I've finally decided I'm done with Corporate America. I've been at it off and on for about 4 years. I'm far too creative and independent to thrive in a 9-5 daily grind where people treat me like a child & tell me what to do. Granted, my current company is a lot more laid back than previous ones. It's just not my gig and I know it. So I set a big, scary goal for myself. I'm going to be out of Corporate America for good by this time next year.

I've always loved writing. I'm going to submit a manuscript to a publisher in 2012. It's one thing I've been truly passionate about my entire life and really enjoy doing. I'd love to get paid to write. So I'm going for it. I also have this idea for an Anthropolgie-esque company that's the total package of clothes, jewelry, home, & recipes. Think a tattooed Martha Stewart as the general idea. I'd love for that to take off as well. I half heartedly worked on it last winter and only sold one thing. Now here come the questions...

1. For the business owners-What made you want to start your own business? Were you successful? What's something you wish someone had told you when you were starting out?

2. For the freelancers-how do you find work? Once you've found it, do you develop relationships with people or is it usually a one off thing?

3. Networking-how do you do it? Is it mostly online or in person? I know networking is incredibly important to both owning a business and freelancing. I realized that I have no idea how to successfully network.

Feel free to throw out anything you think I should know. I'm really open to any advice you're willing to give.

Freelancing SUUUU CKS! It's like doing 4 full-time jobs. Sales, billing, LOTS of administrative minutiae, and when all that's done, you still have to do your ACTUAL job. It's ok if you can find longer-duration gigs. But trying to manage day-to-day freelance jobs is insane.

DON'T QUIT YOUR DAY JOB!!!

If you think that your current job is standing in the way of getting creative, think again. It is the bank that makes everything else possible.

If you want to write...write. It's the old 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration formula. Just do it. Every day...for two hours or more, if you can.

Check out markets, and see which publishes work similar to yours. Send for writer's guidelines and start submitting. Expect rejections. Stephen King nailed a big old roofing nail over his desk and impaled his there. Just keep at it and eventually you'll figure out which market is best for your style.

I wish you the very best of luck.

Keep On Dancing*

In terms of freelance writing, it's really, really, really difficult to make a living at it. The pay rate is abysmal unless you get an assignment with a really plumb magazine, but those types of publications will not take your work unless you have experience.

The first step would be establishing a portfolio of clippings of your published work. Editors like to see evidence that other people have liked your work, and what a finished product looks like. To do that, you have to start with really small-time stuff (community newspapers, maybe, or hobby magazines, or smaller online commercial blog-type sites). You will probably have to do some writing for free, so my advice would be to start writing on the side while you've still got steady employment. Once you get enough clippings, you can start shopping yourself around.

How do you find work? You make the work as a freelancer. You need a steady stream of ideas and a thick skin to start pitching to publications and editors. Become familiar with each publication you're pitching to, so you know the kinds of stories they cover, then come up with some ideas and pitch to the editor. (Pitching is itself an art that I could spend paragraphs on, but I'll refrain for now.) You will get rejected about 90% of the time, but with persistence would start slowly scoring writing gigs. None of this will be even remotely enough to pay your bills. (In Canada, the going rate for a freelance newspaper article is about 30 cents a word. A good magazine is about a buck a word, but it's the big-name writers who usually get those gigs.)

In terms of getting known, it helps to ask around if anyone in your wider social circle knows any editors or people who run web sites or whatever. Editors are more likely to take the writing of someone they know. Once you establish a relationship, however, it gets easier and easier to sell your work.

I really recommend reading the book "Roughing it in the Market" by Angie Gallop. It's published by the Periodical Writers of Canada, but almost all of the info could be applied to the U.S. as well. Perhaps there's an American freelance guidebook that you could seek out too.

What Christine said: Do NOT quit your day job. I know it's tempting to throw in the towel and devote all your energy to creative pursuits, but unless you know it's going to be profitable, you can't.

Keep working full-time, and put more effort into following up that half-hearted attempt you made last winter. It takes time to build a following and get a brand out there, but it also takes a steady income to be able to create your products and supply your online store.

All the people I know who sell their creative endeavours - photographers, seamstresses, general crafters - all work full-time at a not-fun job, and do the work for their preferred profession after hours. I only know one full-time writer in my circle of friends, and she's only able to do that because her husband has a steady income.

