Work at Home Mom Profile 3.1.2006
Name: Erin Huffstutter
Age: 29
Home: Costa Mesa, California
EMAIL: erin@erinwrites.com
URL: www.erinwrites.com
Family's Names and Ages:
Husband Greg (36), Madeleine (Due: July 2006)
Job Title:
Freelance Copywriter
Job Description:
A copywriter is a sponge and a sounding board, all in one. As a word and idea specialist, it’s a copywriter’s job to soak up the salient facts and features of a company and transform them into customer-friendly benefits.
Fulltime copywriters most often work in the creative departments of ad agencies. Freelancers do it from home or for short stints on-site. The most common copywriting projects are: writing TV and radio commercials, billboard headlines, magazine-ad copy, articles, press releases, website text, verbiage for direct mailers, business letters and more! Usually, copywriters work in conjunction with graphic/web designers (the writer handles the words, the designer handles the visuals).
Every business - no matter how big or small - can benefit greatly from the professional ear and branding expertise a copywriter can offer.
How I Started My Business:
My background is in Advertising and Marketing, working as a creative-department copywriter.
Before my husband and I started trying for our first baby, we decided I should quit my fulltime, management position and get my at-home freelance business started (we thought it would be too difficult to have a newborn AND start a new business at the same time).
Boy, am I glad I did! I put together a website and business cards and immediately started getting work. After a year in business, I have almost fifteen ongoing clients: including stay-at-home-mom businesses, ad agencies, pr firms, large companies, small practices and everyone in between!
I make almost as much now as I did working fulltime, but I get to call the shots. Plus, I was able to scale back my hours during the first trimester of my pregnancy when I came down with pretty severe morning sickness (a luxury fulltimers definitely don't have).
My Typical Work Schedule:
My work day totally depends on the number of projects I have going. Some weeks, I work 10-hour days. Other weeks, I don't work at all.
Because I take each project on an "a la carte" basis (charging hourly for the work I do), I truly feel I've found the best possible career for this stay-at-home mom. I'll be able to put Madeleine's needs first and still meet all my deadlines. Freelancing is a supremely scaleable profession, with minimal book-keeping and paperwork. Best of all, my existing clients keep referring new ones, so advertising costs are low.
What I Love About My Job:
It's scaleable, flexible and lucrative (more businesses need wordsmithing and marketing/advertising help than you might think). I can do the whole thing from home in my pajamas via DSL and cell phone.
Email is a freelancer's best friend. There are no geographic limits when it comes to your client base, because it's all virtual (words are easy to send around the world). I have clients all over the country!
Challenges I Face:
Freelancers need to have nerves of steel and a healthy dose of self control.
Sometimes two or three weeks will go by without a peep from your clients. It's during those times you start to panic, wondering if the phone will ever ring.
Just as you've convinced yourself you're all washed up and will never work again, the phone inevitably starts ringing off the hook and you're so swamped you don't know what to do with yourself!
After completing a busy couple of weeks, it's important to exercise self control and not spend all the checks rolling in. You may need the surplus to keep the lights on and your little business running through the "lean" weeks.
Tips and Advice:
Make sure you have a clear, concise, well-designed website and glossy, professional business cards BEFORE you begin soliciting clients. I can't tell you how many clients I've landed because of erinwrites.com.
Hire a web designer to build your site - it's the best investment you can make in a business like this! Just because you CAN throw together your own site, doesn't mean you should. After all, how can you expect businesses to spend good money hiring you to make them look and sound good, if your hokey do-it-yourself website doesn't make you look good?
Lastly, make sure your family does not HEAVILY rely on your income to pay the mortgage or put food on the table. The freelance income of a stay-at-home mom is best see as a supplement to that of a regular-paycheck spouse. With the kids taking up a good chunk of time, freelancing part-time is too volatile a career to project future pay with any certainty. For example, Greg and I use his regular paycheck to cover fixed expenses and use mine to sock away for non-fixed things such as: savings, vacations, fun money, down payments, college funds, etc. That way, no one goes hungry if I have a slow month!
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