Hey, established freelancers. If you’ve been doing this a while, we’d love to have you jump in on these “how to get started freelancing” posts. You’ve got great insight to share, and there are a lot of newbies checking us out right now. Please feel free to add your two cents’ worth to what we’re saying.

And, aspiring freelancers? If you’ve got questions, the people who read this blog are a great resource to get them answered. Don’t be shy. Leave a comment and let us know what you’re thinking!

As far as home-based businesses go, freelance writing has been a dream come true for us. We’ve had our ups and downs, and the ups have been more than enough to keep us motivated and excited. We definitely think of you all as one of those “ups.” We want to thank you for being a part of our success. We truly believe that we’ve gotten as far as we have because of this blog…because of you!

You have to be careful with writers—some of us are so good at what we do (or so we like to think) that we can manipulate your perception of us with only a few taps of the fingers.

In our good moods, when the work is pouring in and the words are pouring out, we can create an image for you of the perfect business, at home with our perfect kids, and with our perfect houses shining clean.

In our not-so-good moods, when we fear that an employer is not going to come through with the money despite all our hard work, we can conjure up for you scenes of dirty dishes overflowing the sink and starting to mold, of tax collectors knocking down the doors, and of screaming children in the background who refuse to be comforted by the television.

But you will never have to worry about that, at least not here. As the business partner of Lorna, I promise to annihilate any and all rose-colored images that Lorna may conjure up in my absence. When she is full of optimism and cheer, I vow to be bleak and unpleasant. I also promise to drag Lorna out of the doldrums if she is painting too miserable a picture for those of you struggling to begin freelance businesses of your own; when she is the one feeling despair, I will ring in with some chipper thoughts to help us all along.

I don’t mean to insinuate that Lorna is of a volatile disposition; on the contrary, if that title were to fall to anyone in our partnership, it would definitely be me. I merely want to state that between the two of us, you will hear the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

We are here to share our experiences—whether they are great or terrible—and because there are two of us, the story we tell will always have balance. As writers, we all know that there are hundreds of sides to every story. We already have two of them covered! And what makes me so excited about Freelance Parent is that every time you contribute to this dialogue, we will get a few more sides, until the result is an unbiased and realistic picture of what it means to have a freelance business of your own.

It is this kind of balance that will help us all to succeed. So, welcome, and I look forward to this experience!

So, who is the lady at the keyboard? My name is Lorna Doone Brewer, and I have been working from home for two years. It wasn’t until last month, however, that a former co-worker and I decided to put our heads together to pursue the idea of creating our own business. Tamara (you’ll be meeting her soon) and I were both working for the same company when a few difficulties arose, and we found ourselves needing to supplement our incomes.

Yeah, a phrase like “needing to supplement our incomes” is never followed by a simple solution, is it? There were, of course, some complications. For example, I’m pregnant with my first child, and Tamara has a one-and-a-half-year old that she wants to be near. The prospect of job hunting while in the throes of morning sickness was more than I could bear. I felt horrible and couldn’t imagine trying to interview in that condition. While it’s illegal for employers to discriminate, I suspected that one look at my maternity clothes was going to be enough for many to decide I wasn’t “right for the position.”

Perhaps most importantly, my long-held vision of working from home when my baby arrived was in serious jeopardy. With only five months to go before the birth, I wouldn’t even have time to earn Family Leave. I literally cried at the prospect of taking a quick week or two off of work and then having to put my new baby into daycare just so I could trudge to some office job.

While at Tamara’s house one afternoon, I planted an idea. “You know,” I said. “What we need to do is come up with a business idea so that we can work together and not have to go to an office every day.” I really was trying to gauge her interest, but I honestly didn’t expect there to be any. Within two days, however, my phone rang, and Tamara told me that she wanted to start a freelance writing business with me. I was thrilled.

Freelance writing was something I’d dabbled in before, but striking out all by myself has always proven a little too daunting. These humble beginnings were just more than one month ago. Since then we’ve put a lot of work into figuring out how we want our business to run. It’s been tricky, as it’s tempting to let the planning take a back seat to little things like . . . um . . . paying the bills; but we’ve managed to keep a good balance so far.

Tamara and I invite you to join us here as we chronicle this experience. We’ll share with you the things we’re doing and let you know what has worked and what hasn’t. The idea of allowing our business to have this degree of transparency is a bit frightening, but we’re looking at it as an opportunity to learn and grow. With any luck, maybe you’ll feel like sharing your expertise, too. That will really help create the community feeling we want to develop!