Self Employed Archives - Audrey JoAnn

HOW TO BECOME A FREELANCER

October 11, 2018

I’ve got to be honest. I haven’t known what to write about lately. In my Google Drive, I have a long list of blog post ideas and topics. But I’m getting married in 10 days, and it felt weird to write about sleep habits or career development or relationship challenges when I’m living in a vacuum that is all things BIG DAY. My life right now is guest counts, final invoices, printing hashtag signs, and checking my weather app 27 times a day. (Fingers crossed for anything below 78 degrees in a week and a half.)

I never thought I would be a stressed-out wedding countdown kind of girl, but here we are. Identity crisis for one, please. So, that’s precisely why I’m writing about something other than wedding things. While I am so thrilled for the day itself and the many fun activities surrounding it, everything lately has revolved around planning. I need to think about something else.

EASY TIME MANAGEMENT HACKS THAT EVERYONE CAN USE

September 21, 2018

I went to Sprouts the other day for groceries, and after paying, I started pushing the plastic-bag handles onto my wrists, stacked like several very heavy bracelets on each arm. I’d already gotten my car keys out of my purse and was at the ready to put the shopping cart in its inside lineup before loading my groceries into the car in one seamless trip.

I was not about to waste time on bringing the cart out with me and then having to take even more precious seconds to put it to one of those cart parking spots that seem to never be conveniently located. Psh. The cashier stared as I loaded about 15 grocery bags onto my arms and, (rightfully) full of judgment, asked, “You’re not going to use the cart?”

HOW TO SET SMALL GOALS TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE

August 23, 2018

Is it just me, or can setting ambitious goals feel unattainable or unrealistic at times? Especially those big-picture, long-term goals. Sure, yeah, in 10 years I’d love to own a house in the country and have a couple books published and have a few more figures in the bank and maybe have a mountain home for long weekends and holidays. That’s easy to visualize and dream about all day long, but how in the world do you actually get there?

I believe the key is starting small — like minuscule, the teeniest of tiny — and then building and stacking from there. This realization came to me as all the best ones do: accidentally. It started with flossing.

YOUR PRODUCTION DOES NOT EQUAL YOUR WORTH

July 12, 2018

When I moved from my full-time job in Dallas to being a nanny and freelancer in Nashville, I went through a sort of identity crisis. Same thing happened when I went from those jobs in Nashville to just freelancing and working on my own (currently wages-less) writing projects in Austin.

Stepping out of that societal norm of 9-to-5 work in a corporate setting felt unusual and unsettling, like I was doing something wrong. I personally liked my new schedule more, but I was self-conscious about what others might be thinking, whether or not they thought this journalism graduate from a private Texas university was another millennial who couldn’t figure out what she wanted.

I started to base my self-views around this perceived judgement that may not have even been accurate. And even if it was, even if people did think that, it didn’t matter. (Or, at least, it shouldn’t have.) After all, I felt better with my new schedule and not having to sit at a desk all day long, and I was making a better income, enough to live off of, and save and invest. I was pursuing career goals that I actually wanted, instead of wondering how many months I could make it before quitting.