How a Side Hustler Makes 4700 Monthly as a Freelance Pitch Deck Copywriter

Lucas: So you know how we talk a lot about freelance niches on this show — the ones where you can actually build a real income stream without quitting your day job. Luna: Yeah, and we've covered everything from Notion consulting to grant writing. But there's one niche that's been quietly booming, especially with all the startup activity right now. Lucas: Pitch deck copywriting. And I don't mean designing the slides — I mean writing the narrative that convinces investors to write a check. Our guest today is Jenna Ruiz, who makes around forty-seven hundred dollars a month doing exactly that, part-time. Luna: And she's not a former VC or a founder herself — she's a former marketing copywriter who saw a gap. I love that. Lucas: If today’s episode gives you one actionable idea — whether you're thinking about freelancing or just curious how startup fundraising actually works — that's the whole point. And the reason we can keep having these conversations without ads is listener support. So if this lands with you, you can throw a few bucks toward the show at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it's a small way to keep it going for everyone. Appreciate you. Lucas: Alright — back to Jenna. She started about eighteen months ago. Her background was in B2B SaaS copywriting, but she noticed that a lot of early-stage founders were terrible at telling their story. They had great tech, but their decks were just feature lists. Luna: Classic feature dump. I've seen decks like that — they're basically a spec sheet with a logo. Lucas: Exactly. So Jenna started offering a service: she would rewrite the deck's narrative, focusing on the problem, the market timing, and the founder-market fit. She charges eighty-five dollars an hour, and each project averages about fifteen to twenty hours. Luna: So that's around twelve to seventeen hundred dollars per deck. And she does about three of those a month? Lucas: Roughly. Some months she does two, some months four. Her biggest month was six thousand, but her average is forty-seven hundred. And here's the key — she gets most of her clients from cold emailing founders she finds on AngelList. Luna: Cold emailing. That's the part everyone hates. What's her approach? Lucas: She targets founders who have recently updated their AngelList profile — meaning they're actively fundraising. She sends a short email that points out one specific thing in their current deck that could be stronger. Not a template — she actually reads the deck first. Luna: So she's doing free consulting in the email itself. That's smart. It proves she knows what she's talking about. Lucas: Exactly. She says her open rate is around sixty-five percent, and about one in ten emails turns into a paid project. That's pretty good for cold outreach. Luna: And what's the biggest mistake she sees in most decks? Lucas: She says it's the 'problem slide' — or lack thereof. Most startups jump straight to their solution. But investors need to feel the pain first. Jenna spends a lot of time on a single slide that tells a mini-story about the customer's frustration. Luna: So it's almost like a narrative hook. Like, 'Imagine you're a logistics manager and you're still using spreadsheets in 2026.' Lucas: Yes. And she ties it to a specific number — like 'this costs the industry three billion dollars a year in inefficiency.' That makes it real. She also insists on including a 'market timing' slide, which a lot of early-stage founders skip. Luna: Right, because even a great idea can fail if the market isn't ready. She's basically applying classic storytelling structure to a business document. Lucas: That's exactly what she does. And she's not a designer — she works with a freelance slide designer she met on Upwork. Jenna writes the narrative, the designer makes it look good, and they split the fee sometimes. Luna: Interesting. So she's built a mini-agency of two. That's scalable. Lucas: She's thinking about that. For now, she's happy with the side-hustle income. But she says the demand is definitely there — especially as we head into the second half of 2026 and more startups are trying to raise before the end of the year. Luna: So if someone listening wants to try this, what's the first step? Do you need a portfolio of pitch decks? Lucas: Jenna says no. She started by offering to rewrite decks for free for two founders she knew. She used those as samples. Then she pitched her services on LinkedIn and through cold email. Within three months, she had enough paying work to replace her part-time copywriting gig. Luna: That's a pretty clear path. And the skills — writing compelling copy, understanding investor psychology — are things you can learn. Lucas: Totally. It's not rocket science, but it does require empathy. You have to put yourself in the investor's shoes. What would make you excited to write a check? That's the core skill. Luna: And it pays better than a lot of other freelance writing niches. Eighty-five dollars an hour is solid. Lucas: Especially for part-time work. Jenna says she spends about ten to twelve hours a week on client work, plus a few hours on prospecting. So it's not a huge time commitment. Luna: I think the key takeaway is that she found a specific pain point — founders who can't tell their story — and created a service around it. That's the definition of a good side hustle. Lucas: Exactly. It's niche, it's needed, and it's something she enjoys. So if you're a writer or a marketer looking for a new angle, pitch deck copywriting might be worth a shot. Next episode, we'll look at how one side hustler makes six thousand a month as a freelance video editor for YouTube creators. Luna: Looking forward to it. Until then, keep hustling.