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Episode 2~ MAKE MORE: Should You become a surrogate mother to make money?

MY NEXT GUEST ASKED THAT WE ONLY USE HER FIRST NAME, BECAUSE SHE REALIZES IT’S A SENSITIVE SUBJECT. SHE SAYS SHE FEELS GOOD ABOUT HELPING OTHERS TO START FAMILIES AND ABOUT MAKING A LIFE-CHANGING AMOUNT OF MONEY FOR HER OWN FAMILY.
BREANA, WELCOME TO EASY MONEY.

LET’S BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING. WHY AND HOW DID YOU FIRST GET THE IDEA TO BECOME A SURROGATE?
A friend of mine had done it, so I saw the process firsthand and became interested in trying it myself. I then Googled surrogacy agencies and looked at websites and applied with Extraordinary Conceptions. Did my profile and became available and got matched fairly quickly with my first couple. Match took less than a month. Pregnant on the first try. It was very easy. Didn’t have a very close relationship with that first couple. They live in AZ. They came to the birth and visited for major ultrasounds.

WAS THIS BABY BIOLOGICALLY YOURS OR DID YOU JUST CARRY IT?
There was an egg donor and father’s sperm so biologically the baby was his and another woman’s. I just carried it. The baby was not related to me.

THAT WAS 4 YEARS AGO. AND THEN YOU SERVED AS A SURROGATE A SECOND TIME AND GAVE BIRTH LAST YEAR. HOW WAS THAT DIFFERENT?
Last year I bonded more with the couple and the baby. It was a lot harder because we bonded. Seeing her leave. This was another case with an egg donor and the father’s sperm. When I delivered the baby, they stayed with us in our house for a few months. They were from China and had to get birth certificate, passport, immunizations and they didn’t speak English. I offered to let them stay with us and she was extremely nervous to take care of a baby herself. It was hard for her in the beginning. They stayed 2 ½ months. I didn’t charge them for that. I helped feed and change the baby so there was a bigger bond when they left. I was fine after a week. It’s harder when you bond more.

MY SHOW IS CALLED EASY MONEY, SO I HAVE TO ASK, WAS IT EASY? SOMEHOW, I THINK NOT.
Hard. It is hard emotionally and physically getting pregnant. Your back hurting. But everything at the end makes it worth it. Seeing them have their baby. It makes you forget everything you went through. For me, though, now I barely remember the hard stuff. Just the good stuff. The birth and seeing the babies.

Injections are the hardest part. Preparing your body for the embryo cycle. It’s just soreness every day of your cycle. The injection is on your upper butt check. You do it every day for 30 days. Sitting down and laying on my side was painful. And the c-sections were hard. I have had 4.

AND WHAT ABOUT EMOTIONALLY? THAT HAS TO BE HARD TOO.
For me I always felt a connection and bond but it wasn’t very emotional the first time when they left. You mentally prepare yourself that you will give birth and they will take baby away. But when you go home without the baby your body has emotions. It was one to two days and then I was fine. Having my own children helped.

YOU HAVE 2 CHILDREN OF YOUR OWN. HOW DID YOU EXPLAIN YOUR PREGNANCY TO THEM?
Both my children have always been very interested in it and they have been understanding. People would say “you are going to have a sister” and they would say “no, that is Connie and Matt’s baby.” They understood, but people would get very confused. They are super understanding that she wasn’t their sister. But at birth they were so excited to hold her. Normally parents are very understanding. They allowed my sons to do that and it was good for them.

DO YOU STILL HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE COUPLES YOU SERVED AS A SURROGATE FOR?
I text the first couple on the birth date. It’s a loose tie. But the second couple have visited us since those first months and my husband and I are going to visit them in their country this summer.

THIS IS AN EXTRAORDINARY, PERSONAL WAY TO MAKE MONEY. DID IT MAKE YOU VALUE THE MONEY YOU EARNED EVEN MORE?
It’s made me super money conscious of how I spend my money and where it goes. I check my account and credit score. Paying stuff off made me independent and don’t want to go back so we are very organized now with spreadsheets and automatic payments. Made us a lot more cautious with where our money goes.

SOME PEOPLE LISTENING ARE THINKING, I COULD NEVER GIVE BIRTH TO SOMEBODY ELSE’S BABY, NO MATTER HOW MUCH MONEY I MADE. EXPLAIN HOW THE MONEY HAS HELPED YOUR OWN FAMILY.
It has changed everything. I am 25 and we own a house. We would never be able to buy a house if I hadn’t done that. It made us very stable financially. With debt and being able to afford things and set up future for our kids and us. That was my main reason for doing it in the end.

