I got my first freelancing gig!

Yup, you read it here first. LF is a freelancer. Okay, that’s going a bit far but I am happy to say that I got my first paid writing assignment with a very popular Toronto blog. I am being paid a whopping $25 but more importantly, I’m gaining exposure and finally will have my first real writing sample. I’m hoping this will be the catalyst I need to kickstart my part time career in writing. The daunting part is the fact that I have need to do a bit lot of research. The plus side is the research involves eating! Mmm, eating.

I know that I’m going to put a lot more than $25 worth of effort into this because the quality of this piece will really make all the difference. I also need to set forward a plan for how I am going to secure more assignments after this one. In order to put in the effort level I need to make the time. In order to do that, I need to cut down waitressing hours. In order to do that, I need to secure a full time job. So much to do! I’ve been trying to network like crazy instead of solely relying on online job applications that I am fairly certain fall into a black hole of oblivion. There are a few good prospects and I have also put some pressure on my boss to give me something conclusive regarding my chance at securing a permanent position. I really love where I work and I would be pleased to stay but we’ll see!

Do you do any freelancing writing? Do you have any tips for securing assignments?

I don’t really know what I want out of blogging

As some of you have probably noticed, I’m pretty new to the whole blogging scene, having written my first post in December (I think!). I’ve really loved connecting with other bloggers and *gasp* discovering that I’m not the only one facing this whole journey out of debthood. But lately I’ve been wondering what I want out of blogging. I’ve noticed some of my favourite bloggers becoming wildly successful and it’s fantastic. They’ve put in the hard work and are beginning to see the fruits of their labour. Will I ever reach that level of awesome? Do I want to? Or am I content in my little corner of the blogosphere?

Do I want a bajillion readers each and every day? Do I want to make some money? (umm who doesn’t?!) If so, I definitely need to be doing more than what I’m doing – which is posting sporadically, commenting when I feel like and generally just not putting a ton of effort into the whole thing. When I started blogging, I did it for a few reasons:

1. I love writing and I wanted to practice.

2. I wanted to hold myself accountable for my finances.

3. I wanted to document my journey.

4. I wanted to help inspire and motivate others in debt.

5. I wanted to maybe MAYBE create a stream of passive income along the way.

For reasons 1 through 4, I think I can truck along as usual but if I DO want to create some sort of income, I will have to kick it up a few notches. I just don’t know if I’m ready to do that.

If you blog, why do you blog? What do want out of it? I’d love to know!

The countdown is on…

$1062.49

That’s the magic number.

The number that will solve all of my problems.

…not really, but it sure will make my life a little bit easier.

The number that will make my life complete.

…okay, maybe just one step towards completion. But a big step!

It’s the number that makes me rich break even!

Today I called up the student loan centre and asked what my total loan amount will be as at May 11, 2012. The nice man told me $1062.49. And there you have it. The number standing between me and student-loan-freeness. I also asked if I would be receiving a letter confirmation and he said I would indeed receive something within a week to congratulate me. That’s a letter I will be keeping in full view to remind me everyday of what I can do when I set my mind to something.

I’ve also noticed some nice little numbers on this here bloggy which makes me extremely grateful that people are actually interested in my journey to debt-freedom (and beyond). Thanks so much for reading, commenting, and generally being awesome. You rock!

Please get me a bucket for the tears of joy I may be crying in a week + 2 days from now!

LF