Howdy Reader!

Meet Contena Superstar Kenzie Bradshaw, a 20-something who has been growing her business as a freelance writer since 2017.

Before starting her freelance career, Kenzie earned a degree in Soil Science with a specialization in soil physics, and she had jobs ranging from snake handling with the Fish and Wildlife Service through the AmeriCorps program to helping create new flavor profiles for Sargento cheese.

She discovered “the reality is that many traditional professions would rather hire a specialist over a generalist.” However, as a freelancer, it has helped to have a variety of areas she’s knowledgeable about and comfortable with.

Her love of travel and freedom along with a 3-month trip to Thailand encouraged her to shift away from the traditional workforce and try her hand at getting paid to write.

However, before she started with Contena Academy, she’d “been on those other websites. I’ve been there…” (We’re going to spare you the details of the first job she was offered-- it’s not good), but she says, “I turned it down because it was so creepy and I had so many questions. I got all kinds of red flags.”

Kenzie quickly learned that signing up for Contena Academy and working with her coach, Amanda, provided the support and quality that other sites couldn’t provide. The extra eyes and ears were especially useful for a new freelancer.

"Amanda was so encouraging to me. I had no idea if my writing would be commercial enough to be worth anything, and I was worried that my lack of a single area of expertise would put me at a major disadvantage.

Amanda really helped me to polish my style and encouraged me that by being able to write in a wide variety of topics, I would have a greater chance of success."

Kenzie was hired for a regular gig quickly after starting as a freelancer: “I landed my first position with Wide Open Spaces with a minimum of 12 articles a month” which isn’t surprising for someone who says, “I’m a fight to the top, butt-kicking, ‘watch me rock this’ kind of girl!”

Confidence, like Kenzie's, can help freelancers when they’re first starting out.

Though Kenzie still has a part-time job, (which we think is a great way to supplement your freelancing career when you’re first starting out), her goal is to “make [writing] my sole job.”

There’s no shame in taking your time to transition to full-time freelance writing, and we asked Kenzie about what has helped her grow her freelance business so far.

Though freelancing can work for just about anyone, we’re strong believers that there are specific reasons why she's perfect for freelance writing.

Kenzie is tech-savvy, able to multi-task, and understands that the job market is evolving. She also pointed out that due to her age, with less responsibilities like kids and a mortgage, she can make the jump into freelancing. She says, starting freelance writing as millennial, “There’s more flexibility to take a risk earlier on.”

She’ll continue to create content for her anchor clients, further develop her e-commerce store, and she’ll take what she’s learned through Contena’s training modules and keep applying for more work.

We’re confident that Kenzie will continue to grow her freelancing business and, when she’s ready, ditch the part-time job and work 100% for herself.

Today I’m excited to share my recent interview with Nicole Dieker. Nicole has written for high profile sites like The Billfold, Yearbook Office, The Penny Hoarder, and Boing Boing. She also chronicles her earnings from writing each month on The Write Life – a blog that helps freelance writers create, connect and earn. Nicole is also in the process of writing a novel The Biographies of Ordinary People.

Hi Nicole, great to have you. Let’s jump right into this… How did you first get into freelancing?

I got into freelancing because I needed a way to make money while working as a performing musician. I knew that if I took a job that tied me to an office (or coffee shop or retail store), I wouldn’t be able to keep up my performance schedule. So I signed on to a content site called Crowdsource, and began writing short articles for around 3 cents a word.

From there—well, I’ve always been good at writing, and what I quickly realized was that I was really good at freelancing. I could turn around a post in an hour, and I could write four or five short posts a day. I was reliable, I hit my deadlines, and I could turn in clean copy. Plus, I started to love the work. It was very different from being a musician and begging bars to let me play to an uninterested audience!

So I very quickly began to ramp down the music work and ramp up the writing. I got better clients, I got contributor roles at publications like The Billfold (which is the closest a freelancer gets to a guaranteed monthly income) and I built a career.

Every month you share a breakdown of your income from freelancing on The Write Life. What motivated you to start doing that? What has the response been since you started sharing your writing income publicly?

