I’ve always dreamed of being my own boss.
When I was a little kid I was all about the lemonade stands. I would set up my stand at the end of our driveway and hustle for hours.
When I was a teenager I had grand ideas of opening my own Baby-Sitters Club.
For those of you who are too young to know what I’m talking about, the Baby-Sitters Club was a series of books about a bunch of junior high girlfriends who got together to open a day camp for little kids…of course fun and shenanigans ensued.
In 1995 there was even a Baby-Sitters Club movie. I was in grade 5 and this was THE movie to see in theater!
While I never achieved my own version of the Baby-Sitters Club I did establish myself as a very successful babysitter from junior high into my first few years of university. For all intent and purposes I was my own boss.
There was a lot of demand for my kick-ass babysitting skills.
I got to pick the jobs I wanted, based on who paid the most/ had the best food/ best satellite, and I made great money…enough to pay for all of my clothes, movie nights and parties during high school. This money paid for a 30 day trip to Thailand when I graduated high school and even helped fund some of my first few years of university.
Ahhhh, I was living the high life of a successful entrepreneur.
Then I spent 10 years in post-secondary getting three degrees.
I was so focused on getting good grades, attending conferences, grading papers as a teaching assistant and working any part time job that I could get my hands on, that my entrepreneurial dreams fell to the wayside.
So, here I am in my early 30’s still dreaming of a life where I can be my own boss. I have a great career that provides me with a lot of freedom but, I still just don’t like the idea of having to be somewhere from Monday to Friday and I don’t like having to base my work on someone else’s agenda.
I want the ultimate freedom… to do what I want to do, when I want to do it. I want to spend more time with my little boy, my husband and our baby on the way. I want to travel more and I want to have unlimited earning potential.
You know the saying…
“You will never get rich working for someone else.” ~ Paul Getty
Spending a decade in post-secondary made me a great worker but in a lot of ways it dampened my creativity, my ability to think outside of the box and also my drive to do my own thing.
So, the question that I wrestle with now is how to achieve a life where I can be my own boss.
What do I do?
Currently, I don’t have a million dollar idea to get me on Dragons Den or Shark Tank.
I don’t know how to build the next million dollar app.
And honestly, as much as I wish it was otherwise, I don’t think I’m going to make a six-figure income with this little blog of mine! I haven’t even tried to monetize so I am looking at a whopping $0.00 in profit this year!
Excellent!
When trying to come up with a good idea most of the advice tells you to think about interests. What do you do in you free time? What are your hobbies? What do other people tell you that your good at…..
Idea generation is hard….check out this article for 5 activities that will help you decide what you want to do with you life.
After some introspective brainstorming on my skills, abilities and interests I’ve narrowed it down. I’ve found an idea that will allow me to be my own boss, make my own hours and hopefully, one day will allow me to spend more time with my family…it’s freelance writing.
Freelance writing
But, is it worth it? Is it worth the time to work tradeoff?
This is not a passive income idea where you set it and forget it. Freelance writing still requires trading your time for money….so the earning potential is not necessarily unlimited…it’s based on how much time you can dedicate to doing it and how much money a client will pay you.
The good news — even if you are slow and shit when you’re first starting out, like most things in life, you will get better and faster with practice.
So, before we go any further…
What is freelance writing?
Let’s break this down. What does freelance mean?
Freelance — this is a term used to describe someone who works for themselves. Someone who is not necessarily tied to one employer. In fact, as a freelancer you can have several employers or clients.
A freelance writer is simply a writer who who works for her/himself
Common types of freelance writing gigs include:
- Web pages
- Blog posts
- Magazine/ Newspaper articles
- Press releases
- Research papers
- Newsletters
- Speeches
- Ghostwriting (you write something for someone and they take credit for it — e.g. some celebrities “write” their own books / pay someone to write their book and then they take credit for it)
How to become a freelance writer?
