Welcome to Freelancer Mom!

Welcome to Freelancer Mom, the blog for mothers who freelance from home.

All mothers are working mothers, but those of us who run a business from home (or work from home for a business we don't own) find our work/life balance uniquely challenged. Fortunately, most of us have developed unique ways of meeting these challenges, like conducting conference calls in the bathroom with the phone on mute and a toddler in the tub, or re-setting the dryer again and again because we don't have time to fold the clothes.

All are welcome in this global WAHM (work-at-home mom) community. All we ask is that you share yourself. Your comments, your insight, your challenges, your solutions... recipes, funny stories, time management, marketing strategies, potty training advice... each of us has much to offer. Please, join in!

I was asked in an interview recently, "What's the biggest challenge you face as a freelance writer?" This blog was born of the realization that nothing has challenged me or my business plan more than my daughter's birth.

I've been a freelance writer/pharmaceutical sales trainer for several years and a mother for almost two, and I can't imagine a more exciting (or exhausting!) dual-career.

I remember setting up my first home office with a desk, a file cabinet, and a giddy sense of freedom. This is it, Kid. It's all you.

Of course, it wasn't all me - I had clients and prospective clients too - but it was mostly me. I am marketing. I am sales. I am accounting, administration, IT, maintenance, PR, HR... when do I get to write?!

It's all part of the business plan, I reminded myself. And life was good.

Until I realized that it was also my houseplants and my beta fish and my dishes in the sink and my laundry and my car that needs an oil change and my birthday card for my mother and my recycling toter and my leaves that need raking and an unruly mob of other household time-burglars, none of whom were in my business plan.

And so, I learned. I stopped answering the doorbell between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. I replaced my neurotic tropical plant with a self-sufficient cactus. I let the answering machine pick up the personal line and my husband pick up dinner on his way home. I mastered the art of work/life balance, and was rewarded with a flourishing business and a peaceful home life.

Until...

Tune in tomorrow for Episode 2 "Enter the Beloved Infant".

Sally Bacchetta - Freelance Writer
Freelance Writer
Parenting
Motherhood