The Freelance Shortcut Nobody Mentioned
There’s a special kind of panic that sets in when you’re staring at a rent due date and your bank account is giving you the side-eye. I was there 10 days ago. The usual advice—"start a Shopify store!" or "run Facebook ads!"—was a joke. I had no time, no budget, and no product to sell.
That’s when I discovered something almost unfair: you don’t need to sell products or run ads to make money online. You just need to borrow someone else’s problem and fix it faster than they can.
I call it "Problem-Sniping." And it’s the freelance shortcut nobody talks about because it’s hiding in plain sight.
Here’s exactly how I turned pure panic into $1,200 in 10 days.
The "A-Ha" Moment: Stop Creating, Start Solving
I was scrolling through a business forum, feeling hopeless, when I saw a post from a small e-commerce owner. She was frustrated, writing:
“Ugh, I have 500 product photos from my manufacturer and I need to remove the backgrounds for my website. Doing it in Photoshop is taking forever. Is there a batch tool for this??”
The comments were filled with well-meaning advice: “Try Canva!” “Use Remove.bg!” “Hire someone on Fiverr!”
That’s when it hit me. She wasn’t asking for advice. She was screaming for a solution. She didn’t want to learn a new tool or vet a random freelancer. She wanted the problem to go away.
I had my target.
My 10-Day "Problem-Sniping" Action Plan
Day 1: The Pitch (Not a Proposal)
I didn’t send a long, boring proposal. I sent a direct, 3-sentence DM:
“Hey, saw your post about the product photos. That’s a tedious nightmare. I use a professional process for this and can batch-edit your 500 images, delivered with transparent backgrounds, in 48 hours for a flat $300. Let me know if you’d like me to take it off your plate.”
Why it worked:
Empathy: I acknowledged her pain.
Specificity: I stated the exact deliverable and timeline.
Clear Value:For $300, she could buy back 10+ hours of her life.
She replied in 20 minutes: “OMG, yes. Please. How do we start?”
Days 2-3: The "Grunt Work" Grind
I used a free trial of a bulk background-removal tool. The "professional process" was basically me uploading her files, clicking a button, and doing quality control. It took me about 4 hours total. I delivered early.
Day 4: The Upsell & The Seed
She was thrilled. Upon delivery, I added a PS:
“So glad I could help! Many of my clients also need these images optimized for web speed, which can improve site load times. Happy to do that for another $50 if you’re interested.”
She was. Total: $350. Then, I asked for a testimonial.
Days 5-10: The Snowball Effect
With one five-star testimonial in my pocket, I became a "verified problem-solver." I went back to that same forum and other communities like it. I used the search bar to find my prey, typing in:
“Can someone help me with…”
“I’m struggling to…”
“How do I batch…”
I found people struggling to:
Format their eBook for KDP.
Migrate their email list from Mailchimp to ConvertKit.
Create a simple spreadsheet to track their expenses.
For each one, I repeated the process. I used free tools, YouTube tutorials, and a dose of common sense to deliver a simple, high-value solution. My pitches got faster, my confidence grew, and my inbox started filling with Venmo notifications.
The 10-Day Tally:
Client 1: Background Removal + Upsell = $350
Client 2: eBook Formatting = $400
Client 3: Email List Migration = $250
Client 4: Expense Tracker Setup = $200
Total: $1,200
Rent was $1,150. I made myself a $50 celebratory steak dinner.
The "Problem-Sniping" Blueprint You Can Steal
1. Go Where the Problems Live: Hang out in online communities where your target audience (e.g., small business owners, creators, bloggers) complains. Reddit, Facebook Groups, and niche forums are goldmines.
2. Listen for the "I’m Stuck" Phrase: They’ll use words like: “overwhelmed,” “don’t have time,” “wish there was an easier way,” “can’t figure out…”
3. Package a "Done-For-You" Solution: Don’t offer hourly work. Offer a fixed-price package to solve that ‘exact’ problem. “I will do [X specific task] for you by [date] for [$Y].”
4. Use Free Tools to Deliver: You don’t need to be an expert. You need to be resourceful. Tools like Canva, Loom, Remove.bg, and ChatGPT are your employees
5. Under-Promise, Over-Deliver: Quote 48 hours, deliver in 24. This creates shockingly happy clients who give you testimonials and repeat business.
The Real Secret Nobody Tells You
The world isn’t paying for skills. It’s paying for solved problems.
You don’t need a fancy title. You just need the willingness to find someone who is stuck, and offer them a ladder. While everyone else is trying to build their own product from scratch, you can be getting paid to solve problems that already exist.
Your first client is out there right now, typing their frustration into a search bar. All you have to do is find them.