Freelancing, an ongoing story

I began my journey as a freelance xyz as early as age 12. Born to two entrepreneurial parents, my siblings and I were raised with a fierce sense of responsibility to do two things:
1) Find our paths in life by being leaders, not followers and
2) Give back to others and our community through volunteering time, talent, and resources.

Our parents demonstrated these ideals to a fault. My father owns a small business that likely does as much work as an in-kind donation as it does for profit each year, my mother has served as the advisor for far too many student organizations through her school, and both parents continue to serve on the working boards of several nonprofit organizations.

My siblings and I shared and operated a small lawn care business, spanning almost 15 years - beginning when my brother was old enough to drive, and ending when my sister left for college. We had several clients, but we also mowed the lawns of people who could not pay us the going rate, or at all. We were also incredibly involved in many of our parents' philanthropic efforts. Most of these organizations were focused on social efforts, but it was no surprise when each of us took this combined entrepreneurial/volunteer spirit and carried it in out own ways into our adult lives.

Beginning in high school, I taught lessons to students younger than I, and when I learned that my senior year involved no classes on Fridays, I offered myself as an aide to the music department at the middle school doing the same thing pro bono. At Oberlin, there is absolutely no shortage of opportunities to volunteer and to market one's skills, but it is a difficult thing to break into as an 18 year old, fresh from high school and trying to figure out one's place in the world.

It wasn't until after my third internship that I finally figured out a way for my loves of words, music, independence, and nonprofits to collide. After returning from a hugely successful month at the National Endowment for the Arts, I took a course on grant writing and started sending out my feelers to see if there was a way to write for other people. I started small, working on projects for my mother's school and spending a lot of time researching grant organizations and signing up for email newsletters. Grants that I wrote were awarded some small amounts of money from various foundations.

Then, this year, I took on some larger projects. I'm feeling great about what I've accomplished with regards to my projects from 2012. I'm actually still working on finishing up the largest components from working in Alaska, a huge video project to be submitted with grant proposals.

For the time being, my teaching lessons is a bit on ice. It's tough to find students in a city with two universities with well-known music colleges, and so far none of the applications I've put in to community music programs have gotten any response. I'm planning to teach some lessons to my old students when I visit the states, and when I do, I know it will be a great time. I really miss my students from back home! I had a happy little studio of maybe 9 students that I saw each week, and I was so delighted to see them make progress each week. It's something I look forward to doing on a regular basis sometime soon.

For now, I'm piece-mealing work, talking to everyone I can talk to, and finishing up outstanding projects. Keep on fighting and keep on writing!