Michael Elliott, with 14 years in paid media and AI, says freelancers should pick one of four high-value services: paid advertising, AI workflow automation, website optimization, or content packages. He breaks down what each pays, how hard it is to start, and concrete 30- to 90-day actions to build real skills instead of chasing low-paying gigs.
If you're starting freelancing and you choose the wrong service, you do not just make less money. You lock yourself into low prices, bad clients, and years of stress thinking freelancing didn't work for me. Most beginners don't fail because they're bad. They fail because they pick the wrong thing to sell. This video is the line in the sand. 14 years I've given to the digital marketing game, working at the intersection of paid media and AI. I've helped generate hundreds of millions in revenue for businesses, managed 7-figure monthly ad spend budgets. I've hired freelancers, I've trained them, I've been one myself. And if I lost everything tomorrow, no audience, no portfolio, no referrals, there are only 4 services that I would even consider selling. And I'm gonna give this value away for free. By the end of this video, you'll know exactly which one you should start based on where you're at right now and which skills to ignore until later. Let's jump in, guys. Look, here's how we're breaking this one down. Paid ads, AI consulting and workflow automation, website optimization, SEO, CRO, and social media and content packages. For each one, I'll show you what it actually is, who it fits, how hard it is to start, and what I'd do in the first 30 to 90 days in that industry. Then I'll help you pick one anchor service and one support skill so you're not guessing. Let's start with the king: paid ads. Google Ads, YouTube Ads, Meta Ads, traffic on demand. The biggest mistake beginners make is thinking they're selling, I'll set up ads, I'll manage your ads. You're not. You're selling profitable, controllable traffic. And here's where people screw it up. They optimize for clicks instead of customers, right? They optimize for clicks instead of outcomes. Ads don't fail because the platform is broken. They've been around for decades. They fail because the offer, the message, or the intent is wrong. Your job is to connect what people already want with what a business actually sells profitably. That's it. I inherit accounts all of the time, and you should see the mess that they are in. There is a massive opportunity for you in this game. If I was starting from zero, I'd pick one platform. Focus on, say, search for Google Ads with audits, offer audits and account fix projects to get proof quickly. And your first goal isn't to get rich, it's to get good at that channel. I've made $5 million in the PPC game. Believe me, it's a great channel to make some money. If paid ads sounds like your lane, comment ads below. Hit the subscribe button while you're there. Service 2: AI consulting and workflow automation. Most people think that they're too new to offer anything with AI. That is wrong. In 2026, A beginner with clean workflows beats a veteran doing everything manually. This isn't prompt engineering. It's not sounding smart. It's identifying where a business is slow and make it faster and calmer. Here's the reality. If you sell AI as magic, clients will fire you straight away. If you sell it as time saved and mistakes removed, they'll keep you forever. This is good advice with any of these really, but start small. Don't overwhelm yourself and put pressure on yourself. Automate some follow-ups, bookings, onboardings, and handoffs. Take some flows from people like me. I must have 15 videos with flows that you can take and sell to businesses. Small automations feel massive to stressed business owners, and that's what we're tapping into. Service 3: website optimization, SEO, and CRO/AEO too. Here's the brutal truth: most businesses don't need more traffic. They need to stop wasting the traffic that they are already getting. That's where website optimization, SEO, and CRO come in. Listen guys, I know every bad website is a silent tax on ads, content, referrals, everything. Fixing the site doesn't feel exciting, doesn't feel sexy, but unfortunately you can't sell sex on at work, so we're gonna have to try something else. It's often the fastest way to make everything else in a business work better, and for that very reason businesses are willing to pay you good money for it. If you like writing, structure, and asking why is no one clicking this, this skill is incredibly underrated. Don't be scared by the AI tools, they break more than they work, and people still pay top dollar this. Service 4: social media and content packages. Listen, I'm going to be upfront with you, blunt. Social media is where most beginners start and where most beginners get stuck. Not because social is bad, but because they sell it wrong. So which one? Here's the entire video in one decision. Pick one anchor service and pick one support skill. Comment below the skills that you choose, the combination that you pick. That comment is your line in the sand for the next 90 days. Depth, proof, momentum. You should hold yourself accountable. And listen, if you want help turning that decision into real clients, what to put on your profile, or maybe how to write offers and how I go about it, how to land your first few projects, watch the video on the screen now. I've sent nearly 5,000 Upwork proposals, and this will teach you a lot. You're not behind. You're one clear service decision away from a completely different future. Catch you there.
