In my last post, I briefly expressed my desire to start a freelance writing business. What inspired me to take on such an endeavor you may ask? The truth of it is, I honestly have no idea.

I was laying on my boyfriend’s parents’ couch in Iowa, wide awake at 3 a.m. Staring into the darkness, my mind just began thinking of freelance writing. I’m about to be a college-grad, and as I’m approaching the bitter end I’ve been wondering what I want to spend my 20’s, and subsequently my life, doing.

Like a quarter-life crisis if you will.

So I’m laying there thinking, freelancing? Why is this even occurring to me, why would I even want to do that? I began imagining those generic 90’s rom-coms. You know, where the protagonist is a broke freelancer that’s somehow able afford a studio in New York City. The story begins with them frantically looking for inspiration for a story and falls in ~love~ in the process (see: How To Lose a Guy In 10 Days) . And I was thinking….why would I want that?

A Discovery

But I couldn’t shake the idea. So I spent the days after forming this in my brain Googling and Pinterest-ing, and finding that freelancing is so much more. It’s not only profitable work, but reasonable profitable work. Profitable work that I could do.

Now don’t think that I think that this is going to be an easy endeavor. I don’t want you to think that either. As I delve deeper into the idea, I constantly get overwhelmed by the minutiae that’s involved in creating this little business.

I mean duh, there’s a lot of writing. That’s the point. But there’s pitching. Cold emailing. Warm emailing. Content mills or to not content mills. Job boards. Invoices. Keeping up with your own website. Contracts. Rejection. Constructive (or maybe not) criticism. Niche narrowly or be a jack-of-all-trades. Setting rates. And so much more – this paragraph on what freelancing entails could be a whole post on its own.

There’s so many different ways to freelance, thousands of niches, and millions of different ways to approach how to do it.

But that also means that there are a million different ways to be successful at it.

The Ultimate Goal

I am very much the type to start a project and never a finish. I will have this grand idea, become utterly obsessed with it, go all in for maybe a couple of weeks… and then completely lose the passion. Or the reason why I started it. Or I talk myself out of taking the risk.

So the ULTIMATE goal of this is to not let this die. Not only because I actually genuinely love writing, but because I want to prove to myself that I can actually follow through with an idea. And this one is different from the other projects I’ve pursued – there is a sense of comfort and confidence that I’ve never felt when I attempted other endeavors.

Career Goals

But that’s not all!!! Yes freelancing means writing, which is the best part, but with freelancing comes money and with money comes self sufficiency. I want to work for myself. I want to sit in my PJ’s, or go to a coffee shop, or sit somewhere aesthetically pleasing and work. I don’t want to get up before 8 a.m. (the later the better honestly), I don’t want to walk in the cold, I really don’t like being told what to do, and I have a septum ring and some tattoo ideas that I’d rather not be judged on.

I can make as much money as I please, choose who I work with, and write what I want to.

There’s pros and cons to working for yourself and I’m very aware of the cons. But as someone who adores being alone and living on her own terms, there’s not many jobs that will allow me that freedom.

So the goal here , by some point in the middle of 2019, is to make enough money to become self-sufficient. It’s lofty, especially as a full-time college student with a part time internship. But it’s doable. And I have to keep reminding myself of these goals to fuel this fire I have.

This all being said, I can’t wait to take on this adventure of freelance writing. I have a LOT to learn, a lot to prove, and a lot more to share. And hopefully I can inspire a few people to take the plunge as well.