I was working as a Corporate Communications Specialist with a well-known MNC. My career was at its peak. I was earning a fat paycheck. But inside, I was a burnout worker. I live in a city where the daily commute is a pain. I have a young child who constantly needs my attention. I was juggling between home and work – like any other working mother. But, inside I was feeling depressed. I had to leave my daughter in the daycare for long hours. Since I was working in a senior and critical position, I had to attend late evening calls with my colleagues at other geographical locations. Every time a call was scheduled, I had to request to prepone it because I had to pick up my daughter from daycare. She had been cooperative all these years, but as she is growing, she has started showing her frustrations too to stay alone in the daycare. She couldn’t attend her hobby classes because I could never make it on time. And the list of distresses used to go on. One day, I had to sit at work for over 15 hours to take just one approval. I guess that was the final nail in the coffin. I had to make a plethora of arrangements and endless phone calls to ensure my daughter was safe, my mind constantly running from work to home to work. I guess that day I made up mind to quit.
The next step
While I felt much relieved with my decision to quit the job, at the same time, I was anxious about my earnings and the liabilities that I have. I had taken up freelance projects on and off in the past, but I never worked as a full-time freelancer. I didn’t know where to start, how to start, and most importantly how will my earnings look like because as we know there is no guarantee of fixed income with freelancing.
Taking the leap of faith
Once I ensure I had enough money saved in my account to help me sustain for at least six months, I put down my papers. I set a financial goal for the month. Since I had a good corporate exposure, it didn’t take me time to find a few agencies that were willing to outsource me some writing work. Although the payment was not so great, working with these content agencies ensured I have a fixed earning. Once I built a decent portfolio, I started leveraging different social media platforms to find my potential clients. I leveraged LinkedIn and different writers’ groups on Facebook. I also took a little help from my designer friend to build my website. I started spending time on social media to build my network. A month of hard work soon started showing results. Leads were coming to my inbox! I kept working on my personal branding and write more and more useful and engaging content.
Life as a freelancer
It’s been a year since I am working as a full-time freelancer and life has never been so good. I can manage my work and personal time as well. I can spend more time with my daughter and still meet deadlines at work. There is no daily commute to the workplace – Instead I choose to spend the time in my personal well-being. I can manage to take time off from work and go for holidays when my daughter’s school is off! The learning in the past 12 months has been immense. I have learnt the art of networking, engaging in useful conversation, marketing my skills, handing social media accounts for clients, and a lot more. Most importantly, there is no more nightmares, I can sleep every night peacefully. I look forward to my days! Freelancing has been the best thing that has had happened to me in years. What about you?