Julie here…I’m the co-founder of Create Your Laptop Life, and I want to tell you a story about a bulletin board. So many of you just starting out, freak out when things don’t work 2 days after you begin. This story might give you a glimpse into what it took for me.
There’s a bulletin board the size of my car that sits on my kitchen wall.
Alex bought it for me, and brought it home with a proud look on his face — like he’d just delivered me a dozen roses and a bottle of fine wine.
To be honest, it’s better than flowers {okay not wine}.
Why did he buy me a bulletin board that could eclipse the sun?
Because I had a major meltdown.
It was right around the time my three kids were finally coming to live with me…permanently, and I knew that the house was going to be flooded with art projects and school papers.
I’d been waiting for this day for 547 days.
That’s how long I’d been without my children on a daily basis.
It’s hard to comprehend just how much that impacts a mother’s psyche…I can’t even stomach thinking about what it did to my children, though they were well cared for & loved by their dad.
For 547 days, I only saw my kids on holidays, vacations, and weekends.
For 547 days, I had to say goodbye to them every Sunday night, thinking that it would get easier, and it never did.
For 547 days, I felt the stark aching pain of not being their primary parent.
Not realizing just how much emotion I’d been burying under the surface, I collapsed into heaping sobs when I tried to explain to Alex that I needed a new bulletin board, and he didn’t immediately respond with enthusiastic praise and adoration for my idea.
In a desperate effort to control everything about this transition — the new school, new town, new routines and adjustment, I was hell-bent on a big new bulletin board in the kitchen and needed everyone to agree with me with glitter and champagne.
Alex, seeing my meltdown {and the error of his ways when he didn’t jump up and down at the request}, came home from the store with a bulletin board so large, I was sure it was going to collapse the load-bearing wall..
When I think about how frightened and scared and unsure {and pregnant!} I was during those 547 days, I can’t believe I’m here now, running a company that supports my family…and now others too.
For those of you who think the path from no business to a stable one is years and years away, let me tell you….
In the summer of 2014, I had no full-time job, no insurance, and no immediate way to support myself. I had a boyfriend at the time that had to return to Romania for a new visa. I was in the middle of a divorce (and we couldn’t afford lawyers). I had a 4th baby in my belly, and I remember going to a job interview praying they wouldn’t notice my swollen stomach and not hire me.
At that time, the most I’d ever made in one month was $2500.00, not even close to enough for a family of six in Connecticut.
I remember wondering how was I going to make up for 10 years as a stay at home mom, and find the where-with-all to have a job that could keep me home, allow me to have flexibility with yet another nursing child, and provide a good school for the kids.
Most of all, how was I going to create the kind of stable income I needed to bring all my children under one roof so I didn’t have to watch them leave every Sunday night?
Those were the questions I asked for 547 days as I mustered up every ounce of strength and courage I had to start a whole new life.
I spent 9 months building out my business in the evenings while I worked during the day.
In those 547 days, I got remarried, had a baby, and built a business.
As the fourth quarter of 2016 gets underway, my business has made around $140k.
Do you know what that means for you?
- It means you can build a freelance business even if you have a full-time job right now
- It means you can figure out a way to make it work, even if you have children (or are pregnant)
- It means that persistence and patience, as unsexy as they may be, DO ACTUALLY work
- It means that the stable income you’re looking for is not decades…or even years and years away
- It means that people who are driven by a force OTHER than money, have a great chance of weathering the ups and downs of business building
For me, it pointed to the absolutely unstoppable force that is a mother who wanted to be with her children.
In the comments below, I want to know what drives you to create a freelance business you love. What motivates you to keep going when a client is obnoxious or you hit that wall of fatigue, or you’re not sure you’re doing anything right in your business?
Because you need something other than just money. So what is it for you?
Sarah says
To not need to rely on child support, to be able to provide fur my children all by myself without sacrificing our way of life.
Patti says
My family, the future of my family, drives me. The thought that I can build something that’s bigger than money (although, momma do like the coin!), is charging my dreams. When I envision those smiling faces, and the places we’ll go together, man, it’s my jet fuel. And you and CYLL, well, you’re my filling station.
Jenny Kanevsky says
Julie, I’m crying reading this because I’ve known you through this entire time, watched you do this, and am so happy for you. More than that, you inspired me to do the same for myself. I decided I wanted happiness, and to see what that felt like to me, including financial freedom. After a hard marriage, awful divorce, some very tough years, I’ve moved into my new life that includes a job I created, with you and your program and support, friendship that is bringing in money, but more importantly that has given me back so so much of what was missing from my life. Empowerment, independence, community, a sense of mastery, the freedom to allow all of me to emerge and be, love, acceptance, and happiness. I love you and am grateful beyond measure that you are in my life and I can call you a friend and mentor. You did it. I’m doing it. It’s doable and rewarding beyond measure when it’s about real heartfelt goals. It’s wonderful.