Believe in Yourself, Not Others

by Joy Smith
(Independence, KS, USA)

When I first started my freelance writing business I was full of excitement.

The kind of excitement that said, no one is going to get in my way!

Several months down the road, I discovered several obstacles that threatened to stand in my way.

The first and foremost being, everyone, and I mean everyone will try and tell you that freelance writing for money is not a business.

In fact, they will try to convince you that writing for money will never actually make you money.

They will tell you that writing a hobby, not a real job.

And if they are not telling you, they simply assume it in obvious ways.

For example: I had family and friends calling me on a daily basis to chat because they didn't think my choice in career was a real job.

• When I tried to kindly explain that I am working...they continued to chat.
  
  
  
  Not being as rude as I should have been, I would listen and lose work because of it.
  
  
• Then I thought, I would simply not answer my phone.
  
  
  
  When I didn't answer my phone...they were knocking on my door.
  
  
• When I didn't answer the door...they would become angry with me.
  
  
  
  • I finally had to just let them get angry.
    
    
    
  • Eventually...they got over it.

However, to this day, I still have family and friends tell me that I don't have a real job.

I simply have to smile and let it go.

I know that my writing for money career is real.

• I just have to take look at those paychecks and smile.

Another obstacle I have encountered in my writing for money journey is having to dealing with clients who decide at the very last minute to lay me off.

No clients means no money!

I had one client in particular that I worked with full-time.

Things had been great and the money was rolling in.

Then suddenly she stopped responding to my emails.

When I did finally receive an email, several weeks later, she simply replied that I was not needed for the next few months.

At that time I was getting ready to get married, so the timing was very bad!

To make matters worse, I had put all of my faith into her and turned down other potential clients.

Big mistake!

I was in a mad rush of a scramble, but luckily my husband was working as well.

We barely managed to scrape by, but we did it.

Since then, I have learned not to put my faith into just one client.

I keep my options open and work with a wide range of clients on a daily basis.

While it's not an obstacle.

One final word of advice.

If you're considering getting a domain name and host, read the fine print! If you don't you'll more than likely find yourself getting used.

I learned that the hard way.

When I first started my freelance career, I decided I needed a domain name and a host.

I ended up getting charged over $50 a month for a package that was suppose to be around $25 a year.

Unfortunately they refused to refund my money.

I got taken to the cleaners on that one and regret it still, to this day.

Writing for money is something I absolutely love!

I love what I do and my business allows me the freedom to be at-home when I need to be.

Starting a freelance business has turned out to successful to me.

I've learned my lessons and I'm continuing to learn each day.

The best advice anyone can give is to, learn from your mistakes and never give up on your dreams no matter what others may tell you.

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