Define Your Own Personal Freelance Success (Then Make Some Money)

There’s a lot to writing, and even more to becoming a business-savvy, successful freelance writer. And that word “success” alone carries so much weight, doesn’t it?

I don’t know what your success looks like. Honestly, I don’t even know what my success is going to look like down the road.

Ten years ago, success meant being able to pay for cocktails with my best friends on Friday night (and Saturday night and most Monday nights and…you get it). Eight years ago, success meant having a few clients to call my own, even if I charged them peanuts. Then, success meant being able to afford backups so I’d never run out of paper towels or soap or batteries.

Today, success means waking up to a job I love every morning and also having the income and freedom to decide if I’m going to work that day or if I’d rather read or hike or go on a mini road trip with my boyfriend. It means having a home office that I love so much that some days I actually crave spending 10 hours there, a cup of coffee next to me and a long list of client articles to write (or a short list of long client articles to write).

And my future success is pulling me toward it quickly – it’s filled with a bright apartment that I’ll decorate with pops of color, a romantic trip to Hawaii that will jumpstart a life filled with romantic trips, a quick flight to Disney World to run in their marathon…

Those successes cost money, and that money can’t be earned by striving for money alone. It has to be accompanied by a willingness to work, by peace and levity, by a specific type of energy that cradles instead of pressing down. It also has to be accompanied by a respect for money – an understanding that money is a reflection of worth. If you’re worth more money, then that’s what you should have – and with it, you’ll do worthwhile things.

Isn’t that an exciting cycle? You work, you earn, then you work better and live better with what you earned, which means you can earn more… It’s almost enough to send my heart bursting through my chest.

If you want your heart to burst through your chest – like, in a good way – either get in touch with me or read this goddamn ah-maze-ing­ book about money or, ideally, do both.