As promised, I want to share some information about how I was able to walk away from my corporate job. If you’ve been reading me for any length of time, you’ll know I’ve talked about living frugally and being considered “poor” by most standards, so this isn’t exactly a get-rich-quick story. However, the freedom and flexibility I have (to take vacations when I want to, to work only 25-30 hours a week instead of 60 or 70, to have no one to answer to but myself) makes it all worth it, even on the “bad” months when we get to the end having just eked by because a client has not yet paid his invoice.

As a writer, the best way to get started is to start writing for free. You need to get published, and the best way to get published and to learn how to write is to do it for free. I was lucky; my husband and I had written a column for the Corning Leader for two and a half years. Our payment? A free subscription to the paper. We wrote weekly 800-word columns and never once missed a deadline. That was perfect training and led to another opportunity to write – this time for a little bit of pay – for Club Mom Inc.

Once I had some clips available and could call myself a published writer, success was less about writing skill and more about discipline. The same is true for nearly any freelance profession. Those who succeed are the ones who treat their freelance work as a full-time endeavor. I may only work 30 hours a week instead of 50, but my clients know when I am in, how to reach me, and trust that I will always get the job done.

What does it take to be successful (besides a little bit of luck)?

  1. Tenacity. Don’t let those who say no get you down. I submitted articles and bid on projects through Guru and suffered through many more rejections than I thought possible, but along the way, I picked up clients, did my very best work for them, always kept my promises and met my deadlines, and began to build a reputation.
  2. Be committed. If you really want to work at home or be your own boss or open your own business, you need to be professional, treat it seriously, and show up. You can’t just say you’re working from home and then spend the day in front of the TV. I get up and come to my office every single day of the business week; I do not have a TV in my office to distract me, and I don’t spend the afternoon shopping when I have no work – that’s the time you need to spend hustling up more clients!
  3. Get organized. You won’t last long in any business if you can’t keep track of when things are due to clients or what time the conference call is. You may not want to work for a corporation, but you can definitely steal some of their ideas for project management, organization, and logistics.
  4. Give yourself time to succeed. Have some savings set aside before you jump the corporate ship. Be patient enough to let your hard work pay off before you give up. And remember, even (or especially) when you work for yourself, you have to do the grunt work too. Taking the job that isn’t glamorous may lead to 10 that are, and they all add to your experience and credentials.

I’m happy to answer questions about how to work from home successfully, so feel free to get in touch with me at shadra@momsgetreal.com or leave a comment here.