How To Make 6 Figures: 4+ Steps to 100K a year (Expert Tips)

Updated on: Jun 11, 2024
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Learning how to make 6 figures ($100,000) a year is a common goal for many, and why wouldn’t it be?

Understanding your annual income and how it can be impacted by side hustles or career advancements is crucial for those aiming to reach significant income milestones, such as making six figures or even a million dollars a year.

The six figure number is a milestone that would put your earnings well beyond the median household income in the United States, and potentially afford you with a more comfortable lifestyle.

But how do you get there – especially if you’re making nowhere near this number now? 

 

Ways to earn 6 figures a year

There are many ways you can get to earning six figures a year. The two most common ways are:

  1. Getting a job that makes six figures a year

  2. Starting a side hustle and scaling it so you’re eventually making six figures a year

None of these options are easy, and they will likely involve sacrifices and sweat equity. But leveling up your full-time job, comparing traditional hourly jobs with other forms of income, and scaling a side hustle are exactly what we specialize in at IWT. The following systems have worked for thousands of our students successfully, and with time and effort, you could be on your way to earning 100k in a year.

What Does a Six-Figure Annual Income Actually Look Like?

You need to make at least $100,000 a year if you want a six-figure income. That means making at least:

  • $8,333.33 a month, or monthly salary

  • $2,083.33 a week, or weekly salary

  • $416.66 each workday, or

  • $52 an hour.

Breaking down your larger goal into smaller increments will help you understand what it will take to get where you want to go. Can you land a full-time job that pays $52 an hour? Or can you freelance for that amount?

It’s important to figure out where you are now compared to these benchmarks if you want to reach your goal of 100k/year.

How to make $100,000 a year in 5 steps

Let’s get started.

Step 1: Set up your financial foundation for 6 figures

When you have a goal as ambitious as I want to earn a six-figure income, it’s easy to lose sight of the really important things in your life.

I’m talking about the basics: food, water, shelter, etc.

This is the ‘Tripod of Stability‘, all of the foundational, big aspects of your life that you keep ultra-stable so you can take risks in other areas. Managing your living expenses is a critical part of ensuring financial stability while pursuing a six-figure income, as it allows you to have a financial runway or buy back time during transitions, especially in the context of early retirement and gaining financial freedom.

I’m a proponent of part of the Tripod of Stability, says Naveen Dittakavi, founder of NextVacay.com. If you have a day job, you need to ensure that it’s stable. You have to carve an ability to work on your side hustle while doing great work at your day job.

He continues, I lived at home for six years. My parents were really cool and helped me get by while I built out my business.

Naveen recently scaled his hustle so that he’ll be taking away roughly $1 million this year (so you know he knows his stuff).

By taking care of your big things, your home, car, relationships, food, you’ll be able to take risks in areas like your side business. As Ramit says, when you have your bases covered, you’re not really taking risks at all.

Your Tripod of Stability doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re free of sacrifices though. If you want to devote yourself to making six figures a year, you’re going to have to change some of your habits and beliefs.

I sacrificed a lot to build my business, Naveen recalls. After all, living at home with your parents for six years means you’re going to be single for six years? BUT it gave me what I wanted out of my life.

Action step: Identify your Tripod of Stability

Write down the three main “legs” of your Tripod of Stability. These are the things that, if they remain constant, would allow you to weather dramatic changes in other areas in your life. It could be things like:

  • Your home
  • Your car
  • Your job
  • Your spouse or partner
  • Your savings account

Once you know what makes up your Tripod of Stability, you can make sure you have those areas secure so you can start taking risks in areas like starting a side hustle.

Step 2: Earn More Money in Your Career or Build a Six Figure Business

If you’re looking to build a six-figure income on freelancing with your side hustle alone, you can skip this step.

If having a job is one of the legs for your Tripod of Stability, though, you’re going to want to maximize your salary as much as possible.

Why? The more you earn, the closer you’ll get to your first six-figure year. Understanding and negotiating your annual salary is vital in this process. It’s not just about the gross figure but grasping the implications of your annual salary on your weekly, monthly, and hourly earnings, as well as the tax consequences and the net pay you actually take home.

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Check out this chart that shows how much a $5,000 increase in salary can add up over the years:

Not only is it a BIG win, but it also sets you squarely on the road to earning more after just one conversation with your boss.

And the first step to do this is actually straightforward, but many people still forget it: Do good work.

