I’ve had the pleasure to work with Kristy Pruitt for several years now.  She’s a fantastic person and a real pro. If you’re interested in starting your own freelance writing business, she’s a great role model and has a fun blog over at http://awahmsblog.com/

How long have you been working as a writer?

I’ve been doing freelance writing for about two years now. I started out doing it part-time while working at a full-time job, but as soon as I felt that I was making enough money, I started writing full-time.

How did you get your start?

I was working at a factory job, making decent money, but the politics there were just driving me nuts! So one day I up and quit. I had been considering working at home for some time, and I owned a website, so I thought I could make a living with that. As it turned out, it wasn’t my cup of tea. I started making a little money blogging, but it wasn’t enough to pay the bills, so I got another job.

Still, I kept trying to think of ways that I could make money from home. I had always wanted to be my own boss, and I liked the idea of having a flexible schedule so I could be there more for my family. Then I remembered my passion that had been buried since high school: writing!

Even though I had no real experience besides blogging and writing an article or two for free reprint sites, I started searching for freelance writing jobs online. After about a month, I got nowhere, so I sort of gave up. But there was this little voice inside my head that told me to keep trying, and a few months later I resumed my search. Then one day I heard back from a lady about a gig I had applied for when I first started searching. The next day I received an email from another job I had just applied for. I got them both, and another one the following week. It was then that I decided that I was in it for the long haul.

What motivated you to become a writer?

I became an avid reader at a young age. I was fascinated with all types of books- I would even pick up a volume of the encyclopedia and just start reading sometimes! When I was about 7 or 8 years old, I remember a friend of my older sister’s asking me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I told him I wanted to be a writer. He said, “Why do you want to be a writer? They don’t make any money until they’re dead.”

Fortunately, that didn’t discourage me. I started writing short stories for my friends, and then poetry. I wrote off and on through my teenage years, but kept pretty much everything except what was required for school to myself. Despite good grades in English and praise from my teachers, I had an intense fear of rejection. Besides, I wasn’t willing to share my innermost thoughts and feelings with the world.

When I got older, however, I realized that I had nothing to lose. And with the help of the Internet, finding and applying for writing work is easier than it has ever been. Once I wrote some articles to promote my website and got good feedback on them, I realized that I had a knack for giving practical advice and explaining things in a way that people could understand. And that, combined with my desire to work from home, is what motivated me to become a writer.

How do you market your services?

That’s actually something I need to work on. So far I’ve mostly just gone looking for gigs rather than concentrating on marketing so that people come to me. But I’m still blogging, and that has opened up some doors for me. I’ve had a few visitors to my blog, AWAHMsBlog.com, contact me about doing work from them.

I’ve also purchased a domain name (WebFreelanceWriter.com) to set up an online portfolio. That’s as far as I’ve gotten with that as of right now, but it’s on my to-do list.

What tools and steps did you use to establish your business?

The tool I used the most was Google. I didn’t know any freelance writers that I could ask for guidance, so I did lots of research about how to get started in freelancing for the Web. Once I found out what I needed to know, I started searching for websites that listed freelance writing jobs. It took a while to find what I was looking for, but eventually I did.

After all that research, I found that I needed a resume. That almost stopped me dead in my tracks, because I had no writing experience to speak of. But I bit the bullet and wrote one, highlighting my experience as a webmistress and blogger. When I got done with that I started applying for jobs. And through it all, I kept blogging. I wasn’t getting any direct business from it then, but it helped me get more experience under my belt and gave me a source of writing samples.

Would you describe to us your typical day?

I get up and get my daughter ready for school and put her on the bus. If I had a late night, I catch a few extra Z’s. If not, I eat breakfast and turn on the computer. I check my email and check on any projects that I need to, and then I attempt to start writing. If I need to send out invoices or do other administrative stuff, I try to get it out of the way first thing.

I take breaks to do stuff around the house and run errands, since I honestly don’t work very well during the day. I quit working when my daughter gets home to help her with her homework and spend some time with her. If I have something I need to work on, I try to get a little bit done before my husband comes home. Once he gets here, getting anything done is pretty much a lost cause until they go to bed.

I usually get back to work around 9:30 or 10:00 pm, and work until anywhere between midnight and 4:00 in the morning. This is usually my most productive time.

How do you find balance as a writer working from home?

I try to get most of my work done when everyone else is either gone or in bed. But that’s not always possible, particularly in the summer when school is out. Sometimes I have to get up earlier than I’d like to so I can get some work done before my daughter wakes up. Sometimes I have to find something constructive for her to do while I get a little work done. And sometimes I have to ask my husband to keep her entertained or take her somewhere. I rarely get a babysitter, but I’ve done it a time or two. I just try to work around the rest of the family for the most part.

It’s so important to realize that you’ve got to have a life outside of your work, but that can be hard to do when you’ve got deadlines to meet and bills to pay. If you don’t manage your time efficiently, you won’t have any left to spend with your family and friends and do the things you enjoy. I find myself falling into that trap sometimes. When that happens, I try to get whatever I’m working on done and then take a day off. It helps clear my mind and reminds me why I need to use my time wisely!

What are your struggles and how do you overcome them?

My biggest struggle is staying focused. I was recently diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD), and that really explained a lot! There are times when my mind is just all over the place, and it’s hard to get anything done that way.

I’m on medication for ADD, but that’s really only a small part of the solution. I’ve had to work hard to train my mind to stay on what I’m doing. When you do a lot of research on the Internet, that’s much easier said than done! There are just so many distractions. I have to constantly remind myself that work time is for working only.

What is the most difficult part about being a freelance writer?

I would say that the most difficult thing for me is managing my office. I’m not a particularly organized person, so I end up with piles of papers on my desk and all sorts of files cluttering up my computer desktop. Then there’s the invoicing, accounting and other administrative stuff. Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of it all. I keep promising myself that I’ll start outsourcing some of these kinds of things, but it hasn’t happened yet.

What’s the best or most rewarding part about being a freelance writer?

Besides getting paid to do something I love, having control over my time is the best thing. Instead of living by someone else’s schedule, I get to set my own. If I need to go to my daughter’s school play or want to visit family out of town, I don’t have to ask anybody for time off. I just adjust my schedule to accommodate it. Since you can write any time, day or night, it allows for lots of flexibility.

What advice or tips do you have for people aspiring to start their own freelance writing business?

Don’t give up. Getting started can be difficult, but you just have to keep at it. Try writing some free reprint articles or starting a blog to get your feet wet, and go after some jobs. Once you’ve gotten a few satisfied clients under your belt, getting work will be much easier.

Another thing that’s important is to be able to take constructive criticism. I had trouble with this in high school and college, but luckily I grew a thicker skin before I started freelancing. Feedback from clients is a good thing. We can learn a lot from it if we just take it for what it is rather than letting ourselves think we’re failures just because we made a mistake.

And finally, don’t feel obligated to take every job that comes along, even when you’re first getting started. There’s nothing wrong with stretching your pay requirements or writing on a topic you’re not particularly fond of at first, but every job is not going to be a good fit for every writer. Sometimes you just need to say “no.”

Posted under Interviews