I started sharing my freelancing income back when I was a full-time performing musician, as a way to show the disparity between the amount of work I was doing and the amount of money I was earning. There’s this idea that if you’re a musician who is playing a couple of shows a week, you must be earning a living, right? Not true. I’d make two hundred bucks, and that was it.

So I began posting This Week in Independent Musicianry on my Tumblr, sharing my income and struggles with my readers every week. That was in in 2012. It has since evolved into This Week in Freelancing, and I still post my freelancing income to Tumblr every week, in addition to doing the monthly roundup in The Write Life.

You write for high profile sites including The Billfold, Yearbook Office, The Freelancer, SparkLife, The Penny Hoarder, and Boing Boing. How do you find balance with all of these demanding clients?

Ha ha ha ha, “demanding” is your word, not mine! I love my clients.

I’ll tell you honestly, it took a while to find balance. For a while, it was a question about whether I’d have enough work to earn the money I needed, but there was a tipping point around the beginning of this year where I started to get a lot of new gigs. Most of them were clients who reached out to me and asked if I would write for them, which is a great place to be in as a freelancer.

Anyway, I started saying yes to a lot of stuff, and got myself in a position where I was putting in 12-hour days. That is not sustainable in the long term, so I started figuring out how many pieces I could actually complete each week, and how I could configure my client work so I was writing the majority of my pieces for my best clients. (These aren’t necessarily my best-paying clients, although most of them pay at the top of my range. A client that is easy to work with and puts my writing in front of a big audience is equally valuable.)

So I found balance by saying no to things, and now I’ve gotten my workweek down to around 40 hours. But I was only able to say no to stuff by first doing the work of saying all that yes. If you don’t have enough paying work, and if you don’t have good relationships with your clients, you won’t have the leverage you need to say no when you need to.

What does an average day look like? Are there any tricks you use to increase your writing productivity?

I tend to work from about 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., give or take, with an hour to 90-minute break in the middle. There’s usually one night a week that I keep as “overflow night,” to pound through everything I couldn’t finish during the day.

As for productivity: I am the child of two classically-trained musicians. This means I learned, from a very young age, that you sit down at your instrument every day and you practice every day. So finding the motivation to write, even when it is “hard” or “boring,” has never been much of an issue for me. Some of it is like playing music, and some of it is like practicing scales.

Also, if I don’t write, I don’t eat. I have money in a savings account, but I have no real other source of income at this point. So that encourages me to be very productive!

Are you writing full time? If so, how and when did you make the decision and transition?

I was never in the position where I had to choose to quit my job and pursue freelance writing. I was in the position where I had no job, and I wasn’t earning enough from music performance, and I had to figure out how to earn money. That’s how I started freelancing, and I built it up to a full time gig within maybe six months. (Keep in mind that at that time I was doing low-paid content work for 3 cents a word. But I was doing it 8+ hours a day, Monday through Friday.)

I am very glad that I am able to do this full-time. If I hadn’t started working for Crowdsource, I might have gone back to temping, or working retail. But Crowdsource took me on, and I was able to earn a livable wage with them, and from there I was able to build a career.

Is there anything you regret or would have done differently early on?

I’ll frame this as a piece of advice: start looking for a new client as soon as you start having problems with a current one.

It’s like any other job; if you don’t have a good relationship with your boss, it’s time to think about working somewhere else. But don’t burn bridges, either.

Find your new client, and say goodbye to the problem one in a way that maintains the relationship and encourages that client to refer you to other clients in the future.

How do you think freelancing full time has changed your life the most?

This is the first career I’ve had where I’ve been paid for my ideas. Previously, I was paid for my ability to answer a phone, or my ability to complete administrative work. (Or, in many cases, not paid for being a musician.)

When you get paid for being you, it changes everything. It makes your work more valuable. It gets you a little closer to indispensable. People want to work with you just because you’re you, and they’re willing to pay for that.

Do you still write for fun? Are you working on any side projects?

