What's Your Why?

Writing is hard. When many people think of remote writing jobs, they picture idyllic settings and writing about whatever whims and fancies are on their minds. Sure, you can do that. But you likely won’t make much money from it. The writing I do for money answers questions, solves problems and provides relatable material to the audience. I’m not writing for me; I’m writing for an audience.

Before embarking on a writing career, take some time to write down a list of reasons why. Here are some questions to help get you started.

What Are You Willing to Sacrifice?

I’m a mom. I’m also a nurse, student, writer, and many other things. But before all of my different roles, I’m a mom to four tiny humans who need me for everything. I knew adding more to my plate would result in a sacrifice.

For our family, it meant time away from my kids and my husband taking on additional childcare duties. It also meant less sleep, so I could get up early or stay up late to write.

Can You Fail?

When I started writing, our budget was tight. We didn’t eat out, ever. I cooked every meal from home and with groceries from Walmart.

We had expenses looming on the horizon, but I had a few months to fail or succeed with writing. If I failed, my backup plan was to try and pick up a PRN nursing job at the local hospital and work Friday or Saturday nights. I didn’t want to do this. My husband also did not want to watch all the kids for 12+ hours on his days off.

This provided the motivation to give it my all. I sent out a lot of applications and numerous pitches. Some were kind enough to send me back rejections, some I never heard from, and some hired me. Those who hired me paid me close to my hourly rate at the hospital. Win!

Maybe you’ll strike beginners luck and start making money right away. The reality is that finding the right clients, learning their style, and sending pitches or rough drafts, takes time. If you are looking to make money immediately, it may be better to start with something that has guaranteed hours and build up your writing on the side. It all depends on your situation.

What Does Success Look Like to You?

Everyone’s version of success looks different. We wanted to save enough for bills we knew would come due in a few months and have a little extra cushion in our budget. Joining a gym with childcare and being able to afford carry out once a month were extras we wanted in our lives.

We recently sold our home, moved across the country, and downsized to a rental. We would like to own one day again, but the prices and market are crazy. If we want to own a home again eventually, we need to save more for a mortgage. My writing helps contribute to this goal.

Take a Moment to Evaluate Your Why

Start with the three questions above and take a moment to evaluate what your answers to those questions look like. Everything in life comes at a cost. For writing, that cost is often time. A lot of my time is already taken up by my kids. However, I knew if my writing were not successful, I would need to take on a job that took me out of the house for long hours at a time. This was a big motivation for my success.

Try going old school and take paper to pen to write out some responses to these questions. It can help your creative process so you can understand what you are willing to sacrifice if this is an endeavor you can fail at and what success means to you.

Curious to learn more about the process of writing from home as a business? Follow along as I share insights from my journey.

And if there is a question or topic you would like to see covered, please let me know in the comments.