How My WAH Job Turned into an Unexpected Career

My work at home story is an ever-evolving one. If you have been a follower and faithful reader then you know the back story. Don’t worry if you aren’t – I’ll fill you in. My work at home job began soon after my first daughter was born and now I am living in a world I never imagined to be possible – couldn’t have even thought of it because I just didn’t even know it existed!

The Back Story

I’ll try to make this part brief. My first daughter was born in 2008. I was bringing her to work with me and my plan was to put her into daycare until she became mobile. Things didn’t quite work out that way and with a beautiful twist of fate- I was a stay at home mom. Bills were big and money was little. But we managed – through the grace of God.

Finally in 2009 I found my first legitimate work at home job at West. Things didnt work out because when I applied I lived in South Carolina but when they hired me- I had already moved to Indiana. Apparently West doesn’t employee Indiana residents for Tax Law purposes.  I search and searched and struggled to find a way to make money while being able to care for our daughter. Eventually I learned about a local company who was paying people to answer questions being texted into them – you may have heard of them – ChaCha.

ChaCha paid well for about 2 minutes and then they dropped their pay dramatically. I continued earning the wages of a resident to a developing country because it was better than nothing.

I don’t remember how or when but I soon learned about LiveOps – a work at home call center similar to West.

I worked for LiveOps part time for two years answering calls for a variety of companies. But after my second daughter was born and my husband began his job as a truck driver- I realized I couldn’t continue to make a phone job work. I needed to find a way to make money on my own time and without a phone.

The Blog was Born

Finding a work at home job pre-2010 was a lot more difficult than it is now. There wasn’t much information online and the scams ruled the search engines. Looking for non phone work at home jobs became like a treasure  hunt. I quickly began trying to help others find work at home jobs that would fit their lifestyle and found myself repeating a lot of the same information from person to person.

I had this brilliant idea to start a blog.

I wasn’t even sure what a blog was- but I could tell it would be a great way to store the information I was gathering and then I could share it with my friends so much easier.

Freelance Writing Got Me By

Freelance writing is still the ideal way to make money from home while being able to work around life’s schedule. I began at Textbroker and a few other Word Mill sites. My constant search for more information about work at home became somewhat of an obsession. I remember even feeling like I needed to hide the amount of time I was spending researching and blogging so my husband wouldn’t be disappointed. Part of me felt like I was wasting a lot of my time – but the inner need to keep gathering information was strong.

I found myself doing titling at Demand Media – still the best work at home job I had ever had. It paid well and I could work when I needed. Plus, writing for content sites was getting really boring. Some of you might remember though that I ended up losing my job at Demand Media. I jumped right into Search Engine Evaluating work at Leapforce. I knew that was a good move for me. It helped me understand things about blogging I probably wouldn’t have learned as quickly.

Web Design Became My Passion

At this time I was also finding myself excited and loving web design. I enjoyed putting images together and setting up blogs for people. Additionally, I was dabbling in graphic design by making logos. Surprisingly to me there was a huge market for freelance web designers. Before I knew it- my schedule was booked solid and I was turning away paying clients because I just couldn’t handle the amount of work that was available to me as a freelance designer.

While all of this was happening- my blog was growing and growing.

Welcomed into the Crochet Community

My sister, who loves to crochet, came up with an idea to create a directory website for crocheters who are looking only for free patterns. I loved this idea and we decided to go in together – splitting any revenue we might earn (as well as cost). I wasn’t quite aware of what I was getting into. There is a huge crochet community! They embraced our project and shared our enthusiasm.

Not long after getting involved with the crochet directory – I stopped taking design clients. There just wasn’t enough time and finally the 3 years I spent building a blog was paying off.

I Am a Professional Blogger

Now my job title is Professional Blogger. I love it. It is a perfect mix of everything I love. I get to help people, I have an outlet for my creativity and my thirst for knowledge is not neglected. I spend hours learning all I can about blogging and working from home. I feel like I have created my own business.

Looking back over the last 6 years of my life – I am surprised by how many jobs I have gone through and what I have learned. But seeing how the pieces of my life have all come together is pretty amazing. Every job I took seems to have built me up for where I am now. I am able to use what I learned at each place in what I do as a blogger.

This is not just a hobby for me anymore that I squeeze in-between work – it is what I do full-time as my chosen career path.

The End of the Line?

I like to think that I am now settling into my career and the roller coaster ride is over. But who-knows.

Related Posts:

• How to Raise Your WAH Income in 2013
• My Guest Post: 4 Skills Needed for a Transcription Job
• Where I am…after losing my job!
• My Five Year Work at Home Anniversary
• How to Start an Online Freelance Writing Career