Happy Monday! Okay, well it is a very unhappy Monday if you live in Pittsburgh or are part of Steeler Nation regardless of where you live. My predictions were completely off. While it kind of sucks, it is what it is and there is always next year! In my lifetime, I’ve seen plenty of Steeler victories, many playoff runs, a couple of Superbowl wins and a couple of Superbowl losses, which honestly is more than a lot of fans of other teams can say. For now, I am going to continue to eat my delicious “Here We Go Steelers” cookie cake.
My Pinterest challenge for the day:
Why I chose a career as a freelance journalist?
Recently, I’ve been getting some e-mails of people asking me why I choose this career and what made me want to leave a full-time position. These e-mails excite me! It’s great to know people are actually reading and are interested in my rather unique career path. While I could write a really, really long post (because trust me this was not a decision I made lightly), I’m going to break this down over a large number of posts for your reading pleasure (well, maybe not for pleasure. I’m more the less not looking to bore you as you read!).
I’ve always been told I was going to be a writer “when I grew up.” Who would have thought? Everyone was right. I guess when you are able to make an entire school of teachers cry when you submit an essay about your hero, you are destined to be a writer. Although, my goal is far from making people cry. I’m more about educating and informing people while having a little bit of fun along the way. I mainly right in health, fitness, nutrition and some sports, so it has been relatively easy to achieve my goal of educating people.
While everyone told me that I was going to be a journalist, I would say become a journalist was far from my goal. I started college as a writing major and ultimately switched to communication with a minor in writing. My ultimate goal was to work in the PR/marketing/corporate communications department of a professional sports team (more specifically the Steelers, Pirates or Penguins). Well, that didn’t happen. My dream job was a little too specific and I love Pittsburgh sports a little too much to have further expanded my search. My answer to why not look elsewhere was always, “Could you imagine me doing public relations for the Cleveland Browns? I don’t think so!” However, I honestly would have to say if the opportunity would ever present itself one of these days I’d be very likely to go for it.
Anyways, I finished my B.A. and was not having too much luck finding a job. I was not willing to relocate and I lacked the necessary experience to do almost every available job in the Pittsburgh area. Plus, the economy was not helping my cause. It eventually came down to the need for a full-time job. Some money is better than no money and a full-time office job beats working (and spending all of my money) in retail. My parents were insistent that I got a job with benefits. That’s what I did. I took a job working in a busy orthopaedic practice doing administrative work. This is a place I figured I would spend no money. It turns out I was wrong, injuries caused me to spend plenty of money here. Although, doctor’s appointments were very convenient. Who would have thought I’d spend so much money working in a doctor’s office? Maybe I should have stuck with retail. At least I’d have cute clothes to show for it instead of crutches, casts, and ugly black walking boots.
While I was here, I completed my Masters in Writing. I would have though a Master’s degree would have landed me a job. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case. I was getting slightly fed-up with the fact that I had a Master’s degree and was working a job that I could have essentially dropped out of high school and done. (Not going to lie, my ego was becoming a bit bruised!)
This is when the first of my freelance career occurred. I started doing some freelance work on the side in addition to my full-time job. I wrote a lot of education and finance articles. Not exactly the most exciting topic for me. I eventually decided I needed to find my niche in the freelance writing world. As a result, I opted to pursue a graduate certificate in Fitness and Wellness (I ended up liking this program so much I decided to complete a M.S. in Exercise Science and Health Promotion).
In 2010, I was off work (on short-term disability) recovering from my first foot surgery. It then hit me, I was making more money writing on the side part-time than I was working a full 40hour work week at a job I couldn’t stand. I finished off my time on short term disability and returned to work. Over the next few months, I worked to secure freelance positions. I needed to know I could make enough money to quite my job and work from home. Within a few months, I had quit my job and begun my freelance career. I had my family’s support. On the other hand, a lot of people thought I was crazy. The general consensus was why would you quit a full-time job in this economy? I should have been grateful to have a job.
I’ve been full-time freelance writing since August 1, 2010 and wouldn’t be happier with my decision. I couldn’t find my dream job, so I built my own dream job. How is that for a go-getter!
To be continued…..
If you have a question, I’m happy to answer it!
