We, freelancers, don’t have unrealistic dreams.
We simply want…
- A bit more freedom to start working from the beach if the weather is beautiful, instead of that dark dingy office;
- To be recognised for the skills we have and be thanked occasionally for what we do by whoever we help;
- To earn a modest income while we fit our work around our families, rather than the other way around.
These are all modest dreams and why shouldn’t we have them? After all, they make life worth living… don’t they?
Well it’s all very well having such dreams, even modest ones, but how can we really make them come true?
Is it all just wishful thinking?
Is it really possible to work from the beach if that’s what we choose?
Throughout my childhood I remember my father working incredibly hard for companies that seemed to take him for granted.
As the years went by I watched him return from work exhausted and full of turmoil about how difficult things were and how much trouble he was having. It was then I announced I would never allow myself to get in the same situation.
But that’s just what I did!
How I quit my job…
Sometimes we need a life changing moment to remind us we should seize our dreams with both hands before they disappear.
My life changing moment came without warning one day in 2009, when I was only 38 years old. That was the day I suffered a stroke, a seizure and ended up in hospital unconscious, seriously ill and unable to look after my 2 very young daughters.
It was a very dark time, so when I was offered voluntary redundancy I took it.
How I started working from the beach…
I have always loved to write and I found that this was also the key to my recovery. It seemed to rewire my brain and heal my internal connections. So I started writing about things that made me feel better… like family adventures, childhood innocence, outdoor life, foraging in the wild, surfing and camping.
This was when I wrote a children’s surfing and beach adventure novel called Beach Potato. Partly it was to help with my recovery, but I also wanted it to be a blueprint for my daughters lives so they could hear my ‘voice’ if I left the stage early.
Then I started my next project, a free information website in the style of an online magazine called Inspired Camping.
A year after it launched I had 6,000+ followers on social media and email, 1,000+ daily visitors to the site and this was all done with hard work and determination.
It seems that while I was healing I was also taking others with me on a journey of inspiration. One that was helping them understand what they wanted to focus on in their own future.
I believe that if something inspires you enough to make your head fizz and your heart pound then you should definitely share it. Ultimately it’s good for you and it’s good for those around you… and as someone who has done it I totally recommend it.
Howard Thurman put it so perfectly when he said…
Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
Over time I have gathered many valuable tips and tricks through research, training, mistakes, wasted time and conversations with the experts. Suddenly I find I have something of value that could really help others with their own journey.
I’m now offering to help you achieve your own dreams no matter what they are. But be aware that I will be brutally honest and upfront with you. I nearly died so now I only believe in reality… NOT fantasy!
Overnight success doesn’t happen without hard work. There’s no easy ‘get rich quick’ strategies here, so if that’s what you’re looking for then you’re in the wrong place.
Instead there are tools and strategies you can use to get the most success you can, as quickly as you can, and thankfully most of them are totally free. All you have to do is provide the dreams and the hard work, and the success will follow.
I have high hopes for Inspired Freelance, but most of all I’m hoping it will be a place where we can all learn, support and help each other. After all none of us are experts… we are all still learning. So lets help each other and learn together.
Come on… what are you waiting for?
Start here if you want to work from the beach.