How a Side Hustler Earns 6000 Monthly as a Freelance Financial Modeler

Lucas: So Luna, we've talked about ghostwriting, bookkeeping, even Pinterest managing, but today I want to get into something a little more... quantitative. Luna: I'm ready. What are we digging into? Lucas: Freelance financial modeling. Specifically, how a former investment banking analyst named Maya now builds financial models for startups and small businesses from her home office, and pulls in around six grand a month doing it part-time. Luna: Six thousand a month? That's not chump change. What exactly does she build? Lucas: Mostly three things: fundraise models for startups pitching venture capitalists, budgeting and forecasting tools for small businesses, and occasional one-off scenario analysis — like, what happens if our revenue drops twenty percent? She works in Excel, sometimes Google Sheets if the client insists. Luna: So she's basically a spreadsheet whisperer. Lucas: Basically. But the key is she's not just a spreadsheet jockey — she spent three years at a bulge bracket bank, so she knows how to structure a model so that an investor can actually follow it. That's a skill most small business owners just don't have. Luna: Right. There's a big difference between a spreadsheet with formulas and a model that tells a story. So how did she get her first clients? Lucas: She started by reaching out to founders she knew from her banking days. Her first gig was a friend's startup that needed a fundraise model before their seed round. She charged two thousand for that initial model, and it took her about three weekends. Luna: Two thousand for a few weekends of work? That's a strong start. Lucas: And it snowballed. That founder referred her to two other startups, and then she set up a simple website just outlining her services, and started getting inbound from small business owners who'd found her through LinkedIn. Luna: So what's her typical project like? Walk us through one. Lucas: Take a small e-commerce company that wants to raise a bridge round. They need a model that projects revenue for the next eighteen months, factors in marketing spend, customer acquisition costs, churn, and ends with a clean cap table showing how much equity they're giving up. Maya builds that from scratch, often starting with just their historical sales data and some assumptions. Luna: That sounds like a lot of moving parts. How does she keep it manageable? Lucas: She says the secret is to keep the model simple. One tab for inputs, one tab for calculations, one tab for outputs. If a model has more than five tabs, she's probably overcomplicating it. And she always includes a summary dashboard with key metrics so the client can see the big picture at a glance. Luna: That's smart. So how does she price these things? Lucas: She charges by project, not by hour. A basic budgeting model for a small business runs around fifteen hundred. A more complex fundraise model with multiple scenarios can go up to five thousand. She quotes a flat fee upfront, and she's learned to pad it for the back and forth — clients always want changes. Luna: I bet. So how many projects does she juggle in a month to hit six thousand? Lucas: Usually two or three. She dedicates about fifteen hours a week to it, mostly evenings and weekends, since she still has a day job as a finance manager at a tech company. Though she says she's thinking about quitting that day job soon, because the side hustle is getting close to matching her salary. Luna: That's the dream, right? So what tools does she use? I imagine it's not just vanilla Excel. Lucas: She uses Excel for the heavy lifting, but she's also gotten into some add-ons like Macabacus and think-cell, which are popular in the banking world. She says those tools make it easier to create clean charts and waterfall graphics. And she's a big fan of model auditing tools, like the one built into Excel, to make sure there are no errors. Luna: That's a good point. A single formula error can ruin a model's credibility. How does she avoid that? Lucas: She has a rigorous review process. She builds the model, then walks away for a day, then comes back with fresh eyes and manually checks every single formula. She also uses a separate audit sheet to test assumptions. And she always does a scenario analysis where she stresses the model with extreme inputs to see if anything breaks. Luna: That's thorough. But what about the clients? Are they typically financially literate enough to even use these models? Lucas: That's a big part of her job. She says half her work is communication. She'll build the model, then spend time walking the client through it, explaining what the assumptions mean, and making sure they understand how to update it themselves. She even includes a simple 'how to use this' tab in every model she delivers. Luna: That's smart. It turns a project into a relationship. So what's the biggest mistake she sees people make when they try to do this on their own? Lucas: They overengineer. Founders will spend weeks building a monster model with hundreds of rows, and it's still wrong. Maya's approach is to start with the question the model needs to answer, then build the simplest thing that answers it. Most of her work is actually simplification, not creation. Luna: So it's almost like editing, but for spreadsheets. Lucas: Exactly. And that's why she can charge a premium. She's not just plugging numbers into a template; she's bringing a banker's mindset to the table. Luna: So for someone listening who might be good at Excel, what would you say is the first step to getting into this kind of side hustle? Lucas: She recommends starting with a free template from a site like Corporate Finance Institute, or even just rebuilding a simple model from scratch. Then offer to build one free for a friend's business just to get a portfolio piece. And she says to be honest about your skill level — don't pitch a venture fund model if you've never built one. Luna: That's solid advice. I also wonder, with all the AI tools out there, is there still a market for this? Couldn't someone just ask ChatGPT to build a model? Lucas: Great question. Maya says AI can get you seventy percent of the way, but the last thirty percent is where the value is — understanding the specific business, the industry, the investor expectations. AI can't tell you that a certain metric is going to be scrutinized in a Series A pitch. That's where her experience comes in. Luna: So it's a human touch kind of thing. And that's probably why she can charge more. Lucas: Exactly. Her clients are paying for peace of mind. They know that model is going to hold up in a due diligence process because she's been on the other side of the table. Luna: And that's such a valuable skill. I mean, we've talked about a lot of side hustles on this show, but this one feels particularly high-stakes. If you mess up a financial model, you could cost someone their funding round. Lucas: Absolutely. There's real responsibility there. But that's also why it pays well. Luna: Speaking of paying well — and I know we're not supposed to make this a habit — but if listeners have gotten something out of these episodes, a couple of dollars a month genuinely keeps this whole thing going. Lucas: Yeah, it really does. Buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, if you've picked up any tips you've used in your own side hustle. It goes straight to keeping these conversations ad-free. Luna: And we appreciate every single one. Now back to the models. Lucas: So let's talk about the demand side. Who is actually hiring freelance financial modelers right now? Luna: I imagine startups are the main ones, but what about more traditional small businesses? Like a local restaurant or a law firm? Lucas: Good point. Maya says about half her clients are startups, but the other half are established small businesses that need budgeting tools or to evaluate a new project. For example, she recently helped a dental clinic model the ROI of adding a second location. Luna: That's a really concrete use case. And I bet those clients are more stable, maybe even pay faster. Lucas: They do. Startups can be slow to pay, but small businesses often pay upfront. Maya now requires a fifty percent deposit before she starts, and she says that's standard for this type of work. Luna: Good to know. So what's the upward trajectory for someone like Maya? Could she eventually turn this into a full-time thing, or even build a small agency? Lucas: That's her plan, actually. She's thinking about hiring another freelancer to handle overflow work, especially during busy seasons like Q4 when companies are planning their budgets for the next year. She says she could easily double her income if she had more hours. Luna: Wow. So this side hustle could become a real business. I love that you can start with just one skill and grow it into something bigger. Lucas: And that's the beauty of it. Financial modeling is a niche, but it's a niche with real pain points and a willingness to pay. For anyone listening who's comfortable with numbers and likes problem-solving, this might be a path worth exploring. Luna: I'm honestly tempted to dust off my old Excel skills after this. Lucas: Do it. Who knows, we might have you as a guest in a future episode. But for now, that's a wrap on financial modeling. Until next time, keep building that side hustle.