Aspies For Freedom

Ran graphics support for a major pharma company's R&D here in the midwest for ten years, and then got outsourced. It was _very_ cool, because it was a geek-rich environment. And it was SMART geeks - It's amazing the multi-thread conversations that can develop...

Did a little floundering, and spent about 8 months taking care of my girlfriend following a surgery that went sour... And I've decided that (a) I need to make money; and (b) I don't wanna deal with bureaucratic bosses or walk-in customers. I can deal with the phone and e-mail. So... Blew a buncha cash on some high end photo printing and sign equipment, and I'm rapidly learning web development. I also think I'm becoming GoDaddy's best customer...

  Best wishes for success and happiness!  

Congratulations! I've been running my own freelance writing business from home for the past year and half, and I have found great success this way. Can't wait to hear about your success! Make sure you come back and post the great news.

Congratulations!

I ran my own business for almost ten years. Being your own boss is fabulous.

sorry, I hit the wrong button, didn't mean to just repost that quote above, I am new to threading...

Anyway, what I meant to say was:
Amen, brotha!   I gave up my well-paid corporate job a few years ago to become a massage therapist, and I've never been happier.  I had always despised corporate culture in general and especially hated the constant forced social interaction that it entailed. In america, god, all they want to do is drink coffee and chitchat and throw eachother birthday parties all day long and they act like you're crazy if you make an effort to stay focused on work.  I constantly dreamed of escape, but the money was hard to walk away from.  
Massage therapy may seem anamolous to AS because it involves touching, which I admit I'm still not always crazy about, but it's only me touching them, which I have control over, as opposed to them touching me, which would definitely freak me out.  I made a conscious decision to accept the compromise on touching in exchange for the fact that it was a quick and easy certification for a well-paying job that allows complete lifestyle independence, praise the lord.  Also, though it definitely involves dealing with people, I have the control to limit my appointments to only however many people I feel like dealing with on a given day, and I only ever have to deal with one person at a time (vastly preferable to dealing with an entire office full of chirping idiots for 8 hours at a stretch with drinks afterward, yuck!).

Congratulations to anyone who has managed to liberate his or herself from the corporate paradigm, I salute you.

How did you got started in your writing business? I do like to write and hope to write articles for history magazines and poetry as a side project. I also like photography and I been commented about my photos.

To be honest it all began when I responded to an ad on Craig's List. Somebody needed someone to ghostwrite some blog content. I landed the job and then responded to another ad on Craig's List, this time for writing web copy for an online retailer. Landed that one too. Then those two clients mentioned me to others that they knew, and I landed a few jobs that way...

Next up I saw an ad on a freelance writing newsletter that I subscribe to--somebody needed a ghostwriter to take their notes for an ebook and make it into a real ebook. I competed with a ton of people for that one, came down to me and one other person, and I got it! That project is the one that inspired me to go full-time with ghostwriting--and in 2008 that's exactly what I'm going to do.

I've posted some ads on Craig's List myself and I do think that's a better way to go about it--usually when they contact you, you're more likely to get the job. If you're contacting them, you're competing with others, and it's harder to get the job. In my experience it's actually been the opposite, but I think that's just the way it happened to be--I don't think that's the norm.

I think the most important thing is to just get out there and do it. Don't think about it, don't worry about it--just submit some query letters to magazines and jump right into it. You'll figure it out as you go. Google "freelance writing" and "freelance writing for magazines" and you'll come up with a ton of great information on how to get started.

For the record, you'll work harder for less money if you're writing for magazines than you would if you were ghostwriting, but it all depends on what you really want to do. I think your passion has to come first, you know? If it's in your heart, you'll be great at it. You'll continually improve until you're at the top of your game.

If you have any specific questions, let me know!

I have information for submitting magazine articles for Civil War Times Illustrated, in which they give you guidelines for the articles that they are looking for and they also allows people to submit a small article about a Civil War ancestor. Have any of your freelance writing deal with any historical magazines?

I work predominately as a bookkeeper for a public accountant. Technically speaking, I was hired as an independent contractor not an employee so when he needs me I come in. I prefer being an independent contractor over an employee because you have more direction and control. If there is one job that conjures up a description of someone fitting in the typical suit and tie corporate environment, I am sure accountant would be pretty near the top of the list.

But in terms of me personally rising through the corporate ranks. Wouldn't happen. I am way too individualistic and don't have that "corporate fit". I have to carve out my own niche. Right now, I am in the process of becoming Certified in QuickBooks as well as certification by the AIPB. I am also interested in webpage design and have a training video on Dreamweaver and a few other things. My big goal is to get my CPA.