First and foremost, you have to deliver great results, says IWT reader and six-figure earner Enoch Ko. Without results, no amount of networking or relationship building can get you [to six figures]. That said, you have to build good relationships at work along with delivering great results.

Results and relationships go hand-in-hand, he continues. Once I had proven myself to be a Top Performer, higher salary was just a matter of time, having regular salary discussions with my managers and skip-level managers, working out timing with the corporate planning cycles, etc.

Once you prove yourself to be an invaluable asset to your company, begin to build two of the most important tools at your disposal: your network and your observations. Enoch made such an impact he eventually moved on to another role that he was referred to by his current manager.

It was through building good, trusting relationships through delivering great results that helped, he says.

One thing that can have a HUGE impact on salary negotiations is showing you can add even more value in the future.

A great way to do this is simply by asking questions of your manager:

  • What’s something that you would like to improve within the company, and how can I help?
  • What traits do you value the most in a new hire?
  • How can I help with your most important goal this quarter?

Not only will this show that you have initiative but it also gives you insight into exactly the kind of talking points that will grand slam your salary negotiation.

One of the biggest fears of job seekers is not knowing what to say in an interview. Find Your Dream Job includes word-for-word scripts and breakdowns with real hiring managers so that you can nail your next negotiation. Click here to learn more.

Action step: Prepare for your salary negotiation

Check out our resources all about how to prepare for your salary negotiations. A few great places to start:

 
 Don’t miss the videos on my channel for expert tips on mastering salary negotiation. 
 

Step 3: Find a Side Hustle or Start Your Own Business Idea

This is the number one barrier holding people back from creating their side hustle.

After all, you’re looking for something that’s profitable and that you’re passionate about.

And the Venn diagram between those two things often seems like two separate circles.

Luckily, you already have profitable skills already. That’s what Christina Nicholson of Media Maven realized when she left her job after years of experience as a television news reporter and started working for a PR agency.

Like many people, I didn’t have a great boss, Christina recalls, and more attention was paid to the hours I was sitting in front of my desk in the office instead of the quality of work I was executing.

That all changed when one day a client came in to pay his retainer and Christina discovered that it was more than what she made in one month.

That’s when I realized I could do all the work AND keep all the money, she says. I didn’t need to work for someone who caused me unnecessary stress. I didn’t need to get vacation approved or be on the receiving end of an attitude when I needed to leave the office early because I had a sick child.

She continues, I could also do other things, like host local and national TV segments on a freelance basis.

So she began to build out Media Maven, her hustle to help other businesses get a handle on their PR. After starting my business, she recalls, I saw what was possible and it motivated me, even more, to learn more about entrepreneurship and take things to the next level.

That’s not the only way you can find a profitable freelancing idea either. If you are at a loss for where to start, check out the 77 proven business ideas you can start today. As you scan the list, think about how you might apply these ideas to your current skills and hobbies. Growing a side hustle into a six-figure business is a viable path to achieving a six-figure annual income, offering a significant opportunity to scale your earnings.

For now, just choose one business idea. It’s okay, you can always change it later. For now, we’re going to just try one out and try to find a client with it.

 

Step 4: Get your first client

In order to start earning money, you need to find the people who will give you money for your ideas.

But the question is, how? Where do you find these people?

Naveen’s tactic? Offering mouthwatering value.

I was really involved in a lot of entrepreneurial aspirational groups, he explains. So entrepreneurs would hang out there and I would find ways I could add value.

I wasn’t trying to pitch or close deals. I would just say that I had a computer science degree and, I can help you clarify your vision and understand what it takes to build it out.

I’ve always been helpful, Naveen continues. I started to find that being helpful to other people builds trust and will result in sales. I was in a position where there was limited talent to execute tech projects and there wasn’t a lot of people to help aspiring entrepreneurs.

By doing this, Naveen did two very important things when it comes to finding clients:

  • He went to where the clients lived. By going to exactly where his target market hung out, he was able to build a network of potential clients and people he could help.
  • He offered amazing value. Naveen recognized an opportunity to show his potential clients that he was the man to help them. This value-add helped him gain his first few clients.

You can do the same thing.

Ask yourself:

  • Who is my client?
  • Where do they go when they want to look for a solution to their problems?
  • Where are they ALREADY looking for solutions to their problems?
  • How can you connect them to your service?