Dream big, for sure, but start slowly (Etsy and a blog, perhaps?), and don't let go of the safety of the day job until you can stand on your own.

1. For the business owners-What made you want to start your own business? Were you successful? What's something you wish someone had told you when you were starting out?

I wanted to create, and that was about it for me. I didn't start my little business as a money making scheme or expect to rely on it for income, in fact I was pretty resigned to the fact that it was going to loose me money in the beginning. i guess It was just a hobbyist business.

I was very blessed in that I inherited some money that made it possible for me to start my business knowing those things. Without that windfall, I couldn't have done it. Day jobs/funding is important.

I make costumes, so my losses aren't huge because my investments aren't huge. You don't stand to lose a lot of money from buying trim, swarovskis and tassels in bulk - we're talking hundreds as opposed to thousands.


Also, tax is a nightmare. I wanted to poke my eyeballs out with pins a few months ago when I sat down to do my tax. I ended up having the get an accountant to take me through it.


2. For the freelancers-how do you find work? Once you've found it, do you develop relationships with people or is it usually a one off thing?

I perform on a freelance basis, and its all about networking. Network your tush off. Be gracious, stay eager and say yes to everything. 1% inspiration 99% perspiration is the formula indeed.

I don't know what its like in other freelancing industries, but with performing, a lot of undercutting goes on. You never want to undersell yourself , but there is usually some upstart willing to do it far cheaper or for free and that is problematic.

Freelancing is so unpredictable. I've had clients that have booked me, then signed me for future projects. I have also had clients who've booked me, and I've never heard from them again because they're after variety. You really can't pick it.


3. Networking-how do you do it? Is it mostly online or in person? I know networking is incredibly important to both owning a business and freelancing. I realized that I have no idea how to successfully network.

Don't go into the world of freelancing without an already established network. That my biggest piece of advice. Your network and your contacts are what is going to get you your first gig . You need them.

Networking is easy, its all about making yourself accessible and making sure you're in the right place at the right time all of the time. I am an introvert and always thought I couldn't network, but turns out I can.

Before you even think about typing up your resignation letter for your day job, start joining groups. Writers groups online, book clubs, go to workshops and introduce yourself to everyone and anyone there (especially the teachers).

Don't do all your networking online either. Its easy to join a group or forum and form solid online relationships - but they often don't translate to anything fruitful in the real world. Go out of your way to meet up with people, so they can put a face to a name and they feel like they know you far better. It build trust and thats what you want in your network, so that people trust you enough to offer you opportunities.

I've done bits and pieces of freelance feature writing (which is to say, non-fiction), all for the same retail company. For me, it kind of fell in my lap- I'm a journalism grad student, a local company was advertising for a copywriter, I applied, sent off work samples and was accepted. As such, I've never had to network or hunt down other freelancing opportunities.

I'll second (third? fourth?) everyone who told you to hang onto your day job. What little work I do get, I basically consider pocket money- the writing experience and the reference on my CV is more valuable to me than the minimal cash I bring in. For me, freelancing is a stepping stone to full-time, salaried employment, preferably with an agency. I would consider freelancing to supplement my (imaginary, hypothetical) husband's income in the far-off future if I stayed home for longer than a couple of months after having children, but this would be more about maintaining both my sanity and industry presence, rather than contributing to the household's income.

Like Panic said, the actual "work" takes up a fraction of the time. Harrassing people for work is demoralising. Even the most established writers go through dry spells- for example, I follow a relatively well-known Australia journo on Twitter, and she's currently been out of work for a month. Another aspect I'm finding frustrating is the lack of constructive criticism you receive. In my case, the director of the company I've been working for keeps promising me work without my prompting him, but never actually following up. This is despite his claims that he loved my previous work. Did he actually hate it? Is he just really busy? Has he forgotten? I have NO CLUE, and as such I'm currently debating whether to remove him as a reference from my resume.

I imagine freelance fiction writing would hold all these difficulties and more. I don't really know how freelance fiction writing works, but I imagine the call for it would be minimal in terms of the online and print magazine world? Or are you purely talking about writing your novel? Don't let people like Stephanie "Barely Literate" Meyer fool you- she got very, very lucky. The number of unsolicited manuscripts that get submitted to publishers every week is astronomical. That's not to say your novel won't be wonderful, or that you won't get published. But in my opinion, setting yourself a 12-month goal to be entirely supported by your freelance work is setting yourself up for disappointment.

