people and making $10, $20, $30 a week. By the time I was 16, I was getting paid double what my colleagues were because I knew how to code and was teaching that at a summer camp. By 17, I made about $30,000 to $40,000 in a single year, which is crazy for someone in grade 12 going into first-year university. When I was 18, I made over $100,000, and by 19, I made over $250,000, out-earning my parents. By 20, I was making high multiple six figures, and beyond that, I've made millions of dollars in a single year and in my career simply because I know how to code.

Obviously, you compound and add skills on top of that, but it all started with having a high-value skill that allowed me to contribute something to the marketplace. Once you realize this, you can build it up to the point where you're making so much money it's unbelievable. I don't say this to brag; many of you know I'm a fairly humble person. I want to get you pumped up, motivated, and inspired. This is a more closed community, so I want to share those hidden gems and secrets that allow you to make serious money to the point where you are financially free, have location independence, and can work whenever you want, which I think is the ultimate goal for many of you.

With that said, hopefully, I got you excited. Let's get into the next video and talk about how you actually make money from coding. In video two, I have 14 different methods to share with you on how you can make money from coding. I'll give a quick explanation of each, but I won't drag it on. At some point, we will make a more in-depth course that breaks down all of these strategies, methods, getting clients, etc. For now, I just want to give you different methods so you can start experimenting today.

Let's start with number one: freelancing. Freelancing means you're on your own, doing random side jobs, gig work, or hourly work for a company. You can work for whoever you want, whenever you want, for the number of hours you want, assuming you're getting paid for those hours. You're not an employee, you don't have benefits, and you're not tied down to a set schedule. You might do a certain number of hours or finish a specific project. I've done freelancing for as low as $20 per hour when I was young and doing simple side gigs, all the way up to $400 per hour. If you're really good, you can get paid those rates. Typically, my freelancing rate is now $150 to $200 per hour, which is fairly typical for a skilled coder.

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Freelancing and tutoring can be incredibly lucrative, with potential earnings ranging from $20 to $400 per hour, and project-based work can skyrocket your hourly rate.

Assuming that you're getting paid by a company for a certain number of hours, you're not an employee. You don't have benefits, you're not tied down to a set schedule, and usually, it's just about completing a certain number of hours or finishing a specific project. Freelancing can range significantly in terms of pay. For instance, I’ve done freelancing for as low as $20 per hour when I was younger and handling very simple side gigs. However, I’ve also earned up to $400 per hour, which may sound insane, but if you're really good, you can command such rates. Nowadays, my freelancing rate typically falls between $150 to $200 per hour, which is fairly typical for a more senior developer with a broad scope of work. As a junior developer, you can easily earn $50, $60, or $70 per hour, depending on the company and the tasks.

Project-based freelancing is where the real money is. For example, you might build a website for someone and charge a flat fee based on the value provided, not the time spent. If you create a website for $5,000 that takes you 5 hours, you effectively earn $1,000 per hour. The client doesn't care about the time; they just want the website done right.

Tutoring is another great option, especially if you're just starting out. It's an easy way to make money immediately because people always need one-on-one help. Finding clients can be straightforward; for instance, if you're in university, you can post flyers with your contact information offering one-on-one tutoring for computer science or any other subject. Tutoring rates can vary from $5 or $10 per hour to $200 per hour, especially if dealing with wealthy clients. Group tutoring is also lucrative; for example, tutoring 10 people at $20 each can earn you $200 per session. This model is highly viable and has been personally profitable for me, earning around $20,000 to $30,000 over time.

Creating tutorials is another avenue. If you have a significant social media presence, you can post tutorials and earn through AdSense. Many companies need tutorials for specific frameworks, libraries, or languages. Jobs in technical writing or making video tutorials for platforms are available, even for those without a big social media presence. Friends of mine, who are decent teachers, get paid around $2,000 per tutorial video for other YouTubers' channels. Tutorials can also be in text form, such as blog articles, and platforms like Medium can offer payment or exposure for such content.

Building a personal brand is a more dedicated and potentially full-time endeavor. Even as a beginner, starting a series like "learning to code in 100 days" can be a good start. This approach requires more commitment but can be highly rewarding in the long run.

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Build your personal brand by sharing your coding journey daily, even as a beginner, to unlock unexpected opportunities and connections.