At this point, you’re also going to want to niche down your target market in order to really tailor your services and draw in customers. So think about who’s an example of a client who might want to buy your product.

A few questions to jump-start your research:

  • How old are they?
  • Where do they live?
  • What are their interests?
  • How much do they make?
  • What books do they read?

Using this information, find out what your clients need by going to the places they go.

For example:

  • Looking for physical or massage therapists within 50 miles of your house? Yelp should get you started easily.
  • If you want to do large dog grooming and sitting, well there’s probably a local pet store or dog park near you where owners are all congregating just waiting for you to offer them a solution.

Here are a few suggestions of some other great sites freelancers can use to find business online:

Once you find a potential client, you’re going to want to reach out to them and pitch your services.

Building a business, including a freelance business, can be complicated. In Earnable, we’ve broken down the entire process.

It’s been proven over 15+ years, 50+ industries, and 42,000+ paying customers. It’s a complete system, you get all the exact strategies, frameworks, hands-on tactics, real-world examples, mindsets, done-for-you templates, word-for-word scripts, and hard-won breakthroughs to start and grow your own business.

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Action step: Find a client and email them (with scripts)

Find your client using the information I’ve outlined above. Let’s say you are a video editor looking to pick up some side work. Here’s a handy script you could use (just replace the video editor, specific stuff with your skill):

CLIENT’S NAME,

I saw your post on X and visited your website. I noticed that you’ve recently started using videos too.

I’ve been doing video editing for three years and I’d like to offer to help you edit your videos and get them optimized for the web.

That would make them look more professional and load faster, which is important for your readers. And you’d free up time that you could use to create new content.

We can discuss the details, of course, but first I wanted to see if this is something you might be interested in.

If so, would it be okay if I sent you a few ideas on how to help?

Best,

Joe Example

A few takeaways:

  • There is zero fat in the pitch. Every word counts and is needed to help really sell the benefits of working with you.
  • Don’t mention payment. There’s nothing that will kill a potential client’s interest in you more than pushing prices on them before they’re ready.
  • Stress the benefits. This email shows the client why it would be in their best interest to buy from you in the third paragraph.

Once you get a client using this email, congrats! You just secured your first client, but it doesn’t end there. You need to actually do the work for them, and that means continually adding value.

Being super aware of how you can help people and how they perceive you and recognizing that money will come if you’re valued by your audience helps most, Naveen explains.

Step 5: Invest in your finances AND yourself

Investments can take all shapes and forms. Let’s walk through three areas where you can start to invest when it comes to building out your six-figure life. It’s important to regularly monitor your bank account to ensure that automated savings and investments are accurately contributing towards your financial goals, especially considering the variability of extra income sources like food delivery services where the uncertainty of tips can affect the monthly amount deposited into your bank account.

Investment #1: Personal finance

This is IWT’s bread and butter. We have extensive resources when it comes to personal finance. It’s also a very important leg anyone should have on their Tripod of Stability.

Understanding and managing your monthly income is crucial in a comprehensive personal finance strategy, especially for those aiming to achieve or maintain a six-figure annual income. This approach not only helps in calculating gross income from an annual salary but also in making informed decisions about contributions to retirement accounts and exploring ways to increase monthly income for enhanced financial security.

The easiest way to get started ensuring your personal finances are in order is by automating your finances.

This is our system of sending your paycheck where it needs to go each month (utilities, rent, cell phone bill, etc.) so you don’t have to worry about it.

Being financially conservative, I have also automated my cash flow so that I automatically have savings and investments, Enoch says. I enjoy not having to think about savings and investments.

I enjoy being able to spend money without worrying whether I’d have enough cash to pay for the highly cyclical quarterly gas bill or bimonthly electricity bill when they come.

Automation is incredibly important, Naveen says. At the time I was drawing a wage from my day job, it was helpful to put my trust in a system that made sense and would work out in the end.

At the time, I was putting cash away in my ING Direct account and my sub-savings accounts. I was able to see that number increase and I saw it worked really well.

Automating your finances only takes one to two hours at the most, but once you set it up, you don’t have to worry about it again. It’s definitely a key part of how to make $100,000 a year.

AND it”ll save you thousands of dollars over your lifetime.

Investment #2: Your side hustle

If you want to know how to make $100,000 a year, you’re going to have to hustle hard. That means you’re going to reach a point in your side hustle where you’re going to have to put back some money into it if you want to grow.

