Is never the right time to live your dreams.. How & why I went full time blogger
Let me start with this…there is NO absolute right time to disappoint society standards to pursue your dreams. This is why I took a leap of faith and decided to become a full time freelancer to build up my social media / influencing business.
With that said, I want to start by introducing myself and give you a quick update on my life’s whereabouts. My name is Mari Padilla and I’m a content creator and social media manager. I have been working on my blog / insta blog for aabout 5 to 6 years. It started as a hobby, then part time and now is my entire life.
When I came to my friends and family to tell them I wanted to be self-employed and work as a freelancer I could see the smiles in their faces, telling me how great that idea was, followed by a two second stare of what the F* is she thinking. Took me sometime to make up my mind and make this decision (1 year and half to be exact). There was months and months of pros and cons, research, budget planning and savings. Now I finally started my own business as a freelancer!
Let me tell you why I decided to make a change in my career work method…
I don’t know if this is a millennial thing or a me thing, but in my case I’ve never been good with routines, I get distracted easily. I love order and schedules but something about doing the same thing over and over just sucks the life out of me. I’ve had a constant feeling of emptiness and disillusion about a 9-5 job. I got depressed many times because I felt I wasn’t living up to my potential. I constantly day dreamed about being able to work very hard and still achieve my career and life goals.
I remember years ago saying to my parents that I would do anything in this life to not be in an office everyday. Well there I was with my 7 to 9 job right after college “paying my dues”. I must say the journey was necessary, I learned a lot but perhaps I shouldn’t have let it drag on for as long as I did.
Nevertheless, here I am today writing this blog post! A girl with huge dreams and great passion to create her own path as a freelancer. During this process I’ve talked to other freelancers and creators many times about everything that entails their work structure.
Things to know if you are thinking about the freelancing life:
Budget and business structure is key
Finding self-motivation is essential
To- do list is a must
Get yourself a project and invoice management tool (I use MoeAssist.com for social media projects)
Create your sales kit tools (website, proposals, presentations, media kit)
Setting up your work rates (this will change depending on your industry and years of experience)
Learn how to do taxes as a freelancer (still researching about this)
Research which health insurance works for you
Have a personal life for your mental health – Balance is key!
I will keep you updated as soon as I have more tips.
Love you all !
xx,
The Eccentric Misfit
Like the first day of school, this was my first day of my new life