They were able to connect with a company and now make videos that are posted on the company's YouTube channel, receiving a flat US dollar rate per tutorial. Tutorials can also be created in other mediums such as text-based tutorials, blog articles, and various other avenues. Even if you opt for medium-based tutorials, you can get paid or at least gain some exposure.

Personal branding is another avenue, though it requires more dedication and might eventually need to be taken more seriously. Even beginners can start a series like "learning to code in 100 days," posting daily TikTok videos or Instagram posts to share their learning journey. This can quickly build a following. The most relatable personal brands often come from beginners or intermediates, as they share their journey rather than just technical content. This approach can open up numerous opportunities, including job offers, brand deals, collaborations, and meeting incredible people.

Software as a Service (SaaS) is another great option. You can build software that people are willing to pay for, even if it's not the best quality. Many companies offer SaaS, and they make substantial money from it. SaaS businesses often have recurring revenue, which can lead to a significant multiplier if you decide to sell the business. A friend of mine, who was an intermediate developer, built a SaaS business, gained about 10,000 users, and sold the company for a few hundred thousand dollars. This allowed him to pursue other interests. Building software, even if it fails, provides valuable experience and looks good on a resume.

Mobile apps are another lucrative field. There are many low-quality mobile apps that people still pay a lot of money for, such as fitness trackers, weight trackers, and habit trackers. If you can market your app well and gain some users, you can make a fair amount of money. Mobile app development can also be fun if it's something you enjoy, and finding a monetization angle can make it profitable.

Lastly, WordPress or Shopify themes can be very lucrative. Although not directly related to coding, creating top themes for platforms like Shopify or WordPress can be highly profitable. You can also buy pre-made HTML and CSS templates. If you manage to create a popular theme, it can be a significant source of income.

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Turn your coding skills into cash by creating habit tracker apps, designing WordPress themes, or offering tech solutions to small businesses.

Weight trackers and habit trackers are examples of mobile applications that anyone can create. If you're able to market it well and get a few users, incorporating some in-app currency or similar features, you can make a fair amount of money from these apps. This method is not only profitable but also enjoyable if you like building mobile apps. It's important to try to get a monetization angle on that.

Next, we have WordPress or Shopify themes. Although not directly related to coding, creating themes can be really lucrative, especially if you develop one of the top themes. By exploring Shopify, you can see the variety of themes available, many of which are paid. Similarly, you can buy WordPress themes or pre-made HTML and CSS templates. If your theme gets quite a few downloads, you can achieve high volume sales and make a lot of money. This is worth checking out because it doesn't require much work; it might take a few days to build a theme, and even if it gets a few sales a month, it can provide great side income.

Technical writing is another valuable opportunity. Writing documentation is often considered a huge pain, and many people, including myself, don't enjoy it. However, if you are into writing and good at English, this can be a very valuable skill. You don't need to be an expert-level programmer; it's more important to have a decent understanding of programming basics and be a good writer. Combining these two skill sets makes you quite valuable, and you can find full-time jobs or freelance gigs in this field.

Helping small businesses is another rewarding avenue. This can be combined with any of the other methods mentioned. Some of my favorite projects involve going to small businesses that lack a website, marketing, or a tool that could save them significant time, and building it for them. The great thing is that it doesn't need to be perfect or amazing; you're not building a new website for Facebook, but for a local bakery, for instance. This approach is more relatable but does involve some sales skills, which can be challenging for some.

For example, when I worked at a summer camp, I noticed the admins manually scheduled activities for different groups of kids every week. They used numerous sheets of paper, highlighters, and spent an entire day on this task. I saw this and offered to help. After understanding their process, I created software that automated the scheduling. This software saved them multiple hours per week, freeing up a whole day they previously spent on scheduling. Such automation software or small tools that increase efficiency can be highly valuable, and you can get paid well for providing this kind of real value.

Finally, let's discuss bug bounties. Quite a few companies release bug bounties, meaning if you find a bug or exploit in their software and report it, they will pay you a flat fee based on the type of bug or exploit found. This is a unique and potentially lucrative opportunity that you might not have considered before.

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Unlock hidden income streams: automate for efficiency, hunt bugs for bounties, compete in hackathons, secure grants, and create user-generated content.

