When the author quit their full-time job and started freelancing five years ago, they initially saw it as a temporary career move. However, they eventually took freelancing seriously and decided to double their income from $40,000 to $80,000 within six weeks of marketing themselves. The author's success was built on a foundation of having the training, skills, and experience needed in addition to a valuable industry network. To grow their business further, the author raised their rates, dropped low-paying clients as they replaced them with new, higher-paying clients, booked regular long-term clients, specialized in a niche, set value-based pricing by project, changed their mindset from an employee to a business owner, and kept marketing themselves. With the right building blocks and consistency, the author was able to grow their business relatively fast and hit $10,000 per month within months.