I fell into freelancing a bit by accident. I moved to Sydney, Australia in October 2019 without a job. I knew I wanted to try run coaching on the side at least, but I also wanted to give myself 6 months to adjust to living in another country where I did not know a single person other than Kyle. We all know what happened in March of 2020. I felt a little lost. But slowly, I learned I could be an Endurance Athlete Coach and a Content Marketer from my little slice of the world — all on my own.
I love how Christie and Kristen brought my story together with my new website here: https://dalemarie.org/about
And here’s a snapshot of that ‘day-in-the-life’.
Here are 7 things I love about being a freelancer:
- Setting my own schedule
- No day is the same. I can choose what time I wake up based on my calls. I am flexible with my call times since I work with many different time zones and try to accommodate other people’s schedules. Some days I might start work at 7am and end at 2pm. Other days I work 10am until 8pm. Sometimes on a random Wednesday, I’ll work for less than an hour and take a ‘me day’. I have no set hours I have to be at a desk, so as long as I get my work done, I feel content. It is about output more than hours spent working. Each week of my month is dedicated to prioritizing a different part of my business (ex: first week is mostly reporting and marketing client calls). I find what works best for me.
- Getting paid directly
- I no longer have to wait for a specific day of the month to get a pay check. When a client or an athlete pays an invoice, it shows up in my bank account. I am not waiting on anyone else anymore.
- Not having to request PTO
- The anxiety I used to have around asking for time off. Anyone else? Especially in America, I found the busiest worker or employee who puts in the most hours to be a badge of honor. So much so, that taking vacation was not exactly celebrated. I LOVE no longer having to awkwardly ask to take my allotted vacation days. If I want to travel now, I will make sure my work is done before and just take a few days off. Or I will work remotely from that location until Saturday and enjoy my weekend. It is so much less rigid.
- Working truly from anywhere
- To continue on with the idea of working from a vacation spot, I work remotely 100% of the time since I do not have an office. This allows me to work on the South Coast if Kyle and I want to take an impromptu road trip. This allowed me to work from the United States for 4 months while finally visiting family again after 2 years away and not having to stress about asking for permission from someone. I work where I am. And it works for me.
- I can say no to new projects and/or clients
- This is one I am still practicing, but I can say ‘no’ to work. Not every client is a great fit. Or if I feel I am at capacity, I can say ‘not right now’. I have control over what new work I take on.
- Being able to take appointments mid-day
- Another thing I struggled with before was finding time to take appointments when I was working long weeks and weekends at my previous roles. My dentist would say we only have a Tuesday at 2pm and I would think…’why would I be able to do that?’ But now I can. There are usually more openings mid-day for most appointments since they are harder for a typical 9-5 worker to make, so I take advantage of that and plan my day around it.
- I invest in myself
- Now if I want to pay to take a course and further my education or my skills, I am doing so to benefit my business. There is no longer a cap to my income and I know that being able to raise my rates after completing a course will directly benefit me. I feel more motivated to learn new things, keep up with new information, and see how it impacts my business.
I suppose I could also list 7 things I don’t love about being a freelancer (maybe another day), but overall, I really enjoy working for myself. I like my day-to-day life a lot. It took me a while to get here, but I feel like I am in that next leap that I’ve been waiting for. Don’t worry I’ll probably have a day next month where I want to give up on everything again. It happens.
I would be remiss not to mention it has taken me over 2 years to build this business. My first 6 months of freelancing I made less than $3,000. I would not have been able to take this financial risk without help from my husband. I recognize the privilege I had to do this. Not having to worry about paying rent on time was a HUGE help in me being patient and taking some risks. Also, student loan payments being paused has helped a lot. I’m still not exactly where I want to be, but I finally feel like I am able to contribute again. I just want to share that if you also find yourself able to take a risk and work for yourself, it can be a very slow process. I do not know many freelancers or small business owners that matched their corporate income in their first or even second or third year. I’m sure it can be done, but this has never felt like a ‘quick’ win for me. I’m working on it.
I also want to say a thank you to everyone who has worked with me, referred me, or believed in me. I wouldn’t be doing what I love without the amazing support I have had. Thank you.