Ask yourself how much money you would be willing to pay for something that could save employees, in this case, two employees, eight hours a week. If you can build this kind of automation software or small tools that help increase efficiency even slightly, you can get paid a fair amount and provide real value.

Now, let's delve into some more unique opportunities you might not have considered before. One such opportunity is bug bounties. Quite a few companies release bug bounties, meaning if you find a bug or an exploit in their software and report it, they will pay you. The payment is usually a flat fee based on the type and severity of the bug. Famously, Google had some bug bounties that were worth a million dollars. Nowadays, many new companies offer bug bounties to gain exposure and ensure they don't crash and burn due to unaddressed bugs.

I remember attending ETH Denver, a well-known conference, where I met someone who exclusively did bug bounties. He explained that he hacks different websites and companies and gets paid for it. To my surprise, he mentioned earning $250,000 for a single bug bounty. While this might be beyond what many of us can do, if you're into ethical hacking, bug bounties can be quite lucrative.

Next, we have hackathons. If you are skilled, have a team, and enjoy building projects, you can make a lot of money by competing in hackathons or coding competitions. Although this might not be a full-time job, it's worth considering. Often, hackathons cover your travel expenses, and the experience itself is valuable. You can win cash prizes, partnerships, or even new computers. For instance, some hackathons offer $20,000 for the winning team.

Another opportunity is grants. Many companies, especially in the web3 space, offer grants to people working with their technology or building something on it. Blockchain companies, backed by venture capital firms, often have substantial funding and need people to use their software. They might pay you $50,000 to develop a top project on their chain. Even if you're not highly experienced, you can propose an idea and receive funding, such as $5,000 or $110,000, to develop it. These companies have grant funds in the tens of millions of dollars, encouraging people to use their technology.

Lastly, there's UGC (User Generated Content). The tech field has been expanding recently, providing more opportunities for user-generated content.

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You don't need a huge following to make money with user-generated content—start small, create quality tech demos, and companies will pay you!

You can approach companies with your ideas without competing with anyone. They might offer you $5,000 or even $110,000 to fund your projects, giving you time to work on them. They might want to conduct a survey with you or demo your project once it's done. The key point is that there's a lot of opportunity out there. Companies have grant funds in the tens of millions of dollars, which they distribute to hundreds of different projects to encourage the use of their technology.

Another great opportunity is UGC (User Generated Content). The tech field has been expanding into influencer marketing, particularly focusing on micro-influencers—people with a small following of around 5,000 to 10,000 followers. Even if you have no following, you can create content showcasing your use of specific technology, programming languages, or frameworks. Companies will pay you for this content, which they can repurpose as ads or use for organic media on their social platforms.

To get started with user-generated content, you need to set up a profile and refine your social media presence on platforms like Instagram or TikTok. Initially, you might work with companies for free, receiving products to create demo videos. Once you gain experience and produce quality videos, you can start negotiating rates, potentially earning $200 to $500 per video. If you build a social media following, you can create hybrid deals where you make videos for companies and post them on your social media, earning additional income for the reach and exposure.

There are many marketplaces now connecting brands with creators for user-generated content, making it easier to find opportunities. This field is not as saturated as general product reviews, so you can start getting deals relatively quickly.

Finally, I challenge you to pick one of the 14 different ways to make money from coding that I’ve discussed and give it a solid shot. It’s not easy, and I can't guarantee immediate success, but the potential for significant earnings is there because not everyone will put in the effort. Share your experiences with the community if you’ve tried any of these methods.

In the next video, we'll discuss a mindset shift necessary for success in these ventures. Although I didn’t mention getting a job as one of the ways to make money coding, it’s an obvious option. My goal is to get you thinking about alternative ways to earn money without relying on a traditional job.

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Decide if you want the stability of a high-paying software job or the freedom and potential of being an entrepreneur.

If you want to share, we would love to see your post. With that said, let's get into the next video where we're going to talk about a bit of a mindset shift you need to have if you want to be successful.

Alright, so let's get into video three, which is going to tie nicely in with video two. In that video, I mentioned all the different ways to make money coding and noticed that I didn't mention a job as one of them. Now, obviously, this is a way to make money coding; I just thought it was pretty obvious and kind of a cheat for me to put in there because you guys know that you can get a software developer job and make money doing that. What I wanted to do is start getting you thinking about ways that you can make money without having a job and how you can actually transform your life to be something a bit more unique and different than just being a 9-to-5 employee.