I hate this question. When I go on dates with people and they ask “okay, but do you still write for fun,” there is no second date. Nearly all of my writing is fun. I love my entire job, and I dislike the implication that freelancing is somehow “less fun” than the fiction writing I must be doing “on the side.”

I get paid to write fiction for sites like Yearbook Office. That means it isn’t a side project; it is an integral part of my freelance portfolio.

Right now I am writing a novel titled The Biographies of Ordinary People (my second novel) and funding the process through Patreon.

I hope you take the time to check out my novel, because I’ve gotten a lot of great response from my readers.

I’m also still writing and performing music, by the way. But now I can be very selective about the gigs I take—no more terrible bars!

Lastly—what is one small thing that an aspiring writer can do today to improve their freelancing business?

When I started publishing my income online, it incentivized me to earn more money every week, because I wanted to share a narrative of progress and success. The knowledge that I’d have to tell everyone, every week, how I did helped push me to send out that extra pitch, take on that extra piece, do anything I could to get that income number higher.

So start measuring what you want to change in your career, and figure out what you need to do to improve that number.

Elna Cain of Elnacain.com and FreelancerFAQ’s is a freelance writer and mom, earning a healthy full-time income from freelancing part-time.

Both of Elna’s sites serve as an excellent starting point for freelancers. Contena is even mentioned in a few of her guides 🙂 So I’m really glad that she agreed to do this interview. 

Tell us a little bit about yourself, where are you from, what did you do in your previous life?

Hi! My name is Elna Cain. I’m from Canada, a freelance writer and a mom to twin toddlers.

They just turned three and life as we know it is never quiet, but full of laughter, gripes, yells and hiccups (they’ve been getting a lot of those lately….).

Before I had my twins I taught children with autism in the school setting. My background is in education and psychology, but I primarily write about digital marketing for my clients. Go figure!

Besides writing about digital marketing, I also do copywriting and I’m a ghostwriter for some key influencers online.

I also run a freelancing blog called FreelancerFAQs alongside Alicia Rades. It’s a place to get your freelancing questions answered.

How did you first get into freelancing?

After having my twins, I decided that I wanted to stay home and raise my children.

Maybe I was over protective or it was my “calling,” but I had a strong desire to stay home. Plus, the cost to put my twins into a quality daycare would’ve surely eaten up most of any paycheck. So, working outside the home just didn’t seem like a viable option.

I knew I had to find a way to contribute to our finances and it was my husband who actually introduced me to making money online. Since he works from home, he suggested I do something like virtual assisting or freelance writing.

I’ve always enjoyed writing and the creative side of it so freelance writing seemed like a great fit for me.

I really love your blog on ElnaCain.com where you share advice for writers who want to break into the business. Why did you decide to write about writing?

When I first started my blog – over on my professional website, Innovative Ink – I was so interested in freelance writing, I wanted to write about it.

I used my blog to write about writing and being a work-from-home mom. Since I didn’t have a clear direction of what niche I was ultimately going to specialize in, I felt freelance writing was something I was learning about and I was interested in – so I wanted to share my excitement.

Now, over a year later, I moved my blog over to ElnaCain.com – since it didn’t fit well with my professional writing site – and found a whole audience of new writers wanting to learn how to break into freelance writing and to be told how it really is.

What does an average day look like? Are there any tricks you use to increase your writing productivity?

My days are busy and different each time. Luckily – crossing my fingers – my twins are still taking their daily nap. They just turned three so I know my days are numbered.

The only time I can truly do my client work is when they are sleeping. I can average around 4 hours of solid work a day. This means I start my writing at 2 pm and can write until 3:30 or 4 pm.

Then I can write again from 8pm until around 10 pm. It’s not ideal, but it’s working.

When my twins are awake, I sometimes manage to sneak in some other business-related tasks such as invoicing, email, graphic design for clients, or updating and research for client pieces.

These tasks don’t always require my total focus and they can get done when my children are running around playing.

As for productivity hacks? I try not to check my email or social media profiles – or approve comments on my blog – when I’m writing for my clients. I also listen to music – loving Ludovico Einaudi’s album Divenire – and that seems to help me to keep focus when I have to write.

