How a Side Hustler Makes 10000 Monthly as a Freelance SaaS Consultant

Lucas: So last week I came across this profile on Upwork — a woman named Maria Chen, former product manager at a mid-size SaaS company, now pulling in around ten grand a month as a freelance go to market consultant. And I thought, that's a really interesting niche. Luna: go to market for SaaS. So she's not just advising on marketing — she's helping early-stage companies figure out how to launch, price, and position? Lucas: Exactly. She told me she focuses on companies that have a product — maybe an MVP — but no real strategy for getting it in front of the right buyers. So she does pricing model audits, churn analysis, funnel reviews. The kind of stuff that a fractional head of product might do, but she positions it as a short-term engagement. Luna: And she started on Upwork? That's surprising for a B2B consulting gig. Lucas: Yeah, her first client was a three-person startup that posted a job for 'SaaS pricing help'. She bid fifteen hundred for a two-week project — ended up reworking their entire tier structure and cut their churn by about twelve percent in the first quarter. That client referred her to two others. Luna: So the key was one concrete win that she could point to. Not a portfolio, not a fancy website — just a result. Lucas: Right. She told me she doesn't even have a personal site. Her Upwork profile has three case studies, all anonymized. And she charges a hundred and fifty dollars an hour for ad-hoc work, but she's transitioning to retainer packages — three thousand a month for a quarterly engagement. Luna: Three thousand per client. So she needs about three or four retainer clients to hit ten grand. How does she manage that alongside a full-time job? Lucas: That's the part I found really practical. She uses a Notion dashboard with a simple time tracker and a client queue. She blocks off Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings. She says the key is setting boundaries — no Slack pings, no 'quick calls'. Everything goes through a structured weekly sync. Luna: So it's not about working more hours; it's about being very disciplined with the hours she has. That's a hard lesson for a lot of side hustlers. Lucas: Yeah, she said the biggest mistake she sees is people underpricing and then over-delivering on scope. She learned to say 'that's outside the engagement, but I can add a separate project'. Luna: What kind of skill set does someone actually need to do this? Because 'go to market strategy' sounds vague. Lucas: She came from product management, so she had hands-on experience with pricing experiments, cohort analysis, and customer interviews. But she said the real differentiator was understanding SaaS metrics — especially unit economics. Like, being able to look at a startup's numbers and say 'your customer acquisition cost is too high relative to lifetime value, and here's why'. Luna: So it's not just domain expertise — it's the ability to translate data into a clear action plan. That's a specific consulting skill. Lucas: Exactly. And she builds that into her proposals. She'll offer a free thirty-minute audit where she reviews their pricing page and churn rate, then gives them one actionable insight. That alone converts about forty percent of prospects into paid engagements. Luna: That's a brilliant lead gen tactic. Give away just enough value to prove you know what you're talking about. Lucas: Yeah, and she says most of her clients are pre-revenue or just post-seed. They don't have a VP of Product yet, but they know they need strategy. So she's filling a gap that full-time hires can't. Luna: Let's talk numbers. Ten thousand a month — what's the split between hourly and retainer now? Lucas: She said about sixty percent retainer, forty percent hourly. The hourly work is usually one-off projects like a pricing model overhaul or a competitive analysis. The retainers are ongoing — she does a monthly strategy call, a written report, and async feedback. She's trying to move to eighty percent retainer because it's more predictable. Luna: And that's the dream for a side hustler, right? Predictable income without constantly hunting for the next gig. Lucas: Absolutely. She told me she spent the first six months just building that pipeline. Now she's got a waitlist of about five companies. She actually turns down work if it doesn't fit her niche. Luna: That's a luxury most freelancers don't have. But it's also a sign that she's positioned herself well. What advice did she give for someone wanting to start? Lucas: She said pick one very specific problem you can solve. Don't call yourself a 'SaaS consultant' — call yourself a 'SaaS pricing strategist' or 'SaaS churn reducer'. The more narrow, the easier to sell. And then go find five startups that are struggling with that exact problem and offer a free audit. Luna: So the barrier to entry is really just your own expertise. You don't need a certification or a portfolio — you need a track record, even if it's from your day job. Lucas: Right. And she emphasizes that you should never work for free beyond that initial audit. She's very firm on that. Your time is valuable, and if you give away too much, clients won't respect the engagement. Luna: That's a lesson that applies to any side hustle. But I'm curious — how does she handle the overlap with her full-time job? Is there a non-compete issue? Lucas: She checked her employment contract. Her company doesn't restrict moonlighting as long as she's not consulting for direct competitors. So she avoids any companies in her exact vertical. She also keeps her LinkedIn separate — her profile says 'Freelance GTM Consultant' but doesn't name clients. Luna: Smart. So she's playing it safe while still building a public presence. That's a good blueprint for anyone with a corporate job. Lucas: Yeah, and she said the most surprising thing was how much her day job skills actually transfer. She uses the same frameworks — like the Pirate Metrics or the Lean Canvas — that she uses at work. So it's not like she's learning a whole new trade; she's just repackaging what she already knows. Luna: I think that's the takeaway for a lot of listeners. You probably have a skill right now that someone would pay for, you just haven't framed it as a service. Lucas: Exactly. And that's what we try to do on this show — find real people who've done it and show the numbers. Luna: Speaking of which, quick honest thing — a handful of listeners chip in monthly through Buy Me a Coffee dot com slash fexingo, and that's literally what keeps this podcast ad-free and lets us dig into stories like Maria's. Lucas: Yeah, we don't run ads, we don't have sponsors — it's just listener supported. If these conversations have moved your work forward in some small way, that's the only reason we're still here. Luna: Alright, back to Maria — she mentioned one tool she can't live without. What was it? Lucas: It's a simple spreadsheet she built herself. She tracks every client's key metrics — MRR, churn rate, customer count — and updates it monthly. She says it helps her spot trends before clients even ask. That's the kind of proactive value that justifies a premium rate. Luna: So it's not about fancy software; it's about being organized and showing you're on top of their business. That's the real secret. Lucas: Exactly. And she's now working on a small course for aspiring SaaS consultants. Not to make money — she says that's a side project — but to build a funnel for her own consulting. Free content, paid engagements. Luna: That's a smart long-term play. Build authority, then convert. I think we can all take a page from that book. Lucas: For sure. Maria's story is a great reminder that you don't need to be a guru or have a huge following — you just need to solve a real problem for a few people and deliver results. The income follows.