Sometimes the hardest part of taking a new path is figuring out whether or not you can make it work. In this session, Laurie, Jamie, and Rhonda helped participants with information they needed to take the leap into the awesome, and sometimes scary, world of freelancing as a writer/blogger/social media professional. Finances, resources, good work habits, and continuing education were all part of this presentation.
Laurie Marshall is a freelance writer and blogger from northwest Arkansas. In addition to her love for a perfectly turned phrase, she has a passion for reusing and repurposing, and may get a little too excited about power tools and the wall of paint chips at her local home improvement store. Laurie graduated from the BA program in Creative Writing at the University of Arkansas in 2007 at the ripe old age of 39, and after spending six years working at a desk job (that she loved!), she took the leap and began her freelancing career. Her work has been published on VisitRogersArkansas.com, TasteArkansas.com, NWAMedia.com, and in AY Magazine and Do South, among others. @LaurieMMarshall
Jamie Smith has been a blogger since 2005 and it has opened up many doors to her, including being the way she met her husband. A journalist by training, Jamie started her own freelance writing business after being laid off four years ago. Jamie’s Notebook is now her full time (sometimes more than full time!) job and her services include corporate blog writing, website, copywriting, and feature writing. Jamie is also active in offering workshops about the need for and process of corporate blogging.
A “work-at-home fur mom,” Jamie loves spending time with her husband and their four pets. She is also active in several nonprofit organizations, including Dress for Success Northwest Arkansas, Polina’s Promise, and Captivating Heart Women’s Retreat ministries. @JamiesThots
Rhonda Franz is a freelance writer, licensed teacher, home operations specialist, and domestic chef. She combines her professional background and mommyhood experiences to write on family, parenting, cooking, and education. Her articles emphasize the opportunities parents have in everyday experiences to teach children, and offer strategies and solutions for managing a household with an on-call, traveling husband. Rhonda’s work has been featured on the MSNBC Today Show mom blog and NWAMotherlode, and in Chicken Soup for the Soul. She is a contributor to Arkansas Gardener magazine, Peekaboomagazine, and parenting publications around the country. A city girl at heart, she is raising three lively boys in the woods of northwest Arkansas. You can read more about her at rhondafranz.com, and (soon) at captainmom.net, and find her chirping on Twitter as @rhondafranz.
