Work today, get paid tomorrow

Today is my first full day as a freelance writer. I am my own boss. This is really a daunting concept for me. If I don’t make any money doing this, it’s my fault. Period. What better motivation could I ask for than to be able to look at my success and know it was from all of my hard work.

The money you make today comes directly from the work you did last week or two weeks ago. As much as I love writing, I also know that half of my work is going to be about securing the opportunity to do so! It is so important to get out there and sell yourself and your ideas every single day. This is one of my goals as I begin this new path. Sell me, my brand, every single day. Having trouble with your cover letter? I can help you. Is your web content not garnering click throughs? Let me take a look. Need a review on your newest beauty product? It’s my specialty!

Image courtesy of Just2shutter at freedigitalphotos.net

My motto for the time being is, “Just say yes.” I need experience to build my portfolio. So, if it’s a paying job my answer is, “Yes, I can do that.” My to do list is filled with lots of little housekeeping details and my master to do list for the week is all about getting my “freelance farm” profiles polished up and ready to go. My goal is to be ready to start sending out proposals next week. Every step that I check off I am one step closer to a paycheck.

I believe in what I’m doing and I believe in myself. I know this is going to be a long road and it’s going to take a lot of hard work. I can do it though and I’m looking forward to it. Stay positive and work hard? Yes, I can do that.

I am not a duck

I lost my job recently or I resigned or it wasn’t a good fit or I wasn’t a good fit or…you know what? At this point I am done trying to figure out exactly what happened because I’m still confused and frustrated and maybe it’s time to just let it go. The point is this Friday at 5:01 p.m. EST I will be unemployed.

I have been thinking a lot about what I’m going to do. I know what I want to do. I want to write. So, that’s what I’m going to do. I’m still looking for a full-time job somewhere, but I’ve decided to get serious about this whole writing thing and that means whatever job I get there will be writing involved. I’ve also been doing a lot of research into freelancing and I’m going to do it! I’m excited about this direction I’ve decided to head in and I know I have a lot of hard work ahead of me. It’s work that I want to do though and that’s important to me.

I was talking with someone about this whole situation and how it’s scary, but I feel pretty confident because I have a plan. Well, as is usually the case with this individual, they started blowing holes in my plan. “You just need to be happy with whatever job you can get, even if it’s at McDonald’s.” No. Let me state that again. NO. I have spent my entire life settling out of fear. It’s not what I want. It’s not me. I am not one of those people who keep their heads down to maintain the status quo. This may be how they operate, how others operate, but it is not how I operate. At least not anymore. I get this kind of “pep talk” from this individual most of the time and it’s taken me years to be able to hang up the phone, shake it off and say, “That’s your life, not mine.”

I was sharing this whole experience with a very close friend of mine and she reminded me of the classic Hans Christian Andersen tale, The Ugly Duckling. For some reason I have always equated this story with beauty and that awkward prepubescent period most of us seem to go through. It’s about being different though, not fitting in with a certain group because we don’t belong in that group in the first place. Settling, maintaining the status quo out of fear, giving up on your ambitions, all of that is fine if you are a duck. My good friend reminded me, “You are not a duck.”

More importantly I realize if I am not a duck it’s important that I stop listening to the ducks! I need to listen to the swans. Let me put it this way. If you want to be a great race car driver who are you going to take advice from; Mario Andretti or your Uncle Jim who has no problem offering up all of his unsolicited advice, but has never even sat in a formula one car in his entire life? Think about it.

I am not a duck.