That could take the form of hiring employees, buying a website domain, or getting a mentor / coach as was Christina’s case.

It sounds cliche, but working smarter instead of working harder is how I reached six figures, Christina explains. How do you work smarter? You surround yourself with people who are smarter than you and have already achieved what you’re working for.

So she hired a business coach and found someone to help her build out her business.

I really did my homework, she says. I hired someone with a team of people, all of which were successful entrepreneurs earning at least multiple six figures, many of their clients were earning at least multiple six figures, and the coaching team had a very high retention rate, which told me they must do something right!?

That’s just one example though. You can find many ways to put money back into your business to help it grow.

One great way to invest is to seek out mentorship or purchase a product or a book which brings us to….

Investment #3: Yourself

Possibly the best investment that you can make that will put you on a path to make 100k a year is putting money in developing yourself both career-wise and on a personal level.

My biggest investment is self-care, Bonnie says. The first thing on the calendar each month is Pilates, pole fitness, massages, day spa visits, couples therapy, quick getaways to Desert Hot Springs, and so on. If I’m not my best self, I’ve got nothing to bring my clients. It’s just stupid important, as investments go.

LOVE IT.

Who cares if this seems like a luxury? Who cares if people might scoff at the idea of getting a massage? What matters is that YOU want it and that YOU are willing to work for it.

The best way to get started is to begin investing in yourself. This is something people rarely think about when they start learning how to make $100,000 a year.

And one thing that you will find very common with people who have not taken the time to invest in themselves and learn how this stuff works, is they will create what’s called levels of abstraction.

Rather than just going directly to what they want, they will create all these different levels of abstraction, like making a Facebook page or a blog, that make them feel good, but that actually don’t require them to do the hard work.

So, they’ll spend six, nine, twelve months doing something frustrating and then give up because they never spent time buying a couple good books or buying a course.

FAQs About How To Make 6 Figures

Is it hard to make 6 figures?

Building up to or earning 6 figures is not easy. It will take hard work to be able to earn that much or acquire that much wealth. For the average person, aspiring to earn a six-figure income involves navigating the complexities of strategic financial planning and career development, highlighting the importance of making informed decisions in these areas. The best way to get to $100,000 is by constantly increasing your net worth and skills.

What jobs make 7 figures a year?

Here’s a list of jobs that make 7 figures:

  • Business Owners
  • Doctors and Other Medical Professionals
  • CEOs and Other C-Suite Executives
  • Salesmen
  • Investors
  • Bankers
  • Corporate Lawyers
  • Actors and Actresses
  • Professional Athletes
  • Youtubers and Influencers

At what age should I be making 6 figures?

Usually, people don’t earn 6 figures until they are in their 30s. However, there is no specific timeline for this and everyone is different. Workers in America are usually expected to be making 6 figures or more by the time they are 30 because of their experience. Starting from the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, the journey to a $100,000 yearly salary is a significant testament to the importance of advancing skills and experience. There are of course outliers and exceptions to this rule.

What's the easiest job to make 6 figures?

Landing a six-figure job often boils down to where demand meets your skills. For example, software developers are in hot demand and can easily hit that six-figure mark with the right coding skills. Sales pros in tech or pharma can also pull in big bucks, thanks to commissions on top of solid salaries. And let’s not forget digital marketing whizzes—SEO and social media gurus are raking it in as every business scrambles to get noticed online. Moreover, many of these high-paying positions offer the added benefits of paid time off and the flexibility of working fewer hours, emphasizing the work-life balance that comes with such lucrative roles. These careers show that with the right expertise and a bit of hustle, those six figures aren’t out of reach.

How can I make 6 figures without a degree?

Making six figures without a degree? Totally doable. Dive into areas like tech (think coding, cybersecurity), digital marketing, or sales, where your skills and hustle matter more than a diploma. You can master these fields through online courses, certifications, and just getting out there and doing it. Whether you’re developing software, crafting killer marketing campaigns, or closing big sales, your ability to deliver results can lead to big earnings, potentially while working fewer hours, especially in fields that value skills and experience over formal education. Key ingredients? Learning fast, networking smart, and working hard.

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Ramit Sethi

 

Host of Netflix’s “How to Get Rich”, NYT Bestselling Author & host of the hit I Will Teach You To Be Rich Podcast. For over 20 years, Ramit has been sharing proven strategies to help people like you take control of their money and live a Rich Life.