Becoming a freelancer and beginning to work from a home office really helped my creativity and mental clarity too. My home is my haven, so being here definitely makes me feel ready to let the words pour out of me and onto paper (well – onto the laptop keys anyway – don’t use pen and paper all that often!) When I worked an office job, sitting in that tiny cubicle drained me mentally. Bland white walls, ugly grey carpet and a poor layout combined for a very disheartening effect every morning when I walked in the door. Not to mention the negativity created by bickering co-workers and the interruptions of constant meetings.

Not everyone finds working from a home office to be ideal though. Some freelancers find the home environment to be very distracting – they may spend too much time catching up on household tasks or watching television. It’s very important to be aware of what your idea location is and take advantage of your self-employment to optimize your environment. Maybe you need a co-working space or tiny office out of the house, maybe you need a very well contained space within your home that makes you feel like you left home and went “to work”, or maybe, like me, you are lucky enough to benefit from your home’s ambience and you are ready to take on all the client work the world throws at you!

The Freelance Writing Tips blog has suggestions for several good books that can help you establish yourself as a freelance writer. I think The Renegade Writer looks like a decent choice!

Maybe I’ll just get an ebook – if anyone has suggestions for a good/reasonably priced one that would be awesome! I love simply dowloading a book and not wasting paper, but I hate the thought of spending good money on something poorly written or organized. Obviously, being a blogger myself, I’m a fan of self-publishing but sadly I’ve experienced far too many products that don’t live up to their hype.

I’ve been working away, learning more about query letters, discussing topics with my business partner, brainstorming and writing a couple of article samples. It’s going to be time to kick things into higher gear soon though so I have something to show for my work!

Laurie

At LM2 Freelance our goal is to start our business very frugally. Economic times are tough for everyone and while we know that it takes money to make money, sometimes you have to make the choice to be cautious and invest into your business as you go.

So for now, we’re the whole crew. We’re using our talents to set up this basic wordpress based site/blog, I am going to attempt to do a basic logo for now (although we will hire help on that as soon as we can!), and we’ll likely order our business cards from Vistaprint. We’re reading tons of great advice from other freelancers, including these great posts we wanted to share:

• 5 Frugal Marketing Moves for Writers from Writers Unbound
• The Costs at Writing Journey
• The Cost of Starting a Freelance Writing Career at From Office Employee to WAHM

We’ve also just signed up for Twitter after hearing multiple recommendations for its many benefits. Follow us if you like, we’ll hopefully be tweeting plenty soon! And we’ll definitely be sharing info from our new Twitter friends here on our blog. Ok, it’s late and the work can wait until tomorrow!

We live in Canada and have been friends for over 15 years. While we share a passion for writing and words, we both have our own reasons for starting this business. I’ll let LJ share her story with you in her own post whenever she finds time, but for now I’ll just tell you a little about myself.

I’m a stay at home mom of 3 lovely children and while I love being home, I am driven to do MORE. I have always felt a need to have a career and make something of myself. I also am a huge reader, I go through so many books it’s crazy! Thankfully I mostly get them at the library, or I’d need to win the lottery to support my habit. Being a voracious reader has given me a wonderful appreciation for the skills and talent needed to succeed as a writer. Thankfully it has also given me a pretty great vocabulary and a virtually unlimited knowledge base (I read everything from romance, to historical novels, to non-fiction books!) I’m positive that this will help me write articles, blog posts or whatever you need, in a manner and with the right information to really grab your audience.

I can’t wait to get started!