I COMPLETELY understand the desire to get out of a job you don't enjoy (I'm working on it myself at the moment), but I wonder if you wouldn't be better served trying to move into a more stable field if you truly can't stand finance for another minute.

Firstly, I'm not going to up and quit my day job tomorrow. I should've specified that in the original post. Secondly, I'm not expecting to be supported entirely by my creative pursuits in 12 months. I joined a local writer's group, but their first workshop isn't until February. At their convention in the fall, they have publishing reps there and you can meet one on one with them. It's first come, first serve, so anyone can get a meeting provided they're on the ball. They also have competitions and things like that to help hone your skills.

And when I say "get out of Corporate America" for good, I'm willing to work retail or find a job in another field while I work on getting myself out there. As long as I can pay my bills, I have a more flexible schedule, and I'm not chained to a desk every day, I'll be happy. Actually one of the best times of my life was last fall when I was working 2 retail jobs and devoting the rest of my time to working on my design business. I LOVED it. I wasn't making nearly the bank I am now, but I was happy. I'm also a state certified nursing assistant, but I don't think that's something I really want to do. I think I'd be dealing with the same pettiness that comes with my office job (and another highly regulated industry).

I might check out MeetUp and see if they have any writing groups that are meeting sooner than February.

At their convention in the fall, they have publishing reps there and you can meet one on one with them. It's first come, first serve, so anyone can get a meeting provided they're on the ball.

That sounds amazing, Stay on that ball and get yourself one of those appointments!

I get it. I cant work typical corporate anymore, but it took a lot of patience and sacrifice to get out. Patience and persistence are about to become your very best friends. You'll be waiting to find a more flexible day job, you'll be waiting for events and seminars to come up, you'll be waiting for people to get back to you, you'll be waiting to reach your word count, you'll be waiting to crack the big time. A whole lot of waiting will be going on at every stage, but while you wait, you have to persist. Always have two or three things on the go that you can switch between.

For example while you don't have much time and you're still in your corporate job looking for a retail job, research your meet ups and brain storm your creative ideas. Re-visit authors that inspire you. Just get on the go!


EDIT: one more piece of freelancing advice I took from some of my online friends in the US who are freelance costumers: document everything throughly!

If you do end up earning taxable income from your writing, for some reason freelance work frequently throws up red flags in the computer system and audits are common. Keep every single tax return, receipt from expenses, mileage log, calendar, contracts, pay stub (or copies of the checks), contact information and bank statement!

The funny thing is I could probably get all my work done in about 4 hours/day. The problem is it's so mind numbing, I have to take breaks just to keep from becoming a babbling idiot. Of course, they'd never agree to part time schedule for the same pay even if I could demonstrate how quickly I can get things done. Even with breaks, I still finish my work in 5-6 hours, leaving me with 2-3 hours a day of killing time.

Just felt the need to throw that out there...

^Back in the day I had a job like that. The longer I worked at it the faster I got. This could work out for your writing plans.

I was taking classes at night so around 2 or 2:30 when my work was done, I'd sit at my typewriter (yes, it was REALLY back in the day)and type over my class notes. To anyone passing by, it looked like I was working, working, working! By the end of the week I'd typed my notes so many times I didn't have to study and always got A's.

Good luck with your writing. When you are ready to share it, I'd love to read some.

Keep On Dancing*

I just want to chime in and say that I'm lurking this thread like crazy right now. It's providing just that little bit of motivation I needed to realize that yes, I really do want out of my office, too. Let's have lots more discussions along these line in the next few months or so, k?

I did free lance/self- employed photography for 17 years mid-70's thru early 90's. I made a lot of money doing it. The work was mostly on week ends...shooting kids' teams, weddings, bar mitzvahs...especially the latter. It was totally accidental how I got started (in teams first.) I did some pictures of my daughter playing ball, someone asked me to do the team. I showed the parents the photo and everyone wanted one and on and on. That gave me the visibility that after a year I was asked if I shot bar mitzvahs...I didn't even know what one was, but I discovered a need that people wanted a good photographer with decent people skills. Eventually I put two kids through an out-of-state college on the photo income.