Are you writing full time? If so, how and when did you make the decision and transition?

No, I’m not writing full-time, yet. My twins are still young and I want to keep them home and take care of them.

So, when they go to school I’ll probably do this full-time.

Is there anything you regret or would have done differently early on?

The one thing I regret is not knowing about job boards sooner. I started my freelance writing with a content mill. I barley made $2 for my first writing piece and I started to doubt my ability to have a successful freelance writing business.

Then I moved on to Guru, which is similar to Upwork. I didn’t land any projects there so I finally made the (right) decision to do this on my own. I created Innovative Ink, guest posted and searched job boards for quality gigs and it paid off!

How do you think freelancing has changed your life the most?

It’s given me many opportunities that I couldn’t have possibly dreamed of. I’m a writer for Blogging Wizard, I ghostwrite for some big influencers, I was approach by Kevin Duncan to write for OptinMonster and I’m in the works to collaborate with other successful writers, bloggers and entrepreneurs.

Are you working on any side projects?

I just launched a new freelance writing course for aspiring writers and bloggers called Write Your Way to Your First $1k. It’s a 7-week, self-paced online course.

I wanted to create a course that shows a proven framework and provides step-by-step lessons from the initial stages of deciding if freelance writing is for you, all the way up to marketing yourself, submitting your pieces to your clients properly, and growing your business.

Since it’s self-paced, students can go through the course material as fast or as slow as they want, and they can go back and review important lessons. And, I’m always adding new videos and material to keep things up-to-date and current. Oh, and there’s a private Facebook group where we all hang out and help each other out – it would be hard for someone not to succeed.

You also offer coaching for aspiring writers. Can you share more about how that’s structured? What does a typical coaching session look like?

Yes, I offer coaching to new writers and it’s going great. Currently I’m offering 30-minute phone calls.

During our phone call I get to know the writer and what their problems are. From there we hatch out a plan to tackle each problem. After our initial phone call I send out a summary report going over what we had discussed.

They can choose whether to do bi-weekly coaching calls, monthly coaching calls, or talk on an as-needed basis.

I’ve had great success with this setup and many of my coaching students also join my freelance writing course, which tells me they all want to succeed at the highest level.

Lastly – what is one small thing that an aspiring writer can do today to improve their freelancing business.

The one thing an aspiring writer can do today to improve their freelance business is to stop doubting yourself.

I know this can seem impossible to do, but just know that everyone doubts his or her ability at one time or another. Even the most successful freelance writers still let doubt creep in once in a while. The thing to remember is how you deal with it. Face it and take action! And once you get over that, anything is possible.

This week we have a really great interview with Joe Warnimont of Write with Warnimont. Joe is a full time freelance writer, author and blogger and his stories don’t disappoint! In a previous life he was chased by Harrison Ford’s dog and asked to transport $20,000 in an “oversized suit.” Enjoy.

Hey Joe. Tell us a little bit about yourself… Where are you from and what did you do in your previous life?

I’m located in Chicago, after a few years of bouncing around. It all started growing up in a small Chicago suburb called Roselle, after which I went to beautiful Bloomington, Indiana to study business at IU.

Throughout all of college I had a strange inclination to become a talent agent, so I worked for an agency in Chicago for two summers and ended up out in Los Angeles, running errands in the mail room at United Talent Agency.

This led to rather strange stories like running away from Harrison Ford’s dog after trying to deliver a script to his front door, and tucking $20,000 in my over-sized suit to deliver to one of the top agents. Overall, I wanted a more creative, and less hectic job, so after graduation I began writing on the side and took a job at a golf software company, where I worked on the marketing team.

You mentioned that after college you started a marketing job before writing that you did not really enjoy. Can you tell us a little more about this – why wasn’t it a good fit?

Looking back, I’m not sure any job, where I wasn’t working for myself, would have been a good fit. 

Like many jobs straight out of college, this simply didn’t fit, because I wanted more creativity. The job entailed designing with Photoshop and working on websites, but my favorite part of the day was biking home to get back to writing stories and building a blog.

