Freelancing As a New Beginning in Napa Valley
Independent workers around the country have sent us stories about how they got started, the challenges they face, and more. Share your story and we might feature it on our site. David Tierney from Napa Valley, California recently shared his:
After a few years of dabbling with web design on the side and getting good feedback from friends and family, I hurt my back and ended up in the hospital for a few weeks. I left in a wheel chair, slowly transitioned to a walker, a cane, and now I am back on my two feet again. During that unexpected period of my life, I lost my job. My wife, who was pregnant at the time, and I had to move out of our lodging with a healing retreat center due to our up and coming child. Taking on more expenses and losing my income and my ability to get around, I worked on my laptop designing and developing websites. It is what I had. It is what God gave me.
As a freelancer, I had to build an infrastructure to maintain and grow my business. I had to figure out how best to track my hours so I could both charge accurately and learn how long it took me to get certain tasks done, needed for bidding on jobs and charging appropriately for my time to support my family. I had to learn how to keep my books in an efficient manner (Quickbooks for me), bill clients (Freshbooks), track all the details of my client projects, and manage my time between work, marketing, business admin, etc. Because I work out of my home, it took some time for my wife and I to figure out how to maintain boundaries around my work, and at the same time, not to go in the other direction and become a workaholic. As my child has grown (he is 2 and 4 months now), I have had to learn how to be gentle and loving with him when he randomly wanders into my office and wants to play.
Three years later, never having planned or anticipated what I would be doing for a living, and how - I am now a professional freelance web designer and developer. I love my work. I am good at it, and I am a good fit for running my own business.
Did unforeseen circumstances lead you into the freelancing life? What were your first challenges when you started out? Let us know in the comments.
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