The Most Meaningful Side Gig for Moms
Today’s blog post comes to us from Author Accelerator CEO Jennie Nash. If you enjoy today’s content, you can sign up for Jennie's weekly newsletter here.
My kids are grown and flown, but when I was busy raising them, I remember thinking that all I wanted was someone to hand me meaningful work I could do at home while the kids were in school. I was highly educated, with a degree in English, a published book to my name, and a few years of experience in the world of publishing, and I was ready and eager to contribute to the greater good and to my family’s income stream, but there seemed to be no good options for me.
For a few years, I wrote copy for a real estate company that built McMansion developments in Orange County, California. They had names like Sage Hill and Ocean View Estates. My job was to write about the benefits and features of living in these communities — they were safe! State-of-the-art! So very new! And you could get in them for so little down! This work paid well, but it was soul-crushing. Little did I know that it was exactly these kinds of big houses bought on leveraged loans that would lead to the devastation of the financial crash of 2008.
I also tried the freelance writing route, writing articles for magazines like GQ and Mademoiselle about topics ranging from when to call 911 to a Hollywood antique hunter. I liked writing on deadline, but I felt no connection to anything I was writing about, and the dollar-per-word rate was not a great way to earn money.
I wrote my own books, but books take a long time to come to fruition, which means they take a long time to pay out. Although mine did relatively well, they didn’t make a lot of money. Back then, book publishing was all the “traditional” model, with gatekeepers you were just happy to get past — and I was happy to be on the inside regardless of the fact that my books were not making much of an impact.
Jennie and her family several years ago
Times have drastically changed in publishing, and that has led to the birth of a new side gig: book coaching.
Book coaching has emerged to become a powerful and meaningful side gig for moms especially. How I would have loved to do this work when my kids were young and I was at home! It is all about words and ideas and stories — all my favorite things. It is relationship-based since a coach works 1:1 with a writer to keep them on track, both editorially and emotionally, throughout the long book development process. You can choose how much or how little to work, and when to work, so it is no problem if your child gets sick, or if you want to go watch her big show or game, or spring break vacation comes early this year. There is no commuting — and most days, you can work in your PJs. It feels satisfying and meaningful in a world where so little makes sense.
At Author Accelerator, we have a thriving community of coaches who are also active moms, dads, parents, and guardians. There are single moms, or dads and moms with three kids in elementary school, or parents with kids that just started high school, and moms whose kids have disabilities. They are bringing in a little extra cash each month and working full time to support their families. They love being in charge of their time and their money and their careers.
There is a Great Restructuring happening in the world of work right now.
These moms are on the forefront of it, working for themselves in a brand new career. It’s a thrill to give them the chance to do such meaningful work.
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