How did writing for magazines and blogs transition into Write with Warnimont?

I actually started Write with Warnimont prior to submitting for magazines and blogs. I wanted to become a children’s book and short story author, so I enrolled in an organization called the Institute of Children’s Literature, where I learned about drafting manuscripts, submitting to magazines like Highlights and seeking out agents.

My writing skills certainly improved, but dozens of rejection letters came in, prompting me to create Write with Warnimont. I assumed it would serve as a way to pitch my writing without having any published work under my belt, and it turns out I was right.

I noticed quite a few job board listings where the clients were interested in people who knew about WordPress. Having plenty of experience from college, my old job and from building my own blog, I submitted and started accumulating clients. Although I enjoyed developing children’s stories, my focus organically shifted to the world of writing about WordPress, mobile apps, and eCommerce for blogs and small businesses.

So, Write with Warnimont served as a way to bring in clients, but it did turn into something more when I began monetizing it and shifting the strategy to a more motivational/tech-based blog.

Have you ever lost any big clients? If so, how did you handle it and is there anything you wish you could have done differently?

About three years ago I went on a vacation to Italy and Switzerland, putting a few of my clients on hold for two weeks. At that point I hadn’t put my business degree to good use since very little tracking was involved with my freelance process. After returning, one particular client said he didn’t have any more work for me. I’m still not certain whether it had anything to do with my vacation or not, but I soon realized that this client had accounted for around 50% of my freelance income.

The problem was that the majority of my other work was ghostwriting and developing webpage content, so I either received zero credit for it or the work was sporadic. I had to change my strategy, fast. Therefore, I put all of my pitching efforts into locating jobs that gave me credit as an author, while only accepting gigs that promised consistent work, like blogging for online publications or corporate blogs.

In short, I learned that ghost writing isn’t the greatest when it comes to building your own portfolio, and one-off jobs burn you out quick.

Are you still doing other freelance work on the side?

Yes, most of my income is from my freelance client work. Unfortunately, I had to put Write with Warnimont to the side for a few months, because I wasn’t able to handle the amount of freelance work I was accumulating. I say unfortunately, because I firmly believe that building your own platform is better than working to build someone else’s. Therefore, I’ve rebuilt my strategy and plan to come back in full force with Write with Warnimont in November.

What do you focus on to help other writers on Write with Warnimont?

Upon inception, Write with Warnimont mimicked blogs like GoinsWriter.com and MichaelHyatt.com, striving for an inspirational take on the writing world. After a while, I turned the site into a hub for writers who needed help with technology, from Scrivener to WordPress themes and mobile apps to self-publishing.

In addition, I’ve revamped the strategy to still incorporate some of the root topics that helped me initially gain momentum with my blog. Write with Warnimont is now catered to what I call “malcontents,” or people who are looking to enrich their lives through writing, whether it be for fun or to make a buck. After that, I give them the technological tools needed to achieve their writing goals.

Is there one particular success story that you would like to share?

As unusual as this may sound, a cost-cutting experience is one of my favorite success stories. I enjoy the little triumphs, since they are generally harder to come by, and they can lead to bigger successes. In this instance, I decided to network with some folks at the Printers Row Lit Fest in Chicago. Out of my comfort zone, I chatted with journalists, self-published authors and this one guy who had run his own freelance business for ten years.

We got to talking about how writers have few expenses, seeing as how all you need is a computer and an internet connection. This prompted me to suggest that PayPal fees accounted for most of my costs. He recommended a tracking and invoicing tool called Harvest, which not only helped me discover that one client was wasting tons of my time, but that I would only get charged $0.50 per invoice (still through PayPal) regardless of how much the invoice was. 

You published a book in the past, what was that like? Can you share a little more about the process and how it came to be?

My book, Rise of the Writer, was a first attempt at writing a book. My goal was to give out a free item when visitors subscribed to my email newsletter and to learn what it was like to go through the self-publishing process. Much of the book came from old posts on my blog, yet it included several expanded thoughts on tech tools and the process of building your own freelance and blogging business.

