There is something about September that makes me want to start again. Maybe it is the fact that there are only four months left in the year, or maybe it is simply the feeling that there is still enough time to change how the year ends.
For the last three years, I have tried a lot of different things. I have experimented with different strategies, offers, clients, content formats, platforms and ways of building my business. Some things worked, some did not, and some worked for a while before I moved on to something else. I am grateful for all of it because I needed that period of experimentation to understand what actually works for me.
But I think I have reached a point where experimenting endlessly is no longer useful. I have enough data now. I know what I enjoy, what I am good at, what kind of work I want to do and what I want my business to look like. So from 1 September to 31 December, I am going to stop expanding and start narrowing.
I am calling this my four month lock in.
The first thing I am changing is how I work with clients. I am going to reduce as many clients as possible and focus on working with just two high ticket clients. My goal for this period is to reach ₹10 lakh per month. It is an audacious goal, and I honestly have no idea whether I will reach it. But I want to give myself four months to find out what happens when I focus deeply instead of constantly adding more.
My target is to make approximately 50% of that through freelancing and the remaining 50% through my two programs Side Hustle OS and Organic Client Authority System. If I want to make ₹5 lakh a month through freelancing, I want to do that with two or three clients at most. I am not going to solve a revenue problem by taking on ten more clients and creating a time problem for myself. If I cannot reach the number with the model I have chosen, I am okay with that. The model is more important to me than forcing a particular number.
I am going to be charging $1500-$2000 for Instagram Management, Webinar/VSL Funnel Setup and Personal Branding - An offer that gets you impressions, leads and clients.
The first program is Side Hustle OS, which helps working professionals build a side income through skills, freelancing, offers, lead generation, sales and client acquisition. The program is currently priced at ₹6,999, and from 15 September the price will be ₹7,999 for new members. I am not going to keep reducing the price to get more people in. I want to focus on improving the program, reaching the right audience and building something that genuinely creates results for the people who join.
The second is my one on one consulting program Organic Client Authority System, which is ₹75,000 for three months. This is a very hands on, done with you program where I work closely with someone on their business and content. I help plan the content calendar, give them content ideas, conduct research and competitor research, help them understand what they should be communicating and then sit with them to analyse what is working and what needs to change. They do the execution, but they don’t have to figure out the strategy alone.
I am also making one decision that may be slightly unusual. I am not going to tell you how much I make every month during these four months. I am not going to share monthly revenue screenshots or turn the experiment into a public scoreboard. On 31 December, I will come back and tell you exactly how much I made through freelancing and my other businesses, what worked, what did not, and whether I managed to get anywhere close to the ₹10 lakh monthly goal.
I want to give myself the space to actually do the work without constantly measuring how it looks from the outside.
The second part of my lock in is my health. I have realised that I can be very disciplined about work and surprisingly flexible about everything else. So I am going to start with sleep. In September, I want to be asleep by 12 (I know still late but moving it back from 1-2 AM). From October onwards, I want to move that to 10:30 PM and wake up somewhere between 5:30 and 6 AM which I did between April - June.
I want my mornings to become slower and quieter. I want to meditate for an hour, practise Vipassana meditation and then start the day. I don’t want to build a successful business while constantly feeling exhausted. I have done enough of that already.
I am also going back to the gym. For now, I am committing to four days a week, with two days of strength training and two days of cardio. Eventually, I would like to build that up to five or six days a week, but I don’t want to start with an unrealistic routine that I cannot sustain. Four days a week feels like a commitment I can actually keep.
The third thing I want to bring back is reading. I started this year really well and was reading one or two fiction books every month, but somewhere along the way work became busy and reading slowed down. I miss it. I miss getting lost in a book that has nothing to do with business, marketing or productivity. I miss having ideas that come from somewhere completely outside my usual world.
So for the next four months, I am setting myself a goal of reading ten books. I also want to share video summaries and what I take away from each book across my social media platforms. I think one of the best ways to understand something deeply is to try to explain it to someone else.
The final part of my lock in is content. I am going to actively create on three platforms. One will be X, one will be Instagram, and the third will be either Substack, LinkedIn or YouTube. I haven’t decided yet, and I am okay with that. I will figure it out based on where I feel I can build something meaningful rather than trying to be everywhere at once.
I know this sounds like a lot when I put everything together. Business, clients, programs, content, reading, meditation, sleep, gym, journaling and everything else that comes with being a human being while trying to build something.
But strangely, I don’t think this is actually about doing more.
It is about doing less, but doing it properly.
If I want to make ₹5 lakh from freelancing, I don’t need ten clients. I need the right two or three. If I want my programs to grow, I don’t need to keep changing my prices or reinventing the offer every few weeks. I need to make them better and find more of the right people. If I want to get healthier, I don’t need a complicated routine. I need to sleep better, eat well and consistently move my body. If I want to read ten books, I don’t need to become someone who reads all day. I just need to make reading part of my everyday life.
I think that is what these next four months are really about for me. Narrowing down after three years of experimenting. Taking everything I have learned and finally choosing what deserves my attention.
I don’t know what the end of December will look like. I don’t know whether I will hit ₹10 lakh a month. I don’t know which platform I will choose. I don’t know whether I will actually manage all ten books or whether my four day gym routine will turn into six.
But I do know that I want to give these four months everything I have.
So from 1 September to 31 December, I am locking myself in. I am choosing fewer clients, deeper work, better health, more reading, consistent content and a much narrower focus.
And on 31 December, I will come back here and tell you exactly what happened.
