I have been waiting a very long time to write this post, and today I actually get to do it. I am posting this as an inspiration and accomplishment of mine, something I am very proud of. In March 2010 I received an e-mail from an online lifestyle magazine asking if I would be interested in writing for their wedding section. I had never ever been paid to write before, so this was kind of a big deal to me. I didn't think I was good enough to get paid for writing of all things.
They paid me a tiny sum of $8 an article and I did 3 a week. (Which by the way, I slaved over for hours making sure they were perfect!) The day I received my first pay check was an exciting day because this was my own thing, not some 9-5 job paycheck. I started a bank account at that time and put my $8 per article in there and since I didn't think this would ever be a full-time job for me, I decided that one day I would buy something that I really wanted with it that I could be proud of because every dollar paid for it was from this little hobby of mine. Every single paycheck made from writing went into this account very diligently every week since the beginning.
I was lucky enough to continue to get job after job to the point where I was actually busy full-time with this little thing called writing. Obviously plans changed a little bit in October 2010 when I started freelancing full-time. But aside from the fact that freelance writing was now my full-time job (which was an accomplishment on its own seeing as I got to say good bye to the good old 9-5) I still wanted my "writing savings account" so continued to add to it every week.
About a year and a half after that first $8 job, the idea behind it is still pushing me day after day. It was never about the money, but the fact that someone believed in me enough to pay me to add content to their site. This was such a new concept to me. And look at me now!
The thing I decided to spend my money on a while back was a new car. But not just any car, I wanted a sorta fancy awesome car that I totally loved. I wanted to drive around my car thinking, "my little hobby of blogging, got me this car". Well, on Friday, that dream finally came true! After months of researching tons of cars, going through a million senerios in my mind, and so on, I finally found a car that I wanted to call my own. It was sort of fancy and sort of awesome, and something that I could eventually give to Ian (he doesn't like flashy stuff, so white was out of the question) when I had babies and wanted to upgrade to an SUV. Everything about it was perfect and exactly what I wanted in all shapes and forms. And late Friday night, with Ian out of town and no one home at all, I bought this new car.
So, say hello to my brand new car!
I can't tell you how amazing it is to think that something I used to do for fun has actually been the only thing I can count on in my life (work-wise) and has always come through for me. I absolutely love the idea of working for myself because it puts my life 100% in my hands, and I know what I can do. I have come so far in a pretty short amount of time and it only excites me more and more for the next year and the massive plans I have!