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In this episode of the Real Happy Mom Podcast, I am talking to Micala Quinn about how to get started as a freelancer.
You have probably seen her in the Boss Mom Facebook group or making moves on her site. She is a wife, a mother of three, and a work-at-home mom.
Micala wasn’t always a work-at-home mom. She started envisioning her life and being three things: a wife, a mother, and a teacher.
When she finally arrived at having all three things, she realized that she wasn’t happy and no longer wanted the life she envisioned.
While on maternity leave, Micala was stressed and anxious about putting her first baby in childcare like most moms.
She wrestled with the thoughts of which daycare to choose and finally put her daughter in an at-home daycare. But I hated it.
Micala felt she should be at home with her daughter and quickly searched for ways to replace her income so she could do just that.
After several months, Micala talked to the right person and was introduced to HireMyMom.com.
After being persistent for many months, she finally landed her first client. Shortly after, she was able to quit her teaching job and work from home and be with her daughter.
3 steps to getting started as a freelancer
Have you been longing to work from home so that you can be home with your kids? You have come to the right place!
In this episode, Micala shares how she teaches her students to go from working mom to work at home mom with 3 simple steps. With these steps, you can eliminate frustration and wasted time and get started making money faster.
Step 1: Figure out what service you are going to offer
There are so many different services that you can offer as a freelancing work-at-home mom. Here are a few to start:
- virtual assistant
- social media manager
- Pinterest manager
- podcast editor
- graphic designer
- web designer
- copywriter
You have to determine what services you are going to offer in the beginning.
Because if you don’t have anything to offer, no one can pay you.
Step 2: Get out there.
When Micala landed her first client, one of her jobs was to help her client revamp her Facebook group and increase engagement. Micala was instructed to look at other successful Facebook groups to model. That is when Micala saw a new world within Facebook groups.
My first original client gave me a project and it led me to uncover this huge world of online businesses all run by moms. And I saw that all of these moms that were building these incredible businesses were looking to hire virtual assistants and freelance support people to help them grow their business.
One way to find clients is in Facebook groups. There are two Facebook groups that Micala recommends starting with.
Goal Diggers by Jenna Kutcher and Boss-Moms by Dana Malstoff.
Micala recommends that once you get into these groups, start participating in the conversations.
When you see people saying, “I’m looking to hire a virtual assistant” … If that’s the service you offer, tell them, “Hey, I would love to help you.”
Step 3: Stay consistent and network
Now that you know what service you are offering and joined a few Facebook groups, it is time to make this a priority.
Look at your schedule and figure out how many hours do you have to work a week? How many hours do you want to work a week? And put that into your schedule and commit to that time.
In the beginning, Micala recommends that most of the time that you have blocked off to work be spent networking and landing clients.
If you don’t’ have a website or don’t have 5000 followers on Instagram, don’t be discouraged. Micala reassured me that you don’t need any of this to land clients.
This is the quick and simple method to get you started with freelancing to leave your 9 to 5 job eventually.
The unexpected
I asked Micala, what is something that you didn’t expect that happened when you’re transitioning to become a work at home mom?
So I didn’t expect that I would actually like working. Because that like way back then, it was something that I had to do and through quitting teaching I really realized that I do love working … And I was not cut out for stay at home mom life. It’s hard. Oh my Lord. So that was like a big shock. And then the other thing was I did not expect that I was going to use my teaching talents and teaching experience ever again.
Options to get started
What if you don’t know where to start, but you know that you want to become a work at home, mom?
There are so many options!
MLM
You could get started with an MLM (multi-level-marketing) company or direct sales business. Here are a few popular choices:
Etsy
If you are crafty, Etsy may be an option for you. You can sell your products (physical or digital) on Etsy.
You can sell anything from jewelry to wedding invitations to bath bombs.
VIPKID
VIPKID is a company where you can teach children in China English. You don’t need any teaching materials or curriculum as the company provides you everything that you need to teach.
Micala does warn that you will have to work early hours.
Freelancing
Freelancing is Micala’s top pick. Why?
Because you have the flexibility to work when you want and where you want. By being a freelancer, you are self-employed and take on contract work from companies, organizations, or small businesses.
If you’re interested in freelancing, I recommend starting with what your skill set and actually aligns with right now. If you do a lot of writing, like you are a writer, you are a proofreader, maybe you’re in journalism, getting started in copywriting.
Here are some things that you can do as a freelancer:
Copywriting
If you are good at writing, this may be a good choice for you.
Copywriting basically just means you write all of the words for businesses. Whether it’s their website copy or email copy or social media content or blogs. There’s so many options with copywriting.
Copywriting essentially is writing for marketing purposes.
Graphic design
If you are already working at a graphic design firm, this is an easy option to start yourself. Or if you are naturally good at developing layouts for brochures, flyers, and advertisements, you might want to give this a try
Social media marketing
All businesses need this. If you are good at social media or have skills in marketing, this is a great option. You can focus on specializing on one social media platform or have a general knowledge of all platforms.
Virtual assistant
If you are saying to yourself that you don’t have a business degree, or marketing skills, or good writing, check out virtual assisting.
You can start out as a virtual assistant. A virtual assistant is basically just a Jack or Jill of all trades person who really kind of just comes in and takes over the, I don’t want to say like grunt work. But that’s kind of what it is. It’s all of the odds and end admin tasks that prevents a business owner from doing the things that only they can do and the things that make them their money.
So what are some tasks that a virtual assistant might do?
- email management
- bookkeeping
- book appointments with clients
- manage or update social media accounts
You have the skills
I’ll get emails from people that are like, but I have no experience. I don’t have any skills. I don’t have any talents. Even if you are a stay at home mom, you are managing your household. You’re organized. You know how to buy groceries, to stick to that budget. You know when things need to get done.
Even if you think you have nothing to offer, you have some skill set that can produce an income for you. If you are having trouble figuring out what that is, Micala has something special for you.
I have a brainstorming guide that people can download and it’ll help them kind of look at their skills and talents in a different way and see how that can translate into the freelance space.
To learn more about Micala, and get other freebies to start your freelancing business, check out her website. You can also find Micala on
