In the fall of 2015, I reached a crossroads in my life. After spending over seven years as a stay-at-home mom, I knew it was time for me to go back to work.

Going back to work was scary, and I had a lot of reservations about it. For that first year, I worked part-time as a Starbucks barista. And like many stay-at-home moms, I joined an MLM.

Both of those provided me with some success, but not the kind of success I was looking for. So I asked myself this question:

How could I find a job that would give me the flexibility I was looking for, while also providing a reliable income for my family?

My Introduction to Freelance Writing

Oddly enough, I found the answer to that question in a Facebook group. One day, I stumbled upon a post from a girl named Dani. She talked about how, for the past several years, she had earned a full-time income as a freelancer.

And suddenly, I had a thought that would change the course of my life: I wonder if I could make any money as a freelance writer?

I have always had a dream of writing for a living. I’ve been journaling and writing stories ever since I was a kid. But here’s the thing -- I had absolutely no professional writing experience.

None. No samples, no professional contacts, and no work history. Heck, I quit school, so I didn’t even have any great college essays to show potential clients!

But I did have one thing going for me -- I was desperate to change my life. So I went all-in on freelance writing, intending to make $1,000 per month.

My first client paid me $40 for four 750-word product reviews, which a figure that makes me laugh now. But I am not exaggerating when I say that was the best $40 I have ever earned in my life.

In my second full month of freelancing, I almost doubled my goal. And now, three years after I sent my first proposal, I’m earning a six-figure income as a freelance writer.

5 Things I Learned as an Online Freelance Writer

Hundreds of blog posts and dozens of clients later, I’ve learned a lot about freelancing. Here are five lessons I learned after three years as an online freelance writer:

1. You’re capable of figuring it out

In my experience, most people don’t start freelancing or quit soon after they start because they don’t trust themselves to figure things out. They go in with muted expectations, and the minute things get difficult, they think, “I knew this was a mistake.”

I had this experience myself very early on with freelancing. See, I had very low standards for my first few clients. Since I didn’t have any experience, I was happy to do whatever work a client was willing to throw my way.

Well, I pretty quickly took on more than I could handle when I agreed to write a 2,000-word blog post for $20. This rate is laughably low on its own, but it gets worse. I also had to find 10 images, upload the article to WordPress, and format it using the Thrive Content Builder.

I’m not exaggerating when I say this one article probably took me 20 hours to finish. And I remember one night when I was up late working on it, and I thought, “This is ridiculous. I should just quit because I’ll never make any money like this.”

For some reason, I chose to stick it out and finish the article. I also raised my rates immediately to 10 cents per word, and I haven’t stopped raising my rates since.

See, it took that experience to help me realize what the next right step was. But I never would have figured it out if I had just gotten frustrated and quit. So trust yourself to hang in there and believe that you can figure things out.

2. Some people won’t understand or care -- and that’s okay!

Here is the truth about freelancing -- most people won’t understand or care what you’re doing. They won’t understand why you would want to freelance instead of looking for a “real” job.

They’ll make comments about how you must be paying an arm and a leg for healthcare or taxes. They’ll ask you if you can get together for coffee at 9 AM on a Tuesday, not considering the fact that you work for a living.

And you better believe that some people will assume you’re broke and that you work for pennies. I once had someone insinuate that my $8 an hour job at Starbucks was a better option than freelancing.

Her reasoning? Because Starbucks will give you benefits if you work at least 30 hours.

The point is, there will be at least one person in your life who won’t get it, and that’s okay. Don’t try to change their minds and convince that person how successful you are.

3. You have to embrace the uncertainty

The uncertainty is probably the hardest and most frustrating thing about freelancing. I will never forget my first “big” client. From that one client, I would hit my income goal for the entire month.

Of course, since this client was going to be paying me more money, there was more work involved. So I let go of a long-term client who paid less because I didn’t think I would have time to work with him anymore.

Guess what happened next? My brand new client had a change of heart a week later and cut my workload down by about 75%. The pay went down accordingly.

I tried to go back to my other client and start working with him again. He very politely told me, “Thanks, but no thanks.”

Freelancing is very uncertain, and no amount of work is guaranteed forever. Looking back, I don’t know that I necessarily did anything wrong in that situation. I did the best I could with the information I had at the time.

4. Find what works and stick with it

In the early days of freelancing, I found my first few clients on Upwork. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Upwork, it’s a global freelancing platform. Businesses post jobs for work they need to be completed, and freelancers can send proposals to bid on the jobs they want.

Upwork made sense to me right from the start. I made it my job to find a job and sent as many proposals as I could. This strategy paid off, and I quickly started booking clients.

And the best part was, it was a marketing strategy that took minimal time. Yes, those first few clients were low-paying, but I was able to quickly raise my prices and book better-paying jobs within that first month.

Then I started to learn that most freelancers don’t hold Upwork in high regard. Most people claimed that all I would find on Upwork is scammers and cheapskates. I was told by countless people that I should find clients in Facebook groups, on LinkedIn, by cold emailing businesses, etc.

I think that one of the best decisions I made was to ignore all of those suggestions. I did branch and try those things out over time, but Upwork was where I found the bulk of my work for that first year.

If something is working, don’t question it just because someone who has more experience claims it doesn’t work. Maybe it didn’t work for those freelancers, but that doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.

5. Don’t try to go at it alone

One of the biggest mistakes I made at the beginning of my freelancing business was assuming I could be successful on my own. I would hear other writers talk about the importance of networking, and I always ignored them.

I couldn’t understand the benefit of trying to network with other writers who I was competing with for work. I thought I could hole up in my office, send lots of proposals, write great content, and have tons of freelancing success.

Sadly, this was not the case.

I had quite a bit of momentum in my first six months as a freelancer, and then eventually, my income seemed to stall. I couldn’t make any progress no matter what I did, and it was so frustrating.

Then about six months ago, I joined a Facebook group for online freelance writers, and for the first time, I participated. I shared posts, I responded to comments, and I ever met a few of the other writers in person at a business conference I attended.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that my income tripled within a couple of months of joining that Facebook group.

The reality is, you have to reach out to other people if you want to be successful. Other writers will be your biggest inspiration, and can even eventually be a source of work. It’s so counterintuitive, but it’s true.

So if you’re not where you want to be financially, it’s probably time for you to find some writing friends. But there is one caveat here -- make sure you find friends who inspire you and are more successful than you are.

Reach up, and you’ll find the success that you would never have imagined.