It’s a short book, so it took maybe two months to write, edit, and publish, but I found it interesting how crappy the book was until I completed several rounds of edits. That’s the main point I learned, that no matter how good you think you are as a writer, the first draft is complete junk. Even the greats say that, so it can discourage you once you spend all that time pouring your heart into something. Having an editor, and completing revisions yourself, morphs a worthless compilation of thoughts into a good read.

Any advice on how to avoid multitasking or distractions while writing?

Find a room that’s completely quiet, lock your phone outside, and consider a tool like StayFocusd to keep yourself from navigating to Facebook or other useless sites while you work. Music helps drown out noises, but unless it’s only instrumentals I can’t think while writing. Finally, consider using multiple writing spots in your work space, like a couch, desk, and lazy boy.

It’s revitalizing to shift spots from time to time. For example, I complete most online work at my desk computer, then I write on a futon I have in my office when journaling, drafting stories, and scribbling thoughts for my blog. I consider this more creative work, and it’s all done on my stomach, with pen and paper.

If you could share one piece of advice with an aspiring freelance writer, what would it be?

Find a niche, and build your own platform where you truly connect to visitors with your own voice. Although it’s nice to have people to pull inspiration from (like I did with Jeff Goins and Michael Hyatt,) I neglected the fact that my own voice was naturally laid back, with hints of comedy.

It wasn’t until I started embracing this when I felt true to myself. Also, no matter what you do, keep your platform as your #1 priority, since you may end up working for someone else, which never expands your career as a writer.

Kat Boogaard is the founder of Lemonade Linings the formula of which is BIZ OWNERSHIP TIPS + POSITIVITY + SELF-DEVELOPMENT + DOG PHOTOS = LEMONADE LININGS. She also tweets awesome things.

Tell us a little bit about yourself, where are you from, what did you do in your previous life?

I live in a small town in Northeastern Wisconsin. Most people that find my work immediately assume that I reside in a larger city—such as New York or San Francisco. But, I really love the small town life!

Before switching to freelancing full-time, I worked as a Marketing Assistant for my local Convention and Visitors Bureau. We promoted travel to the local area in an effort to draw more visitors dollars into our economy. Marketing travel was definitely a fun gig, but I always found myself itching to venture off on my own!

How did you first get into freelancing?

I began freelancing when I was still employed full-time—I suppose “side hustle” is the trendy name for it now. I wrote for a few small, local publications and collaborated with a few area businesses in my free time. I really enjoyed it, and made an effort to continue building up my side business. Eventually, I decided to just take the leap and dive into that completely! It was terrifying, but also really thrilling.

Your blog is called Lemonade Linings, can you explain the origin of this cool, alliterative name?

My blog is something that I started when I was still working full-time. I didn’t have as many opportunities to write and express my creativity as I would’ve liked, so I began blogging as my own creative outlet. Since then, I’ve managed to build a really awesome, engaged community!

As far as the name is concerned, I consider myself a pretty positive person—I always see the glass half full. 

I love how your blog is so empowering and encouraging to women! How do you incorporate this #bosslady mindset into your writing?

You know, when I started blogging, I had assumed that I would want to write about style and beauty like so many other female bloggers my age. And, that’s exactly how I got started. However, after going through a major career shift, I found that I had different things I wanted to talk about. Productivity, self-development, fulfillment, and building a freelance business were all things that made my heart sing. So, I really altered the focus of my content.

I think this mindset of empowering women to also build lives and careers they love just shines through naturally. It’s something I’m super passionate about, so it sort of filters its way into anything that I’m writing about! But, with that being said, I don’t want to exclude men either. Guys, you’re also completely entitled to careers that excite you!

You produce so much content. How do you keep finding great ideas and avenues to pursue?

I’ll be the first to admit that this is a struggle for me. Particularly since so much of my content is related to career advice, it can be challenging to constantly come up with fresh ideas and pitches.

First, I think any good writer also reads a lot. There’s so much inspiration you can pull out of things that have already been written—whether you disagree with a point that was made or want to expand on a minor detail. I also often go through and read some of my own older work to see if there are any nuggets of inspiration hiding in there.

