This quote is so applicable to what we do as freelancers.  When we first started out, it often seemed like it was all about cramming as much as possible into each hour.  “If I can do three articles instead of two, I’ll be making $15 an hour instead of $10.”

As things progressed, though, we began to learn more about our own worth.  We’ve always felt that what we did was valauble, we just didn’t necessarily realize that others could recognize that, too.

I’m happy to say that is changing.  The more we do, the more we have clients coming back and referring their friends.  They don’t do it because we’re cheap; they do it because we’re valuable.

It’s a really good feeling.

This week, all I talked about was money. How we split it, where we keep it, and how we make sure that Uncle Sam gets his fair share. I just wanted to take a moment to remember that while being a freelancer is certainly about the money, it’s about a whole lot else, too.

• It’s about doing something I truly enjoy.
• It’s about playing to my strengths.
• It’s about having a flexible schedule.
• It’s about spending time with my daughter.

We are blessed and lucky to do what we do.

No book has yet been written in praise of a woman who let her husband and children starve or suffer while she invented even the most useful things, or wrote books, or expressed herself in art, or evolved philosophic systems.

Of course we need to work hard at our businesses.  We need to promote ourselves and find ways to stay motivated.  But we also need to be parents and partners and people who just love our own selves.

 “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

To me, these words are especially poignant for work-at-home parents who are striving to make a living while still being able to give time, consideration, and a presence to themselves and their families.

 Secondly, I wanted to share this great quote from Thomas Edison.  Now, there was a guy who knew how to work hard and to get what he wanted.  In fact, if he couldn’t have what he wanted, he’d go ahead and invent it!

“Opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

I admit that I’m guilty of letting opportunities pass me by because I just didn’t want to do the work.  With this freelancing business, that’s really not an option anymore.  Motivation and drive aren’t always abundant, but the desire to reach our goals should never be diminished because it’s not easy.

Frank Lloyd Wright puts it beautifully with these words:

 “I know the price of success:  dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.”

Often our definitions of success have less to do with the work than they do with the outcome.  For work-at-home parents success may be spending more time with their children, exercising their creativity, being able to afford a few extras, or even the satisfaction of being one’s own boss.  The common denomonator is that we must determine what it is that we want and then work with dedication to see it happen.

 We’re curious.  How do you define satisfaction in your work?  Is it sending off a completed project ahead of deadline?  Is it building a college fund for your kids?  I think I can speak for both Tamara and me when I say that our satisfaction comes from making our own decisions and spending time with our loved ones.

I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.

As Lorna and I wade our way through finding those first few freelancing clients and finding time for ourselves as veritable writers for hire, I have discovered how important it is to remember that even though the path may not always be smooth, we are learning and growing so much each day.

Sometimes, it is the lessons that are crammed down our unwilling throats that end up being the most valuable.

Never work just for money or for power. They won’t save your soul or help you sleep at night.

We talked a lot about money this week. We looked at how to price your freelance services, assuaging guilt for not earning more money, bringing in income as a freelance blogger, setting goals (financial and otherwise) for your freelance business, and how to entertain the kids so that you can get to the actual work.

It seems clear from the conversations sparked by these posts that while we all want and need to earn money from our freelancing endeavors, that isn’t generally the overriding factor in the decision to strike out on our own. Most of us are doing it for the exact reasons the Edelman suggests: to save our souls and help us sleep at night.

Speaking of “words of wisdom,” here’s a little advice from Ralph Waldo Emerson to carry us through the weekend:

Don’t waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour’s duties will be the best preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it.

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