Working From Home (Permanently)

Here is where I work now:

After 7 years of freelance writing and blogging "on the side," today marks my first day as a full-time freelance food writer and blogger. At the beginning of November, I told my boss at Eversave that, at the beginning of December, I was leaving the corporate world to finally pursue my dreams...no matter how terrifying.

Being a planner - and an anxiety-ridden human - this decision was definitely not made overnight. Despite the inconvenience of conducting phone interviews for stories in my car on my lunch break, or having to sit down at the computer to write after a long day of work, the real reason I am pursuing a career devoted to food and writing is because that is what I want to do. Like most people, though, I don't have the luxury of just up and leaving a job without having to make some calculated decisions first. Here, in a nutshell, is how I planned for this giant career move:

1.) I started saving. About 6-8 months before I quit my full-time job, I started saving. For me, that meant transferring $200 into my savings account every two weeks, as soon as my paycheck was directly deposited. You can probably set this type of transfer up automatically, but I just did it manually right after my check went into my account - that way, I didn't even miss that $200.

2.) I confided in others. I talked to everyone I knew in the food and/or writing industry to pick their brains about anything and everything. Whether they were freelance writers/bloggers, personal chefs, or all of the above, I wanted to get their professional advice on...well, everything. I wanted to see what type of work was out there, how they got to where they are now, and what the ups and downs of a freelance lifestyle are. Let's just say, every piece of advice I received was invaluable, and ultimately gave me the final push of motivation I needed to make a move.

3.) I weighed the pros and cons. Would I end up being home all day, secluded from society? Would I make enough money to survive? Is this smart to do months before our wedding? I thought long and hard about this decision - and bugged Z about a zillion times with my worries - but in the end, I knew this is what I wanted to do, and when you want something bad enough, you make it work. It also helps that I am very self-disciplined (case in point: I woke up at 8:30 this morning to get workin'. I probably should have taken one day off, at least). Either way, the pros eventually outweighed the cons. 

4.) I planned ahead, work-wise. I knew once I was a full-time freelancer, I'd need some consistent work  - right in the beginning - to help pay the bills. Even though I was saving so much money ahead of time, Sallie Mae and our mortgage don't care. I knew I'd need consistent money coming in right away if I didn't want to wipe my savings clean within the first two months. Thankfully, this was kind of easy for me - I already had regular writing gigs with Local in Season and Foodies of New England Magazine, and I also did some occasional recruiting for my alma mater (which pays handsomely). To ensure I'd be OK financially regardless of how many writing jobs I picked up, I let my college know that I could work a lot more career fairs in the winter, spring and summer. They were happy to take the extra help, and now I already have a few of those gigs lined up over the next few months. 

5.) I got the right (for me) technology. I've been working on a PC for my entire writing career thus far, but I've used Macs before - and I knew that's what I wanted if I was going to be a full-time blogger and writer. Despite how much money I was saving, I didn't want to splurge on a brand new Mac. After doing some digging - and schmoozing - Z discovered that his younger brother had an older, but perfectly functional, MacBook Pro...that he would gladly give to me. For just starting out in this career, Z's brother's generosity made it so I didn't have to invest in such an expensive item right away. Thanks, Max!

As you can see, making this decision took months of planning - and worrying - but I know it will all be worth it in the end. Life is too short to not pursue your dreams. And if this doesn't work out, it doesn't work out - at least I can never say that I didn't try.

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