• After much deliberation, we decided to subcontract work from other freelancers. While we were refining the bidding process and building our confidence, we found that doing some “overflow” work from others was a great stepping stone. This allowed us to get more experience, as well as to earn money while learning the ropes.
• It’s been really important to us to never let our business go into debt. We’ve had vendors offer to do things like design a website on credit, but we’ve politely said “no thanks.” This has meant that we’ve had to wait for things we wanted, but it has also meant that we’ve sheltered our little company from a lot of the pitfalls that come with accumulating debt. This also forces us to really consider our decisions before just jumping into something head-first.
• We’ve kept a careful balance of clients. While there have been times when we wished we had a few more clients, we’ve been cautious not to ever take on more than we could handle. This is actually a bigger challenge than one might think, as those dollar signs can be very tempting. It wasn’t until we knew we were ready to bring other writers on board that we were willing to start taking on more work than we could realistically do ourselves in any given week. We’re still being pretty careful on this one, though, by testing new writers to ensure that they are reliable.
• We work very hard to make sure our business is in line with our ideals. This means that we sometimes have to turn down jobs that make us feel uncomfortable for some reason. Just as we wouldn’t want to expose our children to negative influences, we protect our business, as well. Sometimes this requires a conversation between the two of us, and every single time one of us has felt like something was just not on the up-and-up, the other one has offered support in making a decision that we can both feel good about.

While some people might view us as being a bit cowardly, Tamara and I feel that our approach has helped us cultivate a business that we can believe in. Maybe we spend a little more time on the nurturing aspect than others might, but it’s just part of our personalities. It has worked pretty well for us, and we’re big on sharing what we think works and what does not. In our case, we’ve chosen the “No-Cry Freelancing Solution,” and the result has been a business that has grown steadily in the right direction.