When all else fails, I like to ask my network for their thoughts. What are they struggling with? What do they want more information on? What questions do they have? Believe me—your connections are a bottomless well of inspiration.

Our members always ask about fluidly connecting their blogs with their Twitter and Instagram, and you do this so perfectly. How do you make all these pieces work together?

Ironically, my own social media strategy is something I hope to refine and polish this year. However, I think there’s one key thing you need to keep in mind when it comes to branding yourself and your blog on social media. My secret is to pick one key focus, and then stick with that. For me, that’s career development—whether you work a traditional 9 to 5 or are starting your own business.

Pretty much all of my blog content centers on that topic, as do most of my tweets and Instagram posts. I think this creates some cohesiveness that lets my target audience truly know when they’re in the right place. They know they aren’t going to hear about my favorite lipstick or what I ate for dinner. 

They’re able to ascertain right away what they’re in for—and if it’s something they’re interested in sticking around for.

I can tell you love interacting with your readers through social media. Can you talk about why this is important to you?

Honestly, I never would’ve dreamed that I’d have so many people sending me messages about my work. No matter how many tweets or emails I receive, each one is a real thrill to me! As a writer, it’s so rewarding to not only know that people are reading your work, but actually taking something tangible from it that they can use to improve their own lives.

Additionally, I don’t want to just be this faceless writer behind a computer screen. 

After I wrote a piece about lessons I learned from quitting my full-time job, I was inundated with messages from people who wanted to do the very same thing but just felt stuck. It was so interesting to hear all of their stories and offer some pieces of advice to help them navigate their way through it. Connecting with and helping other people is—without a doubt—one of my favorite parts of publishing my work.

Is there anything you regret or would have done differently early on?

This is a question I get a lot. And, of course, hindsight is 20/20—there are likely tons of things I would’ve done differently. But, when I think about it, I don’t really have any regrets. 

So, instead of looking at them as mistakes, I get to view them as learning experiences. Honestly, I wouldn’t change much!

Are you working on any fun side projects?

Oh, of course. I’m one of those people with a constantly growing to-do list (although, I’m sure any freelancer or entrepreneur would say that exact same thing!).

Right now, I’m working on redesigning and rebranding both of my websites (my business website and my blog) and bringing them into one place. I’m really looking forward to not having to balance two totally different brand identities. Once that’s all set, I’m really excited to start stepping up the quality of my content, offering downloadable extras with my blog posts, and (hopefully) building an email list of people who want to do the very same thing I did in regards to building a freelance business.

Long term, I’d love to offer some digital products such as ebooks, e-courses, and worksheets to help people get their own freelance businesses rolling. I’ve got big plans—now I just need more time!

Lastly – what is one small thing that an aspiring writer can do today to improve their freelancing business?

I’ll sing the praises of networking all day long. And, building a freelance business is really all about making connections.

Do what you need to do to connect with others and continue growing your network. Believe me, your connections will pay dividends as you continue to build your business!

Jennifer Marino Walters is a metro-area mama and the founder of Double Duty Twins (Plus One!) where she writes about parenting and various children’s topics. She also tweets up a storm here!

Tell us a little bit about yourself, where are you from, what did you do in your previous life?

My name is Jennifer Marino Walters, and I am a freelance writer from Brooklyn, NY. I am a mom to twin boys who will start kindergarten this fall and a toddler girl. I am also an Army wife — my husband, Keith, is a lieutenant colonel. My family has moved around a lot, but we currently live in the Washington, D.C. metro area.

I was an editorial assistant at TIME For Kids magazine in New York City when I met my husband. I moved with him to Northern California for 18 months while he attended grad school. While there, I worked as a communications manager for a children’s non-profit, but I really missed the publishing world. So when the Army transferred us back to New York for three years, I became an assistant managing editor at BizBash and then a senior editor at Scholastic.

How did you first get into freelancing?