As I said, I am still trying to break into this space so I’m going to regurgitate/summarize some of the best/most common info/advice I have come across on the web while researching this question…
- Start a blog…or create some sort of online portfolio. When someone is interested in hiring you as a freelance writer they are going to want to see some writing samples. Having a blog or online portfolio makes it easy for them to review your work. If you aren’t interested in spending the time or money creating your very own blog you can content marketing platforms like Contently which allows you to create a content portfolio on their site. I’ve personally never used this platform but it looks like an interesting option to check out.
- Pick a niche — You can’t be an expert on everything. Figure out what you want to write about. If you are stuck on this just do a google search on “how to pick a niche.” Really your niche should be linked to the things you are interested in or a topic where you have a lot of knowledge, experience or expertise. As an example, I have chosen a few niche areas to write about. 1. Personal finance (the main subject of this blog); 2. Education/Research (I spent 10 years in post secondary and I am a professional researcher so…it’s a good fit); 3. Psychology (I have a masters degree in cognitive psychology and I am extremely interested in the topic).
- Build your portfolio — Now that you have a blog or online portfolio for your writing samples you actually need to write some writing samples!! You need something to share with potential clients. The way I have been trying to grow my portfolio is by guest posting for other websites. Don’t expect to get paid, the goal here isn’t money it’s exposure. Ramit Sethi from the site I Will Teach you to be Rich has a great article titled “Write Guest Posts for I Will Teach you to be Rich.”
- Stick to it — This is the hardest part. Anyone who can string together a coherent paragraph can be a freelance writer. You don’t need a PhD in English literature or 10 years experience as a journalist. What you do need is the ability to stay motivated and stick to it. I anticipate many rejection letters in my future and, I know this won’t be super easy for me to take (I dislike rejection as much as the next person) BUT, I will push through.
“Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.” ~Samuel Johnson
Is it worth it?
I don’t know. I’ll keep you posted. But, I think it is, or else I wouldn’t waste my time.
In case you hadn’t noticed, the world is a fairly unpredictable place.
As much as many people in the personal finance world, myself included, often bash the traditional 9-5 cubicle job and instead wish for/ promote the freelance/ entrepreneurial lifestyle, the good ol’ 9-5 option can offer a lot of positives like consistency, reliability and safety.
Finding a solid, full time job with good benefits isn’t something to sneeze at.
Today things are moving towards the gig economy. People are hired as contractors so the big companies don’t have to spend tons of money on benefits. Companies don’t keep employees for 25-30 years because they don’t want to pay out pensions.
On the other side, most employees don’t want to stay at a company for 25-30 years, or even 5 or 10 years for that matter.
What I’m trying to get at is the world is a different place now. While having one steady full time job used to be the safe, “normal” option — this is no longer the case. Now you have to cover your ass. Having one job is dangerous. It’s all about diversification.
Whether you’re talking about your sources of income, your investment portfolio or even your diet — diversity is key.
The last major recession taught me that no one is safe. It doesn’t matter if you went to school for a decade or have tons of experience or if your boss loves you. When the money runs out everyone is at risk for layoffs.
How can you protect yourself? Own your own business. Be your own boss. Be in control of your pay cheque.
What are the pro’s and con’s when it comes to freelance writing?
Pro’s — I’ve already mentioned a few….
- Be your own boss
- Recession proof your life through diversification
- Work in your pj’s if you want to
- Location independence (work from anywhere!)
- Make your own hours
- Increase your earning potential
- Be creative
- Choose your own clients
Con’s
- It can be hard to stay motivated
- Difficult to land your first clients
- Working in your pj’s can get old and working alone can get lonely
- Work/life balance — when you work in your house it can be difficult to separate your work day from your free time
- Lack of security/benefits
- Getting paid…sometimes you need to chase after clients in order to get paid
So my goal today, and my challenge for you…if you are interested in becoming a freelancer…take one small step today.
Pick a niche.
Research how to start a blog — trust me there is no lack of information on this topic
Start journaling — this will help to get your creative juices flowing.
For me, my one small step was to write this post. After a two month hiatus from blogging I renewed my domain name and decided to hop back in.
Goodluck!
References
Cover Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash
Thailand Photo by Sebastian Pichler on Unsplash
