Lately, I have been talking a lot about freelance writing. There are a couple of reasons why I talk about it so much. Firstly, I love it. I had no idea that I could have so much love for a career that I basically stumbled into as I looked for work that was compatible with being a stay at home mom. Secondly, many of the topics that I talk about in regards to freelance writing can be applied to freelance work of all kinds. The variety of work available to freelancers of all sorts is simply amazing.
The third reason that I talk about freelance writing so much is something that I will discuss in greater depth today. That reason is that I believe that freelance writing and other types of freelance work provide an enormous opportunity for home – based professionals. I began thinking about this in more detail today, after reading a report from Elance that mentioned, among other things, that there has been quite a bit of growth in the amount of freelance work that is being done by people living in rural areas.
As someone who lives in a rural area, I can say from experience that the ability to work from home using the internet makes rural living possible for many professionals who would otherwise have to live in places where more work is available. When I was getting ready to graduate from law school a few years ago, most of my classmates were leaving Vermont to go to wherever they could find work. You see, there are not exactly a ton of law jobs available in Vermont at any given time. I was determined to stay in Vermont because I love it here, and I promised myself that I would do whatever it took to be able to stay here.
Even though my law career is mostly on hold as I pursue my dream of being a stay at home mom, my husband and I are still able to live in Vermont. He works outside of the home, and I take care of some of our household expenses by working at home in the evenings as a freelance writer. I would not have this work opportunity available to me if it were not for the internet. It is possible that I could have found a little bit of writing work in the community where I live, but probably not enough to meet my needs. Online freelance work gives me access to more and better projects than I could find even in a more populated area. I can work for clients anywhere in the world, as can any freelancer, anywhere. That is a beautiful thing because it enables more people to live where they will be happiest as opposed to living where they can find work.
Photo by mikrash on morguefile.com.