As part of her 3 year blog anniversary celebration, Deb over at Freelance Writing Jobs just posted a piece from the archives about making her move from keyword content to professional blogging. I remember this post well, as it inspired me to take on some new challenges, which have certainly paid off. I can't say that I will ever be as bold as Deb, to completely walk away from keyword content, but I find now that it makes up much less of my income.
The nostalgia got the better of me and I started to pour over my own archives, for the first time in months. What a rollercoaster ride my freelance career has been, up to this point. From my first post about my reasons for working at home to my mother's heart attack to the challenges I took on after returning to the freelance world after having my youngest. I have grown so much as a writer and have learned a heck of a lot about the business.
Blogger friends, take a minute to walk down memory lane and see just how far you have come. It will give you new inspiration to keep pushing toward your goals and to continue to grow as a writer.
Image: Flickr
Work, work, work, and more work...what a crazy couple of weeks! I am finally caught up on everything after wrestling with deadlines for the past few days.
I have some regular client work due later in the week that needs attention, but I'm taking a step back tonight to breathe, regroup, and enjoy life for a few hours. Who knows, I might be able to get to bed at a decent hour.
Even with all the hard work and stress I have been under, I am still feeling quite confident about the way things are going. I am starting to put together a mental plan for my professional website and am looking to develop my business even further in the coming months.
I have some small financial goals that I am trying to meet, as well. The first is to finish catching up the bills that have been behind since I took my "hiatus" after having the baby. I should hit that goal within the next few weeks. Yet another pile that I will have crawled out from under. Once that is cleared up, my extra cash is going to purchase a laptop and router, so that I can start taking the kids outside while I work.
Of course there are big financial goals for the future, but I feel like setting these smaller goals and meeting them will help me keep the drive I need to take things to the next level.
Image: http://www.sxc.hu/
I'm having one of those weekends that has me completely torn between family and work. I have fought with myself over where I should be and what I should be doing since I woke up this morning.
If I was working, I felt like I should be spending quality time with the kids and hubby. When I stopped to spend time with them, I felt my deadlines creeping up on me. Even right now, the kids are asleep, its past 11, and hubby is alone in the living room watching TV while I work, and I have complete and total guilt.
I know that the current situation won't last forever. I have to work when he is home to watch the kids. Let's face it, nothing kills your productivity like an 11 month old who is in love with the computer's reset button.
My choices right now are: suffer through the next however-many months until I can accomplish more during the day and have more family time on the weekends or put the kids in daycare and go back to a "real" job.
Even though I know that dealing with the next few months is the lesser of the two evils, it sure doesn't make the weekends any easier.
Anyone else in my boat? How are you dealing with the guilt you feel when you have to work when you really want to be spending time with your family, or else risk not being able to pay the bills?
Getting paid to blog is becoming huge in the world of freelance writing. I admit that I am always writing for other people's blogs, often neglecting my own. (Sorry guys, the clients pay better than the adsense clicks have been!)
Two amazing professional bloggers have come together to provide a plethora of advice for those who earn their living as bloggers and for those who are just starting out. Deb Ng and Jennifer Chait, both successful bloggers with major blog networks, have started Network Blogging Tips, to help answer the big questions that many of us have about finding blogging jobs, driving traffic to your blog, and deciding if the pay is right.
I have read through quite a bit of the site and have found loads of information and tips that I plan on putting to use in the very near future. If you blog for pay, or are considering applying for a blogging position, do yourself a favor and see what these ladies have to say!
Over at Freelance Writing Jobs, Deb dug up a nice list of old posts that offer a lot of great advice for freelancers. I have been a daily reader there for a couple of years, and some brought back fond memories of my own learning process in the freelance game.
One particular post that caught my attention was "Do You Have All Your Eggs In One Basket?" This post has some great advice about spreading out your income streams, warding off a financial crisis should a client run out of work, go out of business, etc.
While I have tried to keep a fairly steady stream of work through multiple clients, I have experienced some very lean times when workloads got light in one place or another. If you are new to freelancing, this is a great lesson to learn. Dependency on a sole client or position when in freelancing can be a recipe for failure!
That said, do not overextend yourself either. Taking on too many clients can be disastrous, as well. Experiment with adding one client at a time until your plate is full. Keep looking for additional gigs as you go. As you learn and grow as a freelancer, you may outgrow some early clients and be ready to replace them with bigger and better things!
Have a wonderful weekend!