We were transferred to Colorado Springs in 2010, where the publishing industry is virtually non-existent. Since the cost of living is much lower there than in New York and we were ready to start a family, I thought it would be the perfect time to try my hand at freelancing. I already had lots of editor contacts at Scholastic’s website and magazines as well as at other publications, so it wasn’t difficult for me to start getting assignments.

Over the years, I have steadily increased the amount of work I take on. I now write most regularly for Scholastic Online, Care.com, and Bentley University, but I write for many other clients as well.

You have three children under five years old. How do you find time to be a successful freelance writer?

I have a nanny come about 12 hours a week and get a lot of work done while she’s here. The twins currently attend preschool three half days per week, so I do simple tasks like answering emails and sending invoices while my daughter plays or colors at my side. She takes a two-hour nap every afternoon when the boys are home from school, and since they are now at the age where they can entertain each other, I can get writing done during nap time if I need to. But unfortunately, I do often have to carve out time on evenings and weekends to write while my husband is home. During particularly busy periods, I sometimes stay up until 1 or 2 a.m. to finish stories. There just aren’t enough hours in the day, and sometimes I don’t get enough sleep!

Your blog is called Double Duty Twins. Can you explain what that means?

I started it while I was pregnant with my twins. At first, it was just a platform through which to keep friends and family updated on the pregnancy and babies, but I was hoping for it to eventually turn into a parenting resource as well as a place to showcase my freelance work. I was really focused on the twin thing when trying to come up with a name, and that made me think of “Double Duty.” I thought it was perfect because it reflected so many aspects of my life: parenting two babies at a time, being a mom and a writer, being a military spouse and the sense of duty that comes with that. 

Besides spending extra time with your children, what is your favorite thing you’ve been able to do because of your freelance writing career that you wouldn’t be able to do if you had a typical 9-5 job?

It really does all boil down to spending more time with my family and being able to take care of my kids. I like not having to cram all my appointments and errands into the weekends, so that I can spend Saturday and Sunday relaxing and having fun. I like having more travel flexibility and being able to fit in workouts. I like being able to choose the projects I work on so that I am always enjoying my work. Overall, working from home makes life more fun and less stressful.

Is there anything you regret or would have done differently early on?

I am still not good about creating a work schedule for myself, which means it is hard to stay disciplined. I am hoping to be better about that once my twins start kindergarten in September, because I think it will really help me manage my time better.

Many of our members have families, like you. What advice would you give to someone with a family who is looking to dive into freelance writing?

It is really hard to find balance as a freelance writer. Since you don’t have set work hours, you’ll always feel like you should be doing something else. 

So my advice is to not give in to the mom (or dad) guilt! Do your best to live in the moment and devote yourself fully to whatever it is you are doing at any given time, whether that’s working or playing with your children.

You write for clients but also manage your own blog. Do you find writing your own content or working with clients more challenging and why?

I definitely find writing my own content more challenging. When I write for a client, its website or magazine has a distinct voice. I know I need to write in that particular voice. But with my blog, I have to find my own voice, and that’s always tough.

I also find it more challenging to motivate myself to write for my blog since I am not getting paid. My time is so limited, so when I do have a chance to write, I work on the assignments that will earn me money first. It makes me feel better about spending that hour or two away from the kids or staying up late. Perhaps that’s why months can go by between blog posts, but I am hoping to get better about that!

Do you still write for fun? Are you working on any side projects?

My blog is for fun, and I try to keep up with it as much as I can, but it’s very challenging. I do consider all of my writing to be fun, though — even the work I get paid for!

As far as side projects go, I wrote four books about the seasons for young children for publishing company Red Chair Press. The books will be available in stores and on Amazon. It was unlike any other writing project I’ve done, so I’m very excited for the books to come out!

Lastly – what is one small thing that an aspiring writer can do today to improve their freelancing business?

Think outside the box of traditional magazines and websites and reach out to everyone you know! You’d be surprised at how many businesses and organizations need good writers to create web content, marketing materials, brochures, etc. I never would have imagined that non-profit organizations and universities would turn out to be some of my most lucrative clients!

Want more of Jennifer? Keep up with what she’s writing!