Aspirational freelancer in need of pep-talk

[LargeLatte]

Afternoon all,

Until 6 months ago I was a project manager in finance industry then quit my job to be a SAHM. Now ds1 has started school and ds2 starting pre-school I've started looking into freelance work so I can earn couple hundred quid a month to help with bills.

From my old job I'd say my transferable skills were around writing - reports, feasibility studies, requirements documents, business cases to pitch for funding and also editing / proofing other people's documents. I also worked in Marketing where I wrote a whole suite of standard customer letters, leaflets and policy documents, and again edited / proofed stuff produced by others.

So I started looking at freelance work proof reading but keep chickening out and thinking I'm being unrealistic.

So is there hope or am I being hopelessly deluded?

Why are you chickening out? Sounds like your lack of confidence is holding you back. Go for it!

Thanks. It is definitely lack of confidence holding me back. The whole time I was in a paid job I was worried I'd let people down even though I was always on the 'high performer' list. Now I worry that someone will give me freelance work and they;ll think I'm rubbish or that I'll never pick anything up because everyone on the freelance jobs websites have loads more experience and relevant qualifications than me.

You need to get yourself a kick-ass CV. Write down all your strengths and remind yourself of how good you are!!!
Also, tailor your CV to each job you are applying for. No one size fits all malarkey.

when you were in your old job did you or colleagues use freelancers? I would recommend starting off with some networking - with both freelancers and people who use them. call some contacts, arrange to have coffee. try to get a feel for what's out there. if you had no contact with freelancers in your old job then think a bit laterally - friends in different industries? mums at school? small companies you used in your old job to publish/print the leaflets you wrote?

Thanks - we did use freelancers although there have been large scale redundanies so not sure how many old colleagues are left. I did put together an internal newsletter every few months so maybe I can persuade them to let me do that again.

I really just need to get organised and go for it I think. I've been dreaming of giving up full time work and going freelance ever since I was pregnant with ds1 - I'm almost there just need to get my arse in gear I think.

I took the plunge in 2001 LargeLatte. Scary at first, especially the cold calling etc. but it didn't take too long before someone invited me for interview and I ended up working for them for a couple of years. You'll never forget compiling your first invoice and getting your first cheque...

You sound very accomplished (esp. on the writing front - it's such a valuable skill and sooo many people just can't do it) so take heart and confidence from your previous successes. What's the worst that can happen? If someone doesn't like your work no one else need ever know, just learn from it (presuming you get some feedback as to why) and move on to the next client.

I started purely proofreading, then got asked to sub-edit some badly written documents and am now regularly proofing a series of books and writing the outside back cover blurb - never thought I'd be able to do that.

As waitingforgodot says, go for it. If you don't try, you'll never know.

Thanks LaineyW - only just picked this message up. I think its just so daunting getting involved with new work and new people when I had worked with the same crowd for so long. Did you need any qualifications for what you are doing or is experience alone enough. Half of me thinks surely everyone can read and write so I don't really have a marketable skill but then I read books, magazines, websites and there are so many mistakes or its just not well writen and I think - wah hey I've found my calling