I never left my day job though...ever. For one, I actually did like my real job, the pay was good (professional level), I had great health insurance, vacation benefits, a pension most people would kill to get.

The actual photography was actually pretty easy for me to do. There was a lot of work arranging schedules for the kids' teams, getting the orders taken and fulfilled, collection and billing (I didn't collect every thing up front, I permitted orders to be taken with follow up billing (I live in a pretty decent upper middle class area so bad credit is normally not a problem - Today I would have used a credit card swiper, but those did not exist when I was in business. Allowing credit permitted me to sell to over 95% of the available children on those to teams (to their parents, of course) compared to other team photographers only selling 30-40% of the available kids by demanding up front payment. That was just one example of a lesson learned.

A free lancer spends a lot of time drumming up business, even though in my case people had made up their mind they wanted me as an event photographer, but I still had to show them samples of my work and do house calls. I never advertised...I didn't have to, word of mouth spread on what I did. I occasionally get call now asking if I do weddings or other social events even though I left the business almost 20 years ago. I left because with my kids out of college, I didn't have a need for that income. I had saved several hundred thousand dollars in IRAs and property investments from the income AND I was also getting to the executive levels of my real government profession. I quit at the right time, for the year following I had a heart attack followed soon by an episode of cancer. Had photography been my sole source of income, the financial toll would have been devastating. My real career job was my salvation.

About the worst thing I could have done, was quit my real job. It was my safety net, of course...and at the time it was far better to have two really decent sources of income (BTW, my wife, a school principal, also had a very decent income and has a pension equal to mine.) My government health insurance carried into retirement. With my health history, it may have been nearly impossible to get health insurance after I left being a free lance, at least until I qualified for Medicare. My medical expenses are tremendous now. I require a new defibrillator every 6-7 years ($80,000), I just had an angioplasty ($15,000), I get quarterly follow up examinations from several specialists at $250 a pop. I'd be a pauper if I did not have my work insurance. Self-employment insurance, if you even qualify for it would be 70% greater than what I now pay and the government retirement system is stuck with me until I die and then my wife if she survives me.

In dollar value, I often made more in a given year in photography than I did from my real job, but this was not true when I factored in the other benefits from working. My employer paid for my sick leave at full salary, twice for nearly 90 dys each time, when I was ill, and put up with me when I returned to work even though, for a while I could not perform at 100%. In 35 years and now another dozen year in retirement, I never missed a paycheck.

A talented entrepeneur could have a startup, be both talented and lucky and become filthy rich doing it. For every Bill Gates there are dozens who failed starting a business.

People with some skill and marketable talent...writers, photographers, consultants seldom fail because of their skills, they fail because they never learned how to run a business and to be their own boss. I know I always had the talent...the technical part of photography was almost second nature to me, but learning how to make it a sustaining business, even when I never had any major cash flow problems in the years I did this required even more effort than the picture taking.

Jon

I own my own business and I freelance as well. To be honest, I'm working about as hard as I did when I worked as a full time employee, but I'm making only a fraction of the money. Of course, I'm happy working the way I am, because I have a lot of flexibility and I get to be creative, but I tell you what, if it wasn't for my husband's salary, I wouldn't be able to feed, clothe and house my family.

If I decided just to do freelance teaching, and I worked 5-6 days a week, I would be doing quite well financially, but I wanted to do performing as well, and the work there is much more sporadic. Most of my freelance teaching work is recurring: I have three days a week in a private school tutoring vocal students; then I'll get a term of teaching a drama class on Saturdays. My freelance writing job was a huge contract and once it finished, I didn't do another one, because what I do in that area is so specialised. Regarding performing, with acting, it's all about auditions and networking, and I'm just starting to learn about booking performances for original music: again, networking is more important than anything else.

The worst thing is chasing up invoices. I did a corporate gig over two weeks ago and I still haven't been paid for it. It's demoralising to have to constantly ask for what is rightfully yours.

Helen

I've been meaning to update. Thanks for all of your input. It definitely gave me a lot to think about. My therapist suggested I start working on some kind of exit strategy if nothing else to help keep me sane. Of course now I have to figure out how to work toward becoming the next Martha Stewart.