I am a professional baseball player, but not the kind that you see on TV. I play minor league baseball, far from the glitz and glam on the major leagues, and I survive on a small salary during the season. It has been a dream of mine to play baseball for a living ever since I can remember. Right now, I am living that dream, but there are some things I need to do to ensure I continue to live it. Living on a small salary throughout the year, while working a full time job is difficult, but it is the nature of what I do. I love to play baseball, so I make sacrifices to continue to do so. Someday I hope that I can play baseball with financial freedom, but I know that I need to put in the work on the front end to make this happen.
My paychecks end when the season ends each year, and I don’t get paid while I work out for hours each day in the off season. Being that this is my first off season in professional ball, I started to brainstorm ideas for making money to keep my dream alive. There aren’t a lot of positions where it is acceptable to only work for 6 months of the year, and I realized early on that my college degree wasn’t going to be much help in my job search. I soon began perusing the internet to see if there were any opportunities. After a few jobs making about $3 per hour, I came across freelance writing. I had plenty of experience writing in college and figured that this would be a great way to make some money throughout the year to support my dream of playing baseball.
Through a number of connections, I now have freelance jobs on MoneyNing.com, along with a number of