I was a writer when I began college, studying journalism so that I could turn writing into a career. The requirements for a major included classes one would expect - news writing and reporting, media law and ethics, etc, but one requirement seemed out of place to me until I actually took the course - Design. I obviously knew everything written for a publication has to have photos and graphics added and has to be designed onto a page, but I had assumed that was something unrelated to the role...

The answer to this honestly varies week-by-week. The hardest part about being a freelancer is ensuring work continues to flow in, so that you’re never really without anything to do. Sure, the volume of work will be different each week, so will the deadlines associated with each project. I just had less than a week to complete a 6,500 word project that I was working on until the very last minute, while another project I have for 2,200 words isn’t due for a month. Because of all these...

You may not think there’s any difference between simply working from home and having a freelance career, but having now done both, I can say there are fewer similarities than I expected.

Firstly, I want to dispel the belief that working out of the home, regardless of what you do, means you approach work in a super-casual way, like in your pajamas. (While some people might do this, I never have.) Working from home is a more casual situation, but one doesn’t necessarily check out from...

More than once in my career, I’ve heard the advice to dress for the job you want, not the job you have. This somewhat confusing statement had me in business-appropriate attire the majority of my professional life. Even when I began working from home, I still made sure the part of me that would show up on video conferences looked just as put together as the rest of me would have if I was actually in the office.

With this statement mulling around in my head, imagine my confusion when I...

When your income is tied to freelancing, you don’t have built-in vacation days where you still get paid. Taking time off means you don’t make money. Not only that, but being unavailable means you can potentially miss lucrative opportunities for work.

So, how do you get that much needed time off? Here are some ways I’ve managed to make it work without worrying that my freelancing career is suffering.

Snag a long weekend

After seven months freelancing without taking a day off, I was in...