Breanna Perry

I've mentioned a couple times that I'm currently unemployed/have been unemployed since October. By that, of course, I mean that I'm not currently holding down a "day job", an 8-5 position like I'm used to working during the days. I still do plenty of things, "night jobs" or "side jobs" or whatever you want to call them, and usually I work on those during the day, as well--anything from teaching, to DJing, to event organizing, to writing and editing, to marketing stuff.

I have no problem with freelancing as a career option, and I know plenty of people who do it successfully. In fact, I'd love to reach a point sometime where I am able to be self-employed in a consultant/freelance way. My only problem with freelancing right now is that I don't have the knowledge (or, in some cases, the excess of skills) to make it work full-time for me. Right now, I'm not sure how I can turn my professional hobbies into a plain ol' profession. This especially applies to event organizing, which is the avenue I'd most like to pursue right now. I have all sorts of questions--how do I establish myself? How do I get word out about what I do? And, even if/once I pull a gig or two, how do I price myself? These are all things that can usually be answered with experience in similar roles, which is something else I haven't been able to find much of. Strangely enough, I feel that I am a pretty dang good event organizer, with very strong ideas at the very least, but all my experience has been in "non-professional" (meaning, not with any sort of firm or professional clients) settings.

I'd love to hear how others approach this freelance "problem", or what other resources you would recommend when pursuing self-employment. I have a feeling my friend Carl and all the rest of that lifestyle design community would have plenty to say on the subject, but I'm curious as to what others have to say, too.