In this video, I do want to encourage you to ask yourself what it is that you want out of this skill—learning how to code—and what you want out of life. The reason I'm asking you that is because there are two very, very different paths you can go down here, but you don't really want to be jumping between them a ton because it will really limit the amount of progress you can make in either direction.

Direction one is to get a software developer job. You usually will not start out at a huge tech company; most people don't. You'll start somewhere, probably a less desirable company, and work your way up that company and then switch different roles and jobs. If you get a career in software development and you're a good developer, this is actually a pretty stable career. Especially once you've built a bit of experience, you make a very good amount of money. If you are fortunate enough to get into a large tech company or even a startup that ends up doing really well, you can become a millionaire quite quickly. You can make a lot of money, and this is a much more guaranteed income source than if you were to be an entrepreneur. For example, if you work at Google, by the time you've been working there for four or five years, you will very reasonably be at close to $300,000 per year in total compensation. If you are able to climb that rank even higher, it is not unreasonable to be making $500,000 to $700,000 per year. I know people in their mid-30s making $800,000 to $900,000 per year working at big tech companies, some of which are not even well-known. They do something very specific and are very good at their job. So, if your goal is just to make as much money as possible, you may want to consider going down that route. If you really grind to get into those types of companies and focus on your career, playing the politics and learning how the corporate culture works, you're going to be successful in that realm. By the time you're in your mid-30s, you're going to be a millionaire if you stay on that path.

The other side is doing your own thing—being an entrepreneur. The advantage here is that you get all those levels of freedoms that you don't have when you work for a company: time freedom, location freedom, and financial freedom, which you need to build yourself. On the other side, you don't have time freedom or location freedom typically, but financial freedom is more guaranteed. So, you kind of have to pick which side you want to be on and what you want to do. Actually, ask yourself that question, sit down, have a deep introspection session, and think about it carefully because this is not for everyone.

If you are someone who wants to be more of an entrepreneur, you need to realize that this is a journey just like going down the career path. The thing is that your reward can be way higher. The upside is completely uncapped; you can make an unlimited amount of money. There's no cap on your potential; it's really just up to you what you end up doing. Typically, if you really go hard at it and know what you're doing, you're going to grow, and it won't be stagnant. It will continue going up and up. However, to do that, you have to put in probably more work than you would trying to climb the career ladder in a traditional job.

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Entrepreneurship offers unlimited potential, but requires shifting from an employee mindset to thinking like a CEO, focusing on leveraging your time and skills for maximum value.

Think carefully about this session because it is not for everyone. If you are someone who wants to be more of an entrepreneur, you need to realize that this is a journey, just like going down the career path. The thing is that your reward can be way higher. The upside is completely uncapped; you can make an unlimited amount of money. There's no cap on your potential; it's really just up to you what you end up doing. Typically, if you really go hard at it and know what you're doing, you're going to grow, and it won't be stagnant. It will continue going up and up.

With that said, to achieve this, you have to put in probably more work than you would trying to climb the career ladder in a corporate 9-to-5 job. You will be sacrificing quite a bit at the beginning to get to that point. I think you probably understand the advantages and disadvantages of entrepreneurship. Now, let's talk about how you make that shift, especially in development.

You need to immediately start thinking more like a CEO, boss, or business person than like an employee or developer. This is very difficult because our brains, if we're in this space, are typically wired to think critically, logically, problem-solving, and reasoning. As much as those are important in business, that's not necessarily what's going to make you a lot of money. You can be a good developer and still be broke or not very good at a lot of the skills needed.

You need to immediately turn off the "I'm an employee" mindset and stop thinking, "I work for $50 an hour" or "My time is worth X amount of money." Instead, think about how to scale a business and leverage your time as effectively as possible. Leverage is the big word here. How do you use your time as effectively as possible? For some of you, that might be working for $50 an hour, but for others, it's doing different types of activities and trying to buy back your time and outsource different things.

