Flexible Working Life

Photo by Gaetan Lee

Have you ever thought about it?

I do.  In fact, I do it quite often.  I think about where I expect to be financially next week, next month, next year and then I think about how I can make it happen.

I work as a freelance writer.  I love it.  It’s scary but I love it.
I love it because I get to be the boss of my own day, I get to decide what jobs to work on and what to turn down and I get to have the liberating and wonderful feeling of being in charge of my future.  But, and it’s a bit but (‘scuse the pun) it’s scary because if I’m ill or need to take time off, then there’s no money coming in.  Even worse there’s no networking or approaching potential new clients and that’s really frightening.  That’s the reason why I’m determined to diversify and put my eggs in a whole load of different baskets instead of just the one or two.

I was sat writing an article for Bukisa last night and realised that this was not going to make me any money, fast.  As I typed out the short and sweet little article, I reminded myself of how much I normally charge for my freelance writing and how much these few paragraphs were going to make me.  It’s not even comparable.  But then I remembered my vision, to have a passive income, and I kept typing.
These articles won’t make me much in the short term (although they might, and that would be very nice) but they will continue to make money for a long time to come, hopefully.  So, I’m keeping with the challenge and building up a bank of content that can continue to bring in the pennies.

I’m also going to start a niche blog.  I’ve looked at the 30 day challenge, it looks like fun and it looks doable.  This blog makes me some money from the Google adsense adds I have at the side (and thank you to all the lovely readers who’ve clicked on them) so a couple more sites doing this will add to the baskets for my eggs.

I’ve a few other ideas, but that’s it for starters.
And to be honest, how much time can I actually spend on these other projects whilst also doing my job?  Not much is the answer, but I feel like it will be worth it.  Oh, and I’ll also blog about how I’m doing so you can see if it’s something you want to do to supplement your freelance stuff.
In five years, I want a part of my income to be passive.  A big part if that’s possible.  I want it to roll right into my bank account and I want to think about how glad I am for trying out new stuff that doesn’t pay much right away.
How ‘bout you?  Where will you be in five years?