Hey there, future freelancer! 👋If we're just meeting, I'm Erica Nall—a chronically ill healthcare escapee who became a top 1% Upwork copywriting freelancer, retired my husband, and now travels full-time in our RV with an alarming stockpile of Diet Coke.

People are always wide-eyed when I tell them I quit my six-figure healthcare position, built a freelance business that makes more than my corporate salary ever did, and now work from wherever the heck I want. Their immediate question is always:

"But HOW did you actually do it?" 👀

The System Failure That Changed Everything

Let me get real with you about why I'm even here teaching this.

I gave my literal health—almost died—for my employer back in 2020. I wrapped my self-worth and identity around being a killer employee because that's what we've been taught all our lives: that our value is in our jobs, our careers, how we climb the ladder.

And when I needed help despite all I had given? My employer chose themselves.

Then 2023 happened:

* My husband lost his job after 25 YEARS of loyalty to a tech company he helped build from the ground up in the 90s into a half-billion-dollar per year enterprise

* My high school teacher dad was diagnosed with stage 4 terminal cancer just before retirement

* My son was making $15/hour with ZERO chance of affording his own apartment

* My mom was forced into early retirement to care for my aging grandparents and then was left having to choose between her parents and her dying husband

* My grandparents had to sell their family home just to qualify for the nursing care they needed

The systems were failing everyone I loved, all at once.

Something in me just... broke.

I rented our house to my son and his friends (so they could actually have affordable housing), bought an RV with my husband, and headed west to be with my parents. And I returned to freelancing with a completely different level of determination.

We Weren't Meant to Live Like This

We weren't put on this earth to give our lives and health away to other people for the sake of them making money off our hard work. We were meant to be tribes, a community, people who helped one another.

We are here to experience. To learn. To love.

And I've seen enough proof in my lifetime to know that the way our systems work right now—at least here in the US—is NOT how we were meant to be living.

You shouldn't be:

* Living in debt just to maintain a middle-class lifestyle

* Starting GoFundMes to pay for medical bills

* Working full-time for decades only to face retirement insecurity

* Watching your parents and grandparents struggle after lifetimes of hard work

Our systems are failing everywhere you look. People are suffering. People are struggling. People are hateful to one another right now because LIFE IS HARD and they want someone to blame.

But the hard truth? It's the lack and instability of financial resources that is at the ROOT of this breakdown.

Freedom Was Always Your Birthright

Having finally broken through to the other side, I can tell you:

* Being fully self-employed

* Making more than I ever did as an employee

* Being able to tell my husband "just don't go back to work"

* Traveling the US full-time in our RV

* Setting my own schedule

* Choosing my clients

* Setting my rates

* Waking up without an alarm

* Swimming in the middle of the day or taking a hike when I'm not feeling work

* Staying in bed on bad flare-up days...

This freedom was ALWAYS the life we were meant to live.

Feeling secure in your housing, your food supply, your health... it's your birthright.

And while money is a necessary tool to live, the more in control YOU are of gathering that resource for yourself—rather than depending on someone else to give it to you—the better positioned you are to not depend on systems that WILL fail you.

Why I'm Doing This Now

At the end of 2024, I was at a decision point: either start adding staff to continue scaling my business to meet all the work referrals coming in, OR scale BACK and finally recenter my work around something more mission-based and heart-led.

The choice became obvious. My heart is in helping others become more in control of gathering financial resources for themselves than depending on others to provide it.

I don't want to sell you pie-in-the-sky dreams. Will some of you run with this and become full-time freelancers who quit their jobs and travel the world? I bet some will. Is that my wish for every single one of you eventually? Absolutely.

But my focus with this program right now is helping you learn the skills and providing the resources so you can start taking meaningful steps TODAY to get extra money in your account later this month.

For some people, a couple hundred extra dollars a month is the difference between rent being paid on time or being able to afford a full grocery run. And that feels pretty darn meaningful to me.

Why Freelancing? And Why Upwork? 💰

I'm not here to hate on side hustles or passive income dreams. Making planners on Etsy or creating digital courses or doing affiliate marketing can work...

...for about 2% of people who try it.

For the other 98%? Those approaches typically lead to:

* More debt than income

* Thousands spent on courses that collect digital dust

* Years of "figuring it out" with nothing to show for it

* That awkward moment when family asks how your "business" is going 😬

Freelancing is the exact opposite:

* It costs next to nothing to start

* You only pay fees when YOU get paid

* You can start earning in days, not months or years

* You don't need to buy expensive equipment, inventory, or courses

* You get PAID while you learn and improve (unlike passive income ventures)

The goal here is for you to be in control of generating your own income. There are two main ways that happens:

* You already have money to make more money

* Rentals

* Investments

* Real estate

* You become self-employed

* Passive income routes (courses, Etsy, digital products, etc.)

* Freelancing (service-based work)

For most of us without large sums to invest, the service-based route is the fastest path to income.

And why Upwork specifically? Because it's the largest active freelance platform in the world, with the highest volume of jobs and clients.

The HUGE difference between Upwork and platforms like Fiverr is the active vs. passive approach:

🚫 Fiverr: Create pre-packaged offers, then sit and wait—hoping someone stumbles across your offer.

✅ Upwork: Access a MASSIVE job board where businesses are actively looking to hire someone RIGHT NOW (like walking into a job fair where everyone is holding "We're Hiring!" signs)

The business posts what they need, and YOU get to choose which opportunities match your skills. This puts YOU in control, even as a complete beginner. No hunting for clients, no awkward cold calling, no sliding into strangers' DMs—just an endless supply of fresh jobs waiting for your application.

This puts YOU in control. Even as a complete beginner!

It's like business dating, but without the weird small talk about your hobbies. 😅

"But Can't I Just Find My Own Clients Instead of Upwork?" 🤔

Can you start your freelance journey by finding clients on social media or in groups you're already in?

Technically, yes.

Realistically? That's like trying to run before you can crawl.

Here's the progression that actually works:

* Start on Upwork to establish yourself and build credibility

* Collect high-value testimonials and reviews

* Build a portfolio of happy clients

* Let those clients refer you to others

* Eventually transition off-platform if/when it makes sense

Let me share what this looked like with my own journey:My "Um, That Was Messy" Journey to Success 🙈

My path wasn't a straight line. It looked more like a toddler with a crayon. Let me share how my own path played out:

2019: Tried Upwork for a few months. Made a few thousand dollars but had ZERO strategy. I was taking any job that paid, had rock-bottom rates, and couldn't see how the effort would ever replace my income. So I quit. (Mistake #1) 🤦‍♀️

2020-2023: Wasted several years on passive income projects that led to more debt than income. Bought courses. Started blogs. Tried affiliate marketing. Considered dropshipping. You name it, I probably dabbled in it. (Mistakes #2 through #47)

End of 2023: Returned to Upwork with actual STRATEGY and DETERMINATION after:

* Finally admitting that the passive income projects were not going to pay the bills anytime soon

* My husband lost his 25-year career unexpectedly

* My dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer

This time everything changed:

* First job back: $20

* First