I'll give you a specific example because I know this is kind of vague. Let's say you are a good developer. You can do pretty much anything; you can code anything out, and you're really good, at an expert level. You could simply work for everyone and charge $200 an hour. At this point, you are kind of an entrepreneur because you're doing freelance stuff, but at the end of the day, you're really just working as an employee. Your amount of income is limited by the number of hours you can work.

Now, if you were to charge per project instead of by the hour, based on the value you provide, you could completely change the amount of money you make. It could be way lower or way greater. For example, you could work for a small business, like a mom-and-pop shop, and build them a website. The value you provide is exposure, and maybe you generate them 10 new clients a month. If each client spends $30-$50, you've generated approximately $400 in value in one month. They didn't pay you because you were good at building a website; they paid you because you could get them clients.

In this case, you're not framing your skill set as just being good at making websites. You're saying, "I'm going to get you clients, and I will do that because I have this skill set in development." This is a low-leverage or low-value use of your time because you're working for minimal value that you can generate.

Now, let's move it up a bit. Suppose you work for a big company like Microsoft as a freelancer. You build an automation tool that saves 1,000 hours a month because employees no longer need to do a repetitive task that can be automated. This is an extreme example, but it illustrates the point.

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It's not about your skill set; it's about who you work for and the value you can create for them.

If you're good at making websites, you might initially think that your primary value lies in your technical skills. For instance, you could tell a potential client, "I'm going to get you clients because I have this skill set in development." However, this approach often results in a low leverage or low-value use of your time, as you're working for minimal value that you can generate.

Now, let's elevate this scenario. Suppose you start freelancing for a big company like Microsoft. You could build an automation tool that saves 1,000 hours a month by eliminating repetitive tasks for employees. This is an extreme example, but it illustrates the point. In this case, you've saved 1,000 hours of developer time per month. If developer time is worth $1,000 on the low side, you can do the multiplication and see that you've generated $100,000 in value.

What's changed here is not your capability as a developer who can write code. Instead, it's the client you're working for and the amount of value you can potentially provide. The value you provide is not solely based on your skill but on the client and the impact of your work. This shift from an employee mindset to a business mindset involves looking for places where you can inject the most value and then extracting a portion of that value. For instance, if you generate $100,000 in value for a client, you might take $30,000 or $40,000 as a reasonable share.

To illustrate further, consider making YouTube videos. You could promote a low-cost item like a fidget spinner, which might generate only a few thousand dollars in sales even if many people buy it. However, promoting a high-ticket item within a specific niche can generate much more money for the client, allowing you to charge more for the brand deal. The price for a brand deal depends entirely on the company you're working with and the value you can generate for them.

The key takeaway is that you need to use your time and position yourself in areas where you can generate the most money. This doesn't rely solely on your skill set but on who you're serving and what you can do for them. This means picking the best clients, finding the best opportunities, and building the best partnerships. You need to shift your thinking from "I'm worth this much per hour" to "Where can I go and what can I do to generate as much value as possible and then take some of that value back?"

Over the past 10 years, I've learned that leveraging your time effectively means finding areas where your time equates to the most money. Often, it's not about your skill set but about the clients and what you can do for them. Early on, you need to discover where you are most valuable. This isn't easy, and it doesn't happen on day one, but it's crucial for maximizing your potential.

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Discover your true value by experimenting and asking for what you're worth, then optimize and scale what works best for you.

Over the past 10 years, I have learned that the key to success is to provide as much value as possible and then take some of that value back. Initially, like many of you, I started by charging per hour or a flat fee. However, I soon realized the importance of leveraging my time effectively, ensuring that my time equates to the most amount of money. Often, it's not just about your skill set but also about who you're working for and what you can do for them.

The crucial point is to discover where you are most valuable. This isn't easy and doesn't happen overnight. You need to experiment, try different things, and fail in various avenues to find your niche. For instance, you might realize that tutoring isn't worth your time, but another activity might be more lucrative. You keep adjusting until you find where you are most valuable, which is often indicated when people start paying you for those services. This also means being comfortable asking for money you've never received before and setting high prices to understand your value in the marketplace.

For example, when I do a brand deal, I might throw out random numbers to a company I don't care much about working with to gauge my market value. If one company is willing to pay $25,000, others might be in the same range. You wouldn't know this if you were too scared to ask for such figures and risk rejection.