ALRIGHT, NOW THE BIG QUESTION EVERYONE WANTS TO KNOW: HOW MUCH MONEY DID YOU MAKE AS A SURROGATE?
When I did the first time it was $35,000 as a base rate and the second time it was $50,000. You then earn extra money above and beyond that for certain things, such as having a C-section, if needed.

THAT’S REAL MONEY AND THAT’LL HAVE PEOPLE PAYING ATTENTION. WHAT’S YOUR ADVICE TO WOMEN WHO MIGHT CONSIDER THIS?
It is a big commitment. A lot of girls think ‘I will make $40,000’ but there are a lot of medical appointments. You have to do lots of work. Legal contracts. It is a lot of work to get pregnant. It is a big commitment for a year so make sure your family is on board. And make sure your kids know what is going on. When they are more involved it makes it easier so you don’t have to explain it later on.

AND, HAVING DONE IT BOTH WAYS, WOULD YOU RECOMMEND THE CLOSER OR THE MORE ARMS-LENGTH RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PARENTS WHO HAVE HIRED YOU?
I enjoyed the closer relationship more, but I respect the fact that some women like to keep the relationship more arms-length.

BREANA, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH US HERE ON EASY MONEY. BREANA FOUND SURROGACY SO REWARDING THAT SHE NOW WORKS FOR A FIRM CALLED EXTRAORDINARY CONCEPTIONS THAT MATCHES PROSPECTIVE PARENTS WITH SURROGATES. SHE PROVIDED THE FIRM’S LIST OF REQUIREMENTS FOR BECOMING A SURROGATE AND THAT IS OUR GUEST BLOG POST THIS WEEK.

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Episode 1~ MAKE MORE: How To Make $30,000 a Month In a Creative Career —Even Music!

GUEST: Ryan Heenan
TITLE: Fiverr Jingle Writer and Video Producer
CONNECT: www.ryanheenan.com
www.fiverr.com/customdrumloops

Q1: RYAN, DESCRIBE YOUR JOB BACK IN 2012.
I went to Berkley College of Music and studied the music business. After graduating, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do. So I was teaching music in a preschool full time and giving music lessons here or there to supplement my income.

Q: AND, FORGIVE ME FOR ASKING, BUT WHAT WAS YOUR ANNUAL INCOME BACK THEN?
I was making about $30,000 as a preschool music teacher back in 2012.

Q: AND THEN ONE DAY —AND WHAT AN IMPORTANT DAY IT WOULD TURN OUT TO BE— YOUR BROTHER TOLD YOU ABOUT AN ONLINE MARKETPLACE CALLED FIVERR.COM. HOW DOES FIVERR WORK AND WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST ATTEMPT AT MAKING MONEY ON FIVERR?
FIVERR.COM is a marketplace where freelancers advertise services they will do for as little as 5 dollars. Things like voiceovers, editing resumes, graphic design and, in my case, music.
When I first joined, Fiverr was a $5 platform. It had a low initial price but other things could be built in for extra money. I started trying to do drum loops, which is a drum sound that you can play over and over. They’re popular with hip hop and song writers so you don’t have to hire a drummer. This was 2012. I still haven’t sold even one! But I signed up with that handle so I still have it.

Q: SO THE DRUM LOOPS WERE A TOTAL FAIL, BUT WHAT IMPRESSES ME, AND WHAT OTHER PEOPLE, INCLUDING NON-MUSICIANS CAN LEARN FROM, IS THAT YOU KEPT REINVENTING YOURSELF UNTIL YOU DID SUCCEED. AND, BOY DID YOU! WAIT TIL YOU HEAR HOW WELL RYAN IS DOING NOW. WHAT WAS YOUR BREAKOUT SERVICE THAT FINALLY WORKED?
There were a lot of businesses asking can you write a jingle for our business. I had studied that in college. My first jingle took an hour and I got $5. But now because I have pushed through, I have a system. To write a jingle doesn’t take me long. To write it and record it – usually takes 4 to 6 minutes. That comes from lots of practice and a tight system. Each one is customized. I don’t use templates but I do reuse elements. If something is dot com I know the last two lines will be a phone number or website. There is a structure that is followed which is more efficient than if I was going to write a new artistic song from scratch each time.

Q: I KNOW YOU’VE HAD HUGE CORPORATIONS AND ODDBALL START-UPS AS JINGLE CLIENTS… CAN YOU GIVE US A FEW EXAMPLES TO INSPIRE OTHER PEOPLE WHO MIGHT WANT TO FREELANCE AS CREATIVES.

