A New Freelance Writing Career…Turn the Page

Ahem…is this thing on? Hi there. I am building a freelance writing business! There. I said it out loud.

I feel a little ridiculous writing this. This is because I’ve been avoiding writing in most forms over the past few months. Instead, I dove headfirst into the part that scares the bejesus out of me, marketing myself.

I’ve spent hours on my website (not that you could tell…), hours researching potential clients and sending LinkedIn connection requests and messages, cold Letters of Introduction (LOI’s as I’ve learned), and money on programs to help me build a freelance program from scratch.

Business Building

What kind of freelance program, you ask? Great question! A freelance WRITING program! Do you know what I’ve done very little of over the past 3 months? ACTUAL WRITING!! What’s wrong with me?? Fear and procrastination are 2 very powerful little buddies. 

Let me back up. 

The Back Story

Hi, My Name is Meredith Cooley and I am an Educator a Writer who wants to write about and for Education companies. My story is not a unique one; especially these days as we are apparently in the midst of The Great Resignation.

People like me spent some time working from home, where even with many hours in front of the computer screen and aching backs, we could actually pee when we wanted to and, maybe, GET A THING DONE around the house and not walk into a tornado of laundry, dishes, and a toddler demanding you drop everything and play with them immediately. 

Working full time and being a full-time parent of a small, lovely-but-demanding 3-year old is really hard ya’ll. Nothing new here, I know. 

And, while trying to reach kids through a screen in order to establish rapport and get buy-in for whatever information you’re peddling is basically impossible for anyone other than college kids, many of whom have literally bought in, it does have its upside. 

Computer screens can be draining, but do you know what’s much more draining? Emptying your emotional bucket for other people’s children and then having little to nothing left to offer your own child (who has “normal” developmental needs and wants from her mom).

But I digress. 

The Great Revelation

The point is, Winter of 2020-21, I was fortunate enough to experience the joy of working from home without your small child there to ruin it for you. My little’s class was open for essential workers.

So, I proceeded to spend most of my days looking at the glazed over faces of middle school kids feigning- attention-while-really-playing-video-games, and trying to wrangle 1st-5th graders into language-based activities instead of meeting (one-by-one) their prized stuffed animal collections.

Although this part wasn’t the most inspiring, I had 2 sweet hours that bookended my day where I could work out, throw that load of laundry in to keep it all moving, clean up the sink full of dishes, or (GASP) drink coffee for 15 minutes while watching the news. 

I was in heaven. 

Back in the saddle

Fast forward to this past school year, and I was overloaded with struggling readers, freezing my bum off with doors and windows open in an attempt to keep Omicron at bay (in the coldest winter in years), and slowly dying inside as I continue to try to teach literacy skills to an increasingly uninterested swath of children.

And (drum roll) doing all of these fun things…  in a mask.  

I was feeling frustrated. And then I realized…I’m not writing. Like at all. I’m marketing, I’m website building, I’m “meeting” people online, I’m studying and learning, BUT I’m not doing much of the actual thing I want to do instead of teaching. 

So, here I am, world. Hold me accountable, please.