An Update: How Freelancing and Working Full Time is Going; Plus, a HUGE Goal

This past Monday marked two months at my new full-time job. I’ve still been freelancing on the side and have been able to bring in around $1200 – $1500 each month on top of my full-time job (you can read my income reports here). I thought it’d be fun to provide a sort of “life update” if you will to let you all know how it’s been going managing both.

Freelancing

Let’s start with freelancing. To be honest, I don’t feel like I freelance all that much. I currently only have one client that I write for multiple times per week. I have a bunch of other clients that need work usually monthly, but the amount is oftentimes up in the air. I’m able to get my regular, weekly assignments completed over the weekend, and then I complete my other work in the evenings (or sometimes early morning!). This month’s income is turning out to be a little lower than normal. While it came at a good time since we moved at the beginning of the month, I’m ready and willing to take on more work. In my free time, I’ve been hustling. Shameless plug, but if you need a writer, editor or content manager, or know anyone who does, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

Working Full-Time

I am so, so, so thankful for my full-time job. They sent me to FinCon last week and it was incredible!! I’m not sure if the company will be going to all FinCon’s (this one was in Charlotte, where we’re located), but I definitely hope to continue going even on my own. It was an awesome experience.

I’m doing a post soon on how blogging changed my life, but basically starting this blog is what ultimately got me hired on full-time at LendingTree. I have a degree in finance and had been freelance writing for two years not in the finance niche when I decided to start this blog. This little ole blog is what gave me credibility in the financial writing industry, it landed me tons of jobs in personal finance writing, and it led me to LendingTree. I feel like that job was created for me – I’m confident in my role yet still challenged daily. It’s definitely my “dream job” as it’s combined my two areas of expertise – finance and writing/editing.

The only downside to working full-time has been lack of time!! I’m in the car a good two hours (or more) on the days where I work in the office. Also, my job is managing freelancers, and as a freelancer myself, I know freelancers work when they want to work – whether that’s at night, over the weekend or during normal business hours (which is usually not! That’s a benefit of working for yourself, haha). As a good editor, I like to be available when my writers need me. So, that’s the downside. But we’ll see what the future holds as far as that’s concerned…

Family Life

We’re a lot busier as a family with me working full-time. I spend a good amount of time on the weekends preparing for the week – cleaning, doing all the dishes and laundry, making sure we have meals planned out for the week, paying bills, etc. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have any fun!! We always do at least one fun thing each day. This past Saturday we went to a birthday party for one of Cami’s friends. She got to ride a horse, pet farm animals and eat cake (her favorite of the three, I’m sure). We spend a lot of time outside, both on weeknights and on the weekend. Tonight I’m trying to convince John to go to a pumpkin patch, and this weekend we want to take the girls apple picking.

A huge reason this is able to work is because John is such a huge help with the girls and around the house. Him being so helpful allows us to still have quality time together in spite of our busy schedules.

The girls have adjusted wonderfully to full-time daycare. Cami just thrives in that environment and loves keeping busy and learning all day. Maisie has had a bit harder of a time with the transition, but overall her days are great at daycare. Our time together is so special now and I love (almost) every second I get to spend with my two little ladies.

For now, life is really good. Life is what you make of it, and while I don’t want us to be this busy for the rest of our lives, we are enjoying it now.

A HUGE Goal…

Ok, so all of this brings me to a goal that I want to share with all of you. I’m pretty open when it comes to my income, as most of my regular readers know. I wish people were more comfortable talking about money!! We learn from others and from being open, and I don’t see anything wrong with being open about your finances.

Anywho, my real life friends know that I tend to constantly have goals and am always moving (I don’t mean actually moving, but rather, changing? Yes, that works). I don’t like to sit still. I like to keep busy and “reach for the stars” if you will. FinCon was truly an eye-opening experience. I got to meet SO MANY successful bloggers and writers. Everyone was so nice, and so friendly, and so…normal. It got me thinking, if they can do this, why can’t I?!

So, my goal is to make $10,000/month over the next year through blogging and freelancing. I know that this will be a challenge, especially with having two little ones. My goal, though, is to work smarter, not harder. I work 40 hours a week at my FT job and would like to accomplish this goal by tacking on another 15-20 hours freelancing and blogging. To me, that’s pretty doable without having to miss out on any time with my family. I’ll work 2 hours on weeknights and 6-8 hours on the weekends. Considering I get up so early and our girls take 3 hours naps on the weekends, I know I can do this.

Do You Want In On the Challenge?

Is anyone down to do this challenge with me?! I think it’d be fun to encourage and support each other along the way! If you’re in, the only requirement is that you start a blog of your own. You can use my tutorial here that will walk you through getting it set up. If you can’t start immediately, start as soon as you can and send me an email or comment to let me know you’re in! Now, it’s up to you to decide exactly how you want to start earning $10K per month within one year, but with each other’s support, I KNOW we can all do this!! And remember, I do NOT plan on working more than 15-20 hours each week on my side business. In all reality, it will probably be much less.

So, my start date is going to be October 2014. This gives all of you who want to get on board a little over a week to decide so we can start together! I’ll be doing a post on this separately over the next few days.

Are you with me?! Please follow along, at the very least!! I plan on sharing every step of the way! And, how is life going for you?