•I did a jingle for the Freakanomics podcast. They were doing an episode on products you think are good for environment that are not.

•I was in Time Magazine with Zoey Deschanel! I lead off with that so it sounds way better. Joel Stein who does the Awesome column, he got in touch with me and I thought it was a joke. He said I am doing a story about outsourcing your life. Could you make me a jingle? So I did write one for him. Line was” I sit listening to vinyl and conjuring up images of Zoey Deschanel.” Was a ukulele reference.

•Most inappropriate and funniest project was for a company called Stick a Dick. They made gigantic pink penis stickers for people who parked like a dick. You stick it on their windshield and they peeled off in tiny fragments. I wrote a jingle for that!

Q: SO YOU WERE ALREADY DOING WELL WITH JINGLES —I CAN’T WAIT TO REVEAL WHAT A NICE LIVING YOU MAKE FOR YOURSELF NOW— BUT THEN YOU PIVOTED AGAIN. AND I THINK PIVOTING TO GIVE CUSTOMERS WHAT THEY WANT IS AN IMPORTANT LESSON FOR OUR LISTENERS. WHAT CAME NEXT?
Next people said “can you put my jingle on YouTube?” So I learned animation and video editing platforms. Then the same buyers said “if we sent you a voice over with script could you turn it into a video?” They wanted to diversify their marketing.
I realized I could bundle music, marketing and video and built it up to doing animated jingles or white board videos with characters or visuals and also explainer videos. It’s the same idea but instead of music it’s talking.

Q: OK, SO I KEEP HINTING THAT YOU MAKE GOOD MONEY NOW. DON’T TELL US HOW MUCH YET. BUT DO TELL US HOW YOU MAKE MORE THAN 5 DOLLARS ON FIVERR. PEOPLE WHO WANT TO FOLLOW IN YOUR FOOTSTEPS NEED TO KNOW. IS IT THE VOLUME? IS IT THE FACT THAT MANY GIGS GO FOR MORE THAN $5 EVEN THOUGH THE SITE’S CALLED FIVERR? OR WHAT?
Last month I did 62 explainer videos and 49 jingles and one instrumental. Cost depends on how intricate they want to go. Sometimes I sell the full band or extras where you can build a package. One today is 30 seconds and $270. That is the whole shebang. And that will probably take me 15 minutes to do.

Q: OK, SO REMEMBER, 5 YEARS AGO, RYAN WAS MAKING $30K A YEAR AS A PRESCHOOL MUSIC TEACHER. RYAN, HOW MUCH ARE YOU MAKING NOW WRITING AND PRODUCING JINGLES AND MARKETING VIDEOS?
Now on Fiverr alone I do $30,000 a month. Within the last year it has really picked up – year 4 was over 5 figures per month consistently. I also work outside of Fiverr with local businesses in my community now. Doing all those Fiverr projects gave me the portfolio I needed to land that outside work.

Q: WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO CREATIVE PEOPLE WHO THINK IT’S NOT POSSIBLE TO MAKE A LIVING DOING WHAT THEY’RE PASSIONATE ABOUT?
I have turned my passion into a business and it doesn’t feel like work. I have the freedom to travel, set my own schedule and open a business with my wife. Look for ways to take what you love doing and make it into a practical product that businesses will buy. At first I thought I would be selling Happy Birthday songs to individuals, but things took off when I created something businesses needed and wanted.

Q: OF COURSE, NOT EVERYONE LISTENING IS A MUSICIAN, BUT YOUR EXPERIENCE APPLIES TO ANYBODY WITH CREATIVE TALENTS. YOU HAVE ADVICE FOR PEOPLE WHO WOULD LIKE TO USE THOSE CREATIVE SKILLS TO MAKE A LIVING ONLINE. YOU SAY:
Be time-efficient. Create systems to make the work easier/faster, like I did.
Create a “gateway” service. This is the one that gets people in the door. Do a good job and you can then sell them bigger projects.
Follow the 10,000 rule. To become an expert you have to devote 10,000 hours – make mistakes, learn, and then you have more clear vision.
Be patient. Tortoise and the hare. So many people get excited and go out and do it and have drum loop failure like I did. Don’t quit! Keep reinventing yourself.
You can do what others do, but do it differently. Lots of people offer jingles on Fiverr. But I would say to clients – I will have this back to you in 24 hours. That was faster than other people. That made it possible for me to get orders from clients who needed it immediately and that was different.

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