Long ago, and far away, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I taught elementary school. Then I had a baby, the end. The end of my teaching career, that is. I gave birth to my oldest daughter, Emily, at the tail end of the school year. I loved teaching, and planned to return to school the following fall after she was born. Funny how actually having a child changes your ideas about parenting.

I couldn’t bring myself to leave her with a nanny, or in daycare, and we had no family in the area. But I wasn’t feeling rainbows-and-kittens about staying home either. So, Aaron (my husband) and I batted around the idea of him staying home which, fabulous father that he is, he would’ve done. But his salary ran circles around my salary. Actually his salary ran circles around it, and then beat it up in the parking lot. So, we felt fortunate that my husband’s salary could cover the bills, he went trotting off to work, and I stayed home. Nine years and three kids later, my youngest will be starting school next year, and I’m launching my own business. (And you can say that in your best Pride of the Yankees voice, “Launching aunching aunching my own own own business isness isness…” Really, it doesn’t work nearly as well in print as it does in my head.)

I’m starting a graphic design firm. (Firm, ha! Isn’t that cute? A firm of one.) It’s a business which developed from my blog. I started designing banners for my blog; it got so I was changing my banner about every 5 minutes, and then other people started asking me to design banners for them too. So I did, and it was fun! After a while I said, “Hey! I bet people would pay money for these banner thingies.” This year I got really busy with other stuff. I still enjoyed designing banners, but I just didn’t have time. So I raised my fee, to slow down business, and make it worth my while, and people hired me anyway (insert the kaboom of my mind blowing here). To make a long story short, I decided that if I expanded my services to include menus, brochures, branding, etc., (and some copy writing too), I could actually make a living at it.

Freelancing is definitely the best path for me because:

1. My resume sucks. “Yes Mr. Interviewer, I, um, taught school for 6 years about 10 years ago, but I’m looking for a job in another field now, plus I have no formal training! I want a decent wage, but I can only work during the hours my kids are in school. When do I start?!”
2. I want to be able to volunteer in my kids’ classrooms, and I want to be home when my kids come home from school.
3. I loved teaching, but there’s too much work to bring home. So I’m starting a business at home, where I can work from exactly 7-3. Hahahaha! I kill me.
4. I love graphic design. I think it will pay a decent wage (because I plan to charge a decent fee), and I think I’m good at it.
5. I can quit my very dull night/weekend retail job, which I was going to quit anyway, but having a #5 gives the list more substance.

Right now I’m in the “research and development” phase. Building a website, designing a logo, researching taxes and legal issues, putting together a portfolio, figuring out what to charge, scoping out my community for potential work, etc., etc., etc. At this point my To Do list is so long, I wonder if I’ll ever get to the “land a bid and get paid” phase. But I’m really excited about this new venture. I feel like Lewis and Clark! You know, without the ticks, and blisters.