How to Make Money from Your Bed
Find your passion, and don’t let self-doubt get in the way
When I first entered the “corporate” world, I could only dream of being able to make money from the comfort of my home. In my mind, that’s only something a lucky few could do, and I was not one of them.
No.
I was one of the many, who were destined to sit at a desk, in a poorly lit cubicle, and hope that when I arrived in the morning, there would still be enough burnt coffee and questionable creamer to satisfy my caffeine needs.
I would spend my lunch breaks eating whatever fast food drive-through was quicker, and watching travel vloggers on YouTube, wondering how someone could get so lucky. They’re eating lunch in Mexico today when they just got back from France last week. Meanwhile, I’m driving a total of 13 minutes both ways for another crunch wrap supreme from Taco Bell.
And then one day it changed
When Covid became a thing in 2020, we were given what I thought at the time, was the ultimate opportunity. We were told to pack up our monitors, take only what was essential (we’ll be back in the office before we know it), and continue daily efforts from the comfort of our freshly sanitized homes.
I thought I won the lottery.
For the foreseeable future, there will be no need to wake up 2 hours early, get all done up and make the drive to the office. I’d be able to roll out of bed, make a fresh cup of coffee, and plop myself down in whatever makeshift desk chair I had.
Almost immediately, I was amazed at how productive I became once the distractions of coworkers, office gossip, and being micromanaged, were no longer there. I was able to sit down, plan out my day, then get right to work making calls and solving customer issues.
Within the first month of working from home, I knew I could never go back to an office setting.
I was thriving.
That year I had the highest sales numbers I ever had. My customers’ satisfaction increased, because of the amount of detail and extra work I could provide for them.
I was grateful for the opportunity, and while 2020 will quite possibly go down as one of the worst years in human history, I consider it a huge turning point in who I am, and how I got to where I am today.
One Year Later
Flash forward to 2021, when we were now a year into working from home. We had all gotten accustomed to this “new normal”- less makeup on our zoom meetings, longer lunch breaks, and more silence on our team phone calls. There were talks about bringing us back into the office, even though we were still performing at the highest metrics we ever had.
Thanks to the lack of commute and the fact I was able to finish my work quickly while working from home, I suddenly had an extra hour or two a day to allocate to something other than work. I had developed an interest in crafting “expertly worded sales emails”, and learning how to“copy write exactly what was needed to get my customer's attention”-yes I did pull those directly from my resume.
When the emails from HR started going out saying “we can’t wait to see your smiles in person”, I knew it was time.
I sent quite a few emails to my director, explaining why working from home and being a remote team was beneficial. I provided data, cited my sources, and ended up making what I was told was a very compelling argument. Unfortunately, “the decision was out of his hands”.
In my year-end review, I was sure to let my director know of my plans, and he wished me well. I was on to my next adventure.
New Year, New Me
In January of 2022, I started a new job. I was lucky enough to find a small company, based out of Europe, looking for someone to bring in new customers. The job description said they were looking for someone who was a creative thinker, good at writing sales content, and could bring energy to a new team. The best part about this opportunity was this was a permanent work-from-home job. No chance of “returning to the office”, because the office didn’t exist!
Within 1 month, I realized that the job description did not match the actual job.
I was ready to learn a new industry, write new sales copy, and help this company grow just as I did in my last role. Unfortunately, the hiring manager wasn’t looking for a mover and a shaker. She was more interested in finding someone who would blindly follow her directions and shot down any ideas I brought to the team.
By month 2, I had already been looking for a new job. Something that matched more of what I was looking for. My mental health was declining, and I was convinced that I made a mistake. Imposter syndrome was here and growing stronger every day.
I was gone from the company right after I hit month 4.
I spent about 3 weeks sending over hundreds of resumes and applications. I applied for every position I could. Out of those hundreds of applications, I had maybe 20 screening calls. Out of those 20 calls, 3 of them got to a second interview, and then it was radio silence.
Leap of Faith
I decided right then and there, that this was it.
Now or Never.
I couldn’t go back to an office full time. I wasn’t ready to go back to being micromanaged and told that all my ideas were terrible.
If other people could do it, why couldn’t I?
When Covid changed things, I suddenly had more hours to my day. I no longer had to commute and was able to finish up work quicker, so I started to dive into the interests that I thought would help my career advance. One of which, just so happened to be writing.
Immediately, I started googling.
“How to make money writing, how to write blogs for money, how to freelance sales copy” and so on.
It had finally occurred to me that Yes, I COULD do something that I liked. There was a whole community of people doing it!
I could just write all day, about anything that I thought about, and I could get paid for it. I didn’t have to work under a team of people to pump out phone calls and emails.
I didn’t have to stick to one specific subject all day every day. I could offer my services to whoever was looking for a quick bite of content, and I could do it on my own time. So I did the only thing I thought to do. Sit down, and start writing.
Don’t just do it for the money
While making a living is the main goal of this chapter of my life, I have to remind myself that I also have to LIKE what I’m doing.
The beginning of 2022 had me in a place where I thought I wanted to be, but my heart wasn’t in it. I’ve learned that just because you make money, doesn’t mean you’re happy.
I’d much rather take a chance, and see where my passion gets me than go back to a place where I feel stuck but comfortable.
The only thing scarier than change is staying the same.
So here I am. Summer of 2022, just starting out doing what I hope is the job I was meant to do. Hoping that one day, someone else will be looking at my writing while eating Taco Bell, and finding somewhere in these words the confidence to do what they love, because they love it.
This is it. This is the beginning of the rest of my life.
