career Archives - The Paid to Play Podcast

At first, a fall-back position may seem an excuse to chicken out of following your passion, working a second job as a betrayal of your dream, a diversion of your valuable time.

Take George Clooney, for example. There’s something attributed to him that’s always stuck with me:

His father kept trying to tell him that he needed to stay in college so that he would have something to fall back on. George’s reply was “If I have something to fall back on, then I will”

– From a George Clooney fan web site.

It’s the sort of thing that makes me thing that I ought to be diverting as much time as possible into pursuing my own vocation.

That every second spent on finding other ways of supporting myself is a betrayal of that dream.

But as I interview people for The Paid to Play Podcast, I’m discovering something different:

A lot of creatives are using their “fall-backs” to ensure that they can give their best when they approach their passion.

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After having authors and bloggers on the podcast, it’s fun to have someone who’s not only a full-time freelance writer on the show, but also someone who’s dedicated to helping others achieve similar goals – so much so that she not only blogs about making it as a freelance writer, she also runs a paid-membership web site that offers courses and tips on every aspect of the business of freelance writing.

Carol worked at a newspaper and as a movie script transcriber before going freelance and managed to blow away her own expectations of success when she started the Freelance Writers Den. On top of all that, she’s a wife and mother of three! Talk about doing it all…

Please listen to this interview, wherein I completely miss the opportunity to quiz Carol about her early work as a song writer (Brill Building Fail!) but find out plenty about what it takes to make it in freelancing.