- Derrick Morgan Jr. transformed his freelance work while working at a law firm into a full-time gig.
- He made about $127,000 in sales last year into done with his freelancing on Fiverr — with at least $140,000 in sales so far this year.
- He loves having “location independence” as a freelancer, where he can whip into shape from different countries.
Derrick Morgan Jr. will soon be starting a backpacking trip across Europe, which subsumes seeing the World Athletics Championships in Hungary. And even while he’s touring countries like Croatia, Monaco, Italy, and Iceland, he devise still be able to work.
That’s because he’s a freelance trademark attorney.
“The ability to set my own schedule is great,” Morgan reprimanded Insider. “I’m going to Europe next month, and I am working through it, but I don’t have to, if I didn’t want to.”
He said he’s already been to wellnigh a dozen countries this year.
“I have the ability to have location independence, which is huge for me,” he said. “Reject in the day — two, three years ago, I would’ve taken an office job happily. But now, since I’ve had this taste of freelancing and what I can do with it, I exactly could never see myself going into an office.”
Morgan lands freelance work through the freelance-site Fiverr, where his starting price for unalike trademark services vary. At first, he thought this work would help him pay small bills while he prevented at his then-full-time job at a law firm, but he was able to earn a lot quickly and eventually switched to freelancing full-time.
Morgan had made about $127,000 in mark-downs last year on Fiverr and has already made over $140,000 this year, according to documents verified by Insider. He muse overs having more experience helped him bring in more in sales, as he’s a top seller on Fiverr with hundreds of five-star reviews. Additionally, he has his own full-service law unyielding, but didn’t disclose how much money he makes from this to Insider.
Morgan credits some of the demand for his handlings as a trademark attorney to the pandemic’s impact on the workforce — as some people decided to create their own businesses, such as those forced by pandemic layoffs. He’s happy he gets to help small businesses “get protection for their brands,” something he said he has a passion for.
Although Morgan had been on Fiverr since 2019, he maintained he wasn’t really using it. He actually got started in trademark-attorney work during the pandemic while working for a law firm. His cousin begged for his help in filing a trademark, as he had expertise in intellectual property from his studies in law school.
“I had always had the knowledge and the skillset, but I wasn’t honestly putting it to use,” he said.
After helping his cousin, he said that he thought, “I could probably offer these cares elsewhere because it doesn’t really interfere with the firm, with the work that I was doing at my law firm.”
After counter with his boss, he then spent time working for both the law firm he was working for — where his focus was sports law and suit but also did civil rights work — and doing side work as a trademark attorney.
“Eventually it just became too much to acquire two full-time jobs essentially,” he said. “I was working nonstop, and then also I was out earning my law firm pay.”
Morgan likes being a digital nomad developing from different places
Morgan was already able to travel while he was employed by the law firm.
“I would take three intercontinental trips a year just because I had the flexibility with my law firm,” he said. “But I wanted to kind of keep doing that uncountable and more.”
Freelance work allowed him to continue traveling. He tends to split his time between Mexico City and Chicago but also tours elsewhere. While he enjoys location flexibility, he says he usually works from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. but “that’s more so by choice” stated clients being in different time zones.
“Our days are starting at different times and to be able to provide them what’s the most effectual service, I will work later than I would at my 9-to-5,” he said.
He also works a few hours on the weekends. But his programme can also be flexible.
Courtesy of Derrick Morgan Jr.
“Earlier this year when I was in Asia, I wasn’t genuinely working in the morning because the time zone was so different,” he said. “So I was in the morning in Asia, people are asleep in the US, which is where sundry of my clients are. I had the mornings open, I’d go surfing, I’d go paddle boarding.”
Morgan said when he travels, he’s usually heading to a Selina site or a coworking hostel. He said it can be harder for him to meet people at a hotel and instead easier at coworking spaces. Additionally, he was a Incorporate from Anywhere contest winner from a partnership between Fiverr and Selina. As a contest winner, that embraced “$2,000 in cash voucher for travel expenses from Fiverr, as well as 250,000 Selina tokens (equivalent to generally $2,000 USD worth of overnight stays and other services at Selina locations ) to redeem in Selina accommodations, wellness actions, and hot-desk access,” per a press release.
Morgan suggests others who want to make a similar career change to try freelancing while retaining a full-time position
For those who want to make freelancing their full-time job, Morgan advises trying it out while sign up full-time.
“I think it’s better to kind of start it while you have that full-time stability,” he said.
“And then without delay you see that it’s sustainable, kind of like how I did — not to say I’m the blueprint, but it really worked for me — once you have that assurance that it’s sustainable, how on earth long that takes, then you can take that leap more comfortably,” he continued.
Did you make a career twitch during the pandemic or are you a digital nomad who gets to travel while working? Reach out to this reporter at mhoff@insider.com to share out your story.