Because I started my freelancing and blogging journey so young (I was 22) I always get asked questions from recent college grads about freelancing after college.
Since I was a recruiter for a while, I can tell you that from a more traditional standpoint freelancing after college wasn’t seen as a good thing. The good news is traditional is out the window these days as more people willingly quit their jobs to freelance.
Here are just some of the reasons why freelancing after college is the best decision I ever made.
It helped me find myself.
As cliche as it sounds, freelancing after college helped me find myself. It would be a few ears before I started feeling confident in my abilities to turn my freelancing into a business, and it would be a while before I found my niche writing about finance and entrepreneurship, but I am certain none of it would have occurred had I not been blogging and freelancing every step of the way.
It helped me get a job – twice.
When I started freelancing after college I never thought it would be my full-time business. Heck, I didn’t even know you could make money blogging! Truth be told, there weren’t as many examples back then of people who were making a living writing, so I didn’t have a whole lot of role models.
As such, I started freelancing just to make some extra money and because I thought it would be fun. Lo and behold, it helped me get my first job as an English teacher for a large company. Because I was primarily blogging about millennials, it also helped me get a recruiting job for a company that specialized in placing college graduates with Fortune 500 companies.
Eventually I realized I could make more money on my own and craved freedom from the nine to five, but at that time in my life I needed something stable and freelancing helped me get it.
I’ve made amazing friends.
Thanks to freelancing and blogging, I literally have friends all over the world. In fact, I just recently stayed with one of those friends in her house in Mexico.
I’ve met some incredible people doing amazing things thanks to online business communities, conferences and events. I never would have met them had I not started freelancing after college.
It helped build my confidence.
As my business and my brand grow, I’ve had to learn things I never expected to have to know, I’ve learned how to manage contractors and I consistently push myself out of my comfort zone. All of these things have helped me build my confidence over time.
While I still may find myself in a situation where I doubt myself, now I at least know that I’ve been able to figure stuff out multiple times before. This comforts me every time I’m about to try something new.
It’s allowed me to become location independent.
As long as I have WiFi, I can work and make money. This is the kind of freedom that has come about as a result of starting to freelance after college. I exercised this freedom recently in Mexico and I’ll be on the road for three weeks straight later this year as I head to California and Bali for events.
Final Thoughts
Freelancing after college is by far one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life. I’m grateful that I started so young and have the kind of freedom I have now.
