$1k booked by Sep 10 → $1k/month
awaiting go2026-08-25Owner: Betra
- Sell to: course creators / exam-prep coaches (they buy quiz tools for THEIR paying students) and business owners posting build briefs. Cold only — never students, never your warm market.
- Product: single-file quiz/course tools + small web tools, built by directing Claude Code.
- Trust: finished work before money. Clients 1–3: $0 to start, pay on release. Then 30/70.
- Your day: ~10 min — edit one drafted reply, send. Paid build ≈ 1 h with the kit.
- Numbers: $1k by Sep 10 ≈ 35–45%, checkpoint not verdict. 10 × $99/mo = $1k/month by ~Nov. Can't lose money; unpaid work capped ~13 h, all becomes portfolio.
- Spend: ~$3/mo API + ≤$50 connects. Nothing else.
Offer
Never claim: completion, engagement, refunds, revenue. Sell the artifact.
Messages (final — engineered from 100+ real buyer quotes, panel-tested)
GIFT (email/forum; DM → screenshot BEFORE link):
Subj: built a quiz from "[exact lesson title]"
Hi [Name] — I turned your free lesson "[exact lesson title]" into a self-grading quiz your
students can run on their phones: [screenshot] [link]. It's yours either way — embed it with
one line, or ignore this and nothing happens. The catch, plainly: I'm building a portfolio
in [niche] and your lesson was good enough to build from. If any answer's off, say so — one
fix pass, same day, on me. — Betra · [portfolio]
BOARD REPLY (2–6 h after post, never 5 min):
Read your brief twice — you want [their ask, their words, incl. one buried detail].
I built a rough working cut before writing this: [demo]. If it's close: $[in-band] fixed —
spec you approve day 1, live day 7, one revision. I'm new on this board, so the trade is
honest: I build first, you pay when it works in your hands. One thing your post doesn't
say: [spec question]?
(passed over:) Fair call — demo stays live; if anything changes, 7-day turnaround.
DAY-3 FOLLOW-UP (once, ever, must carry new work):
One more thing on the [Module] quiz — added shuffle + a score screen. Same link. If the rest
of the course is worth doing: $497 flat, 7 days; the sample counts, so $348. If not, no
reply needed — genuinely fine. Keeping it free — okay if I show it as a work sample?
PAYMENT: 1–3: "$0 to start — pay when it works on your phone." #4+: 30% / 70% on release.
Platform: funded escrow milestone.
NEVER WRITE: "I hope this finds you well" · "came across your course, really impressed" ·
"Are you struggling with…" — templated openers are auto-death (clients run AI-traps).
Channels
| Primary | n8n Jobs (RSS) · Make Hire-a-Pro · Skool hiring board — buyers already posting, 0% fee, paid direct |
| Parallel $0 | Reddit (his account): weekly [For Hire], in-thread replies only · gift DMs to filtered creators |
| Week 2 | Upwork via official MCP feed — connects only on ≥80-fit posts, ≤$50 |
| Later | Upwork becomes primary for retainers, funded by direct wins |
| Never | Scrapers/monitors/auto-bidding (bans) · warm market (reserved) · hourly work |
The machine (Claude's side)
- Radar: every 10 min on the existing Signal tick — pulls fresh posts, filters (<24 h, budget, keywords), scores, drafts the reply, writes
freelance\radar\drafts\, Telegram pings ONE "send this first." Never auto-submits. Fails loud (no-draft-by-noon → text). ~$3/mo (Sonnet 5 drafts, Haiku scores).
- Prospecting: 25 filter-qualified creators week 1 →
freelance\PROSPECTS.md, refreshed weekly. Claude builds every gift sample.
- Delivery kit →
freelance\kit\: reusable quiz-engine template (job time 3–4 h → ~1 h; makes 10 continuity clients ≈ 10 h/mo) · profile copy pack · intake form · canned replies · Payoneer links · Loom scripts.
Your side
- Today: ONE thing — 20-min hand reply to one live n8n brief. Nothing else.
- Aug 26 (D10 done, ~1 h with the kit): paste profiles, read the 2 Loom scripts (one take), approve sample #1.
npx n8n evening.
- Daily: ~10 min — the one pinged send. Missed day costs nothing, no nag.
- Per paid job: ~1 h — review, verify yourself (course skill), deploy, handoff.
- Metric: sends. 9-in-10 silence IS the base rate working. Wins counted when they land.
Tripwires & tests
| day 3 | <3/5 gifts accepted → fix the filter, not the message |
| Aug 30 | 20 out, 0 replies → reprice/broaden/n8n-specific briefs. 0/10 board replies → fix demo or brief-fit, not price |
| Sep 5 | nothing paid → any paid one-off that books before Sep 10 (last resort) |
| Sep 10 | Checkpoint, not verdict — count booked $, adjust from reply data, continue at 5 h/wk |
| ~Nov 10 | ≥10 continuity invoices in one month = $1k/mo holds |
Timeline
Aug25 Aug26 Aug30 Sep2 Sep5 Sep10 Sep20 Oct–Nov
you 1 reply │ profiles+Looms+n8n │ 10min/day sends ─────────────────────┤ 5h/wk
claude radar+kit build ─▶ live │ 25 prospects, samples, drafts, tuning ────▶ standing
lane A boards: pay-to-release builds ── first $ ≈ Sep 2 ───── $1k BOOKED? ─┤ checkpoint
lane B gifts 5/wk ── day-3 offers ── Kits/$99mo ────────────────────▶ $1k/mo ~Nov10
Year 4 starts ~Sep 20 (3h commute)
Standing rules
- No hourly work. No warm market. No auto-submit anywhere. No discovery calls — async only.
- Spend follows fit: API + connects only. No courses, no ads (until 3 paying Sprint clients), no scrapers.
- Planning frozen. Changes only on reply data at tripwires. New ideas →
freelance\LEDGER.md, wait.
Detail record: C:\Users\BYJar\.claude\plans\whats-the-fastest-way-abstract-wilkinson.md · research reports carried into C:\Users\BYJar\Desktop\workspace\plans\INCOME_1K_2026-08-22.md at go.