How a Side Hustler Makes 6000 Monthly as a Freelance B2B Cold Email Strategist

Lucas: Let me start with a number that stopped me: six thousand dollars a month, cold emailing strangers on behalf of companies you've probably never heard of. Luna: That's the whole hustle? Just sending emails? Lucas: Well, 'just' is doing a lot of work there. But yeah — the core skill is writing emails that don't get deleted. We're talking about a former SaaS sales rep named Megan, who now runs a freelance cold email strategy business from her apartment in Austin. Luna: How long has she been doing it? Lucas: About 18 months. She started as a side hustle while still working full-time in sales ops. Within 6 months she replaced her salary, and now she's fully self-employed, working about 20 hours a week. Luna: Okay, so how does the money work? Six thousand a month — is that from a few big clients or a lot of small ones? Lucas: She has three retainer clients at two thousand dollars each per month. For that, she manages their entire cold email outreach: list building, copywriting, sending, and optimization. She also does one-off projects at fifteen hundred dollars per campaign. Luna: So she's not the one sending the emails herself, right? I mean, at scale. Lucas: Correct. She uses tools like Instantly and Smartlead to handle deliverability and sequencing. Her job is strategy and copy. She sets up the sequences, writes the email copy, and then monitors the metrics — open rates, reply rates, meetings booked. Luna: What kind of results does she get for clients? Lucas: She targets a 40% open rate and a 5% reply rate. That's above industry average — typical B2B cold email open rates hover around 20-25%. She says the key is hyper-personalization at scale. Luna: How does she personalize when she's sending to hundreds of people? Lucas: She uses a technique called 'custom fields on steroids.' Instead of just {{first_name}}, she pulls in their job title, company news, recent LinkedIn activity, and even mutual connections. She writes 5-7 different subject lines per campaign and A/B tests them. Luna: So the actual email copy — is it very short? Like, how many sentences? Lucas: Her first email is usually three to four sentences. She starts with a compliment or observation about something specific to the recipient's work — not a generic 'I love your company.' Then she states the value proposition in one line, and ends with a soft call to action. Luna: Give me an example. Lucas: Sure. She was recently running a campaign for a project management software aimed at construction firms. Her first email began: 'Saw that you recently broke ground on the Riverfront tower — that's a complex project. We help general contractors save an average of 12 hours per week on coordination. Open to a 10-minute call to see if it fits?' Luna: That's specific. And it references something real. Lucas: Exactly. She spends about 30 minutes per client per week researching her target list to find those hooks. She says that investment is what separates her from someone who just blasts a template. Luna: What about the legal side? Cold email is regulated in some places. Lucas: She's careful. She only emails B2B contacts in the US and Canada, targeting company email addresses — not personal ones. She always includes a clear opt-out, and she scrubs her lists against the can spam requirements. She avoids any hint of deception in subject lines. Luna: Does she ever get pushback from people who think cold email is inherently spammy? Lucas: She says that's the biggest objection she faces. Her answer is that when done right, cold email is a legitimate way to start conversations. She focuses on relevance and respect. If someone replies 'not interested,' she immediately removes them from the list. Luna: So how does someone break into this side hustle? Is it something you need sales experience for? Lucas: Megan came from sales, but she says the most important skill is copywriting — specifically, the ability to write concise, benefit-driven emails. She recommends practicing by writing cold emails for friends' businesses for free, then using those results to build a portfolio. Luna: What about the tech stack? Is it expensive to get started? Lucas: You can start with a free LinkedIn account for research and a basic email tool like Mailshake which starts at $59 per month. Megan says her total monthly software cost is about $200, which she passes on to clients as part of the retainer. Luna: So the profit margin is pretty high. Lucas: Very. After software and taxes, she's netting around $4,500 a month from this. And the scalability is interesting — she could easily add more clients with some virtual assistant support, but she prefers keeping it personal. Luna: That's the thing with a lot of these side hustles — there's a ceiling if you stay solo, but it's still a solid income stream. Lucas: Exactly. And Megan's approach is a good reminder that sometimes the most direct path to extra income is a service that businesses already pay for — they just need someone who can do it better. Luna: And on that note — you know, it's conversations like this that make me think about the value of practical, no-fluff business advice. And honestly, the reason we can keep doing these episodes without ads is because a handful of listeners chip in monthly through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Lucas: Yeah, it's a small group, but it makes a big difference. If these conversations have moved your work forward in some small way, that's the place to support. And if not, no worries — the episodes will keep coming either way. Luna: Alright, back to cold email. Lucas, what's one actionable tip from Megan that our listeners can use today? Lucas: She says the single most underused tactic is the follow-up sequence. Most people send one email and give up. She sends a sequence of 5 emails over 2 weeks, each with a different angle. The first is the hook, the second adds social proof, the third offers a free resource, the fourth is a case study, and the fifth is a break-up email. Luna: Break-up email? Lucas: Yeah, something like: 'I've reached out a few times and I don't want to be a nuisance. If the timing isn't right, no worries at all. If you ever need help with X, my door is open.' That final email often gets replies because it respects their time. Luna: So it's less about the one perfect email and more about a thoughtful, persistent conversation. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the mindset shift. Cold email isn't spam — it's digital networking. You're just starting a conversation with someone who might benefit from what you offer. The key is to be helpful, not pushy. Luna: I think that's a good note to end on. Thanks, Lucas. Lucas: Thanks, Luna. And thanks to Megan for sharing her playbook. If you're interested in cold email as a side hustle, start small, track everything, and remember — it's a numbers game, but the numbers work if the copy is right.