I Started Freelancing for a Penny a Word; Never Gave up Until I’d Made It

I was following the conventional road to success — finishing college, getting my MBA, and joining a tech firm — but after four years in the same job, I felt trapped.

I live and work in India. When the pandemic hit in 2020, our office went fully remote and for the first time, I felt some sense of freedom.

So I stayed at the job for three more years, but everything changed when they called us back to the office.

I was freelancing long before I quit my full-time job

Working from home was better than working in the office, but I was still unhappy, so I decided to give freelance writing a shot as a side hustle.

The early ghostwriting projects I scored from Facebook groups paid a measly $0.01 a word, but I was enjoying my new side hustle too much to care.

Gradually, after about six months, I secured technical writing gigs that paid up to $0.10 cents a word — a big jump.

I finally got my first-ever byline in early 2021 at a gaming publication, where I earned about $18 an article.

Those clips helped me get my first big break in mid-2021, when I became a regular contributor to a “how-to” tech website where I was paid $100 an article, on average.

The RTO mandate brought me to a crossroads

By 2023, I was accustomed to a remote lifestyle and had even changed cities to move in with my partner.

So, when I heard murmurings about the RTO mandate, quitting my job became more than just wishful thinking.

It sounded cool in my head, but walking away from a substantial paycheck — compared to what I was making as a freelancer — wasn’t easy.

When the RTO mandate became official, though, I took a leap of faith and quit in January 2023. It helped that I had a partner with a well-paying job who could help with finances.

By mid-2023, I had procured another steady client at a large tech publication, as a PC hardware writer.

Thanks to that, I hit my first major milestone at the end of 2023 — earning around $2,000 a month, roughly twice as much as I’d earned from my corporate job.

Freelancing full time gave me the mental space I never knew I was missing

The flexibility of being a freelancer meant I was working around 25 hours a week instead of 40.

I loved starting the morning at my own pace and having my daily coffee in peace before working on the day’s articles.

I was also spending more time with my partner, enjoying sports and PC gaming, and going on international trips with family.

It took a year of freelancing full-time to feel settled

Everything fell into place in the first half of 2024, about a year after I started freelancing full time.

I’d increased my output at my two main clients and had boosted my earnings to $3,000 a month.

Around mid-2024, however, I suffered a major blow. I was let go from one of my main clients. I still had the other gig, though, and the blow turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

With that extra time, I began writing more for the larger tech website. By the end of 2024, I was making an average of $5,000 a month.

I should have quit my corporate job sooner

If my unusual career path has taught me anything, it’s that I shouldn’t have waited years to combine two of my biggest passions — writing and technology.

Sometimes, you don’t know what you truly want until a life-changing event opens your eyes to it.

I guess what I was missing the most in my corporate job was not the money, but the freedom.

I will never go back to the office, even in a hybrid role — I cherish my current lifestyle too much to even consider it.