Once you identify your niche, you need to optimize your time to do more of that valuable work. This might involve hiring employees or virtual assistants. In my case, I have editors and agents for my YouTube channel, allowing me to focus on creating videos rather than negotiating with brands or editing. This optimization lets you scale your efforts, potentially increasing your output by 10x, 20x, or more.

However, you also need to find a balance. As an entrepreneur, you have the control to decide whether you want to scale up or maintain a comfortable workload. You might be content making $100,000 to $200,000 a year while working 20 hours a week, enjoying the freedom and flexibility of your entrepreneurial path.

This discussion might seem a bit unstructured, but the goal is to shift your thinking. Many people view a skill in terms of a salary or hourly wage, but in the entrepreneurial route, it's about the value you provide and where you can maximize that value. Two people with the same skill set can offer vastly different amounts of value depending on the tasks they undertake.

As we move on to video 4, we'll discuss thinking long-term. It's essential to ensure that the activities and strategies we discuss are sustainable over a longer period, allowing you to continue making money with your skills in the future.

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Confidence in your skills and professionalism are key to long-term success, not just quick wins.

What value do you provide and where can you provide the most? You can then tap into that and take it out. Two people can have the exact same skill set and provide vastly different amounts of value based on the type of tasks they're actually completing with that skill set. That's what you need to think about.

So, that's going to wrap up video three. Let's move on to video four. In video four, we talk a bit more strategically about thinking long-term. This has many different meanings, but generally speaking, I want to make sure that any of the activities I'm sharing with you here, or even just your ability to make money with coding, doesn't die in a few years. This is something you can do sustainably over a longer period of time.

Because again, what's the point if we only can do this for 2, 3, 4 years? Yes, you can make some quick money, but for me, I'm always about building the skills, building the business, building the ability to generate wealth, and not just doing it over a very short period of time and then dying out and having to find something else. This should be something that's sustainable; it should be something long-term. At least, that's the way that I look at it. You may look at it differently, but I'm going to share with you here my perspective.

Now, when I say thinking long-term, first of all, that means before we jump into trying to earn as much money as possible, we want to build that foundational skill of coding. Anyone who's going to make a lot of money with this has to first be decent at development. You don't need to be an expert, but you need to be confident in your abilities. Confidence is the key word there. This is something that exudes pretty much everyone that you talk to and something that really affects you internally, whether you realize it or not.

You've probably had this before: you walked into a job interview applying for a position where you're not qualified. Even though you might be able to fake it a little bit, generally, people can tell when you're confident in what you're doing and not. Even the way you speak, the way you answer questions, the way you think about things internally and subconsciously are affected by the fact you know that you're not actually qualified for that role.

Now, the same goes in reverse. You go into an interview, you know you're overqualified, you know you're going to kill this job, you know that this is exactly what you're meant to do. You're going to really exude that confidence; it's going to be very obvious to everyone in the room. You yourself are going to speak in a different way, carry yourself in a different way because you actually know that you can do the thing. Even if no one else knows that, just you knowing it yourself really makes a huge difference.

I found that personally in myself quite a bit. When I started programming, when I started posting YouTube videos, I wasn't that confident. I didn't have the accomplishments or the achievements to actually say, "Hey, I'm a great developer," and it took me a fair amount of time to build that up to the point where I could speak more confidently. I could come across like I actually know what I'm talking about because I did, and I was confident in myself. So please, first build that skill, and it's going to help you in pretty much every area of life and business.

So, let's say we've done that; we have the confidence. What's next? Well, there are three main things I want to talk about in this video: being a professional, reputation, and reliability. We'll talk about a few other small things as well.

Now, let's start with being a professional. No matter what area of business you're in, no matter what you do, you want to be as professional as you possibly can. What that means is even simple things like using proper punctuation and grammar, having an email signature, answering on time, being fast to reply, showing up on time, and being reliable. These things all kind of tie in with each other. Everyone wants to work with someone who's professional, right? Being a professional just shows that you actually know what you're doing, you've done this before, and that you can actually deliver on whatever it is that you're promising.

Now, I'll give you some specific examples here because this is really applicable, especially in the YouTube space, which is where I obviously make a lot of money. On YouTube, you have, let's just be blunt here, a lot of kids, right? And you have a lot of people who are vloggers or entertainers who don't actually have any real skill.

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Being professional and reliable sets you apart and builds a strong reputation.

Using proper punctuation and grammar, having an email signature, answering on time, being fast to reply, showing up on time, and being reliable—these things all tie into each other. Everyone wants to work with someone who's professional, right? Being a professional shows that you actually know what you're doing, you've done this before, and you can deliver on whatever it is that you're promising.

Now, I'll give you some specific examples here because this is really applicable, especially in the YouTube space, which is where I obviously make a lot of money. On YouTube, you have, let's just be blunt here, a lot of kids and a lot of people who are vloggers or entertainers who don't actually have any real skill set. They just have a bunch of followers and do silly, goofy stuff online. With a few exceptions, many of these people do not know what it's like to run a business. They don't know what it's like to be professional or to work in any kind of corporate world where you have to maybe put a dress shirt on, speak in a certain way, or adhere to manners and formalities.

You guys can say what you want about that, but the truth is there are so many people, especially in this content space, that are a nightmare to work with. For example, maybe you'll sign a deal with them, and they just don't respond to you. They won't reply, they won't show up for a call, or maybe it takes them three weeks to cancel on you. Maybe they don't deliver, or they're late. Even on the brand side, maybe you pay really late or don't hold up the deal with the creator. There are just so many examples of unprofessionalism. When that happens, it ruins your reputation and makes you undesirable to work with, even if you're able to contribute a lot of value.

No matter what you do, be a professional in that space. I guarantee you it's going to help you in so many ways that you won't even realize, and you're just going to be someone who's desirable to work with. I get a lot of repeat deals, repeat customers, and clients. One of the main comments I get is that my operation is tight, things are organized, we're controlled, we reply to people, I'm easy to work with, I answer quickly, and I'm diligent. I make sure that if there are any mistakes or issues, they get resolved immediately. That's what it's like being a professional, and you want to be that in whatever field you are in.

Obviously, being a professional is going to help with your reputation. When I say reputation, that means maybe you do things right now that don't make you any money but build you a really good reputation. That could be outside the scope of coding. Maybe you do some volunteer work, or you're really into a specific cause and help out with it. Maybe you post completely free videos online, like I did for many years, building your credibility and reputation, and then eventually start to monetize that.

There are a lot of things you can do that in the short term don't seem like they're doing anything for you, but what you are building is that professionalism, reputation, and reliability. If you can build your presence, especially online, through things like social media, Medium posts, or contributing to an open-source project, that's going to help you in more ways than you can imagine. It's really difficult to put a dollar figure or value on those contributions.

Being reliable is pretty simple. You need to be someone that other people can count on. They have to know that if they give you a task, there's no question that it will get done. This is a compliment I used to get all the time, even when I was younger. People could just give me something and know it was going to get done. I'm sure many of you have been in situations, maybe like a group project, where you just know that the teammates are not reliable. You can tell them to do something, check in with them every single day, and you're almost certain it's just not going to get done, or you have to take it into your own hands because you can't rely on them.

No one wants an unreliable partner, wife, or client to work with. You need to be reliable and get stuff done, even if that means sacrificing, because that builds your reputation. You don't want to just take quick money or do things fast and poorly. Sometimes it might take you five hours longer than you thought to complete a project. You could just submit it and get paid right now, but instead, you're going to put in that extra work to build that reputation. So, this guy knows you're willing to go the extra mile, and he's going to come back, refer you, and use you again.

This video is targeted towards a lot of you that are a bit younger or just getting started. Even if you're only 15, 16, or 17 years old, be a professional. Use proper grammar, be on time, and be reliable. This is going to set you apart, especially at a young age, and there are people who are 30 or 40 years old who will be taking notes from you if you really take this advice and adhere to it.

I'm going to wrap this up here, and that's going to finish this course. I know this was short and not necessarily a step-by-step guide. There are so many opportunities and ways to make money. My goal for you is to get the wheels spinning, get you thinking about different things, and share a few of my perspectives and experiences. Hopefully, after this course, you will try at least one of the things I mentioned and share with us in the community how it went for you, whether you failed or succeeded. We will be making a more in-depth course on this sometime in the future. We'll let you know when that comes out. For now, thank you for watching, and see you in the community.