Taking the Plunge to Self-Employment: My First Two Weeks of Living the Dream

By Lisa Kroulik © May 8, 2011

On April 27, 2011, I did what I had been dreaming about for years. I quit my J-O-B to stay home and write. I am blessed with a husband who earns a good living and provides health insurance for the family, so I didn't have to be concerned about providing benefits or even if I earned as much freelancing as I did from a regular job. I could do what made me happy, and this is it.

If you are considering taking this step, I hope you will benefit from some honest feedback of someone who is walking in your shoes. Maybe, like me, you've had trouble working a regular job because you are easily bored. You have always marched to the beat of your own drum and you long to create and inspire, as well as have more flexibility in your life. The only problem is the bills won't pay themselves, so someone has to pay you.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a hub entitled Four Online Writing Sites Where Non-Professionals Can Actually Make Money. In my first two weeks, I have worked with three of them and earned almost $750. I would be remiss if I did not point out that I am not earning money to write about things that interest me. I am doing mainly copy writing for clients of these websites, so they choose the topic and how they need it written. I use Hub Pages for my personal writing.

However, I do have the ability to stick to general topics that I am the most experienced with. Also, I have gotten my first Direct Order client from Textbroker, which means that they liked the quality of work I submitted from the Open Orders board so they specifically requested me for their next order. With a Direct Order, you are able to set any price you want, but being that I am still relatively new and unproven, it is only a half-cent more per word.

I begin working around 8 am each day and work until about 3 pm, with some time out for lunch and breaks. I figure that I average 6.5 hours a day, and set goals for a minimum amount of money to earn each day. I find it extremely difficult to concentrate on writing when my family is home, so I pretty much call it a day once the school bus delivers my kids in the afternoon. I don't write for clients on the weekends unless I really have nothing else to do.

I find that I like working alone in almost total silence, but also that I miss the friendship and banter that was part of the working world. I make it a point to see friends even more often now so that I don't succumb to loneliness. It's also very important to get out of the house during the work day, so I do that even if it's just for 15 minutes.

I work primarily with Textbroker at this point because they always have work available on their Open Orders board. eCopywriters and Yahoo Contributor Network are more sporadic, although Yahoo is similar to Hub Pages in that you can submit work at any time and earn on ad revenue sharing.

I am not completely comfortable putting all of my stake in Textbroker, just for the fact that if they ever close I would put myself out of a job. Therefore, I make it a point to regularly go through the listings at Freelance Writing Jobs and apply to anything that interests me or I am qualified for.

I was recently approved for a copywriting company based out of Germany called Independent Publishing. They pay two cents a word, which is higher than Textbroker, but thus far I have not found any open assignments. Additionally, I submitted a 400 word article to Demand Media, which they approved and paid me for, but I have not heard anything further. Their pay starts at one cent a word and articles are submitted in batches of 10 articles of 400 words each. I do recommend Freelance Writing Jobs or just doing a Google search of article writers.

My personality and skills make freelance writing a good fit for my life, but it's not for everyone. Beyond figuring out if it would work for you financially, you also need to consider whether you can deal with large amounts of time of being alone and if you are disciplined enough to stick to a schedule from home. You also need to be comfortable with some degree of risk, since there is never a guarantee that you will have the amount of work you think you minimally need. For me, being my own boss, the flexibility and the opportunity to continually increase my earnings have turned any gamble I am taking by doing this into a sure bet.