How I Went From Laid Off To Gainfully Self-Employed In Seven Months (Part Two)

Let me explain a little bit about the title. When I got laid off in November 2010, I was given a severance package (enough for maybe two months of mortgage payments) and I would receive regular paychecks until the end of December. So really, we had about two months until we’d have to start hitting our savings for money.

My mantra was that I was not about to deplete our rainy day account, even though it was really freakin’ raining. I would bring in roughly the same amount I did pre-layoff (roughly $45K) and we were not going to miss a beat. I was going to make sure of that.

I applied for unemployment and was receiving roughly $200 a week. Roughly. Depending on how much I brought in, it varied between $60 a week and $200. But by the end of July, I was making too much money as a freelancer/consultant to qualify for unemployment benefits. I was officially “on my own.”

And when I tell you I was scared, I mean I was really freaking scared. Stress levels are through the roof when you’re trying to build your own business and you’ve got two little kids who are depending on you. They were home with me every day and it was a struggle to find that balance. If I was on the floor playing with them, I’d freak out, convinced that my “free time” meant I didn’t have enough clients and we were surely going to starve. If I was on deadline and couldn’t tear myself away from the computer long enough to look when my son said, “Look, Mommy!” then I felt bad that I was ignoring them for the sake of my career. Ugh.

I can not tell you how many crying fits I had last year. Probably averaged two per week. (My husband would tell you that’s a low, low estimate.) But that leads me into my first point about this whole self-employment business:

1) You’ve got to be all in. Dedicate yourself to your craft/industry/dream. My confidence was so shaky at the start of this journey. I had no clue how to handle my expenses or how to bill clients or if I needed new business cards. But I discovered that the more confident I was, the more people gravitated to me and the more experience I got, which in turn fed my confidence. Get it? All that to say – fake it til you make it. Because guess what? No one knows what they’re doing at the start. No one. I didn’t know anything about blogging until one day I sat down at the computer and hit “Publish” for the first time. But I figured it out. And you will too if you give yourself the time to learn and grow. You will make mistakes but I bet you won’t be making the same ones twice.

2) Do things that scare you. At the beginning of the year, I signed on to be the social media consultant for a hair care brand that just expanded into CVS and Target. (Hey, if you’re reading this, go ahead and “like” them on Facebook.) I had worked primarily with nonprofits and small organizations, but this felt like the big time. A national brand? What if I failed? Eeek! But I took a deep breath, accepted their offer and now I love what I do so much that it doesn’t even feel like work.

3) Never stop improving. Do you have a smartphone? You should have some business ebooks on there to read when you’re stuck waiting for your kids to get out of school, or you’re at the doctor’s office or you’re in a long line in the grocery store. When you meet someone you admire (whether in-person or online), take a minute to learn from them. How do they present themselves? What does their business card look like? How is their website set up? What do they tweet about? Can you tell how they make their money?

4) Polish your online image. I don’t post anything with profanity, I don’t do a bunch of gossip. When you Google me, do you know what you find? Go check. I’ll wait. (*sips coffee*) I’m alllll about uplifting mothers and making a name for myself in new media. And that’s what Google will tell you. But what do I tell you about myself? Check out my contributor page for Loop21, a site which I am now a regular contributor. I mean it, go look at the page and then come right back. I’m about what? Uplifting people and highlighting inspirational stories. It’s kind of my thing. Make sure when people Google you, that you like what they find.

5) Be grateful. I would not have made it through this past year without incredible faith. So much of what I do is in little bursts. I’ll have a week where all these people email me and say, “Hey, we want you to work with our project.” I get all excited, look forward to starting, but then plans fall apart. And as a newbie freelancer, I had to learn that other offers will come. Having faith that my work is good and that recommendations are still flowing out there even if I don’t hear about them, is the only thing that has been keeping me going. And 99% of the time, I’m right! Other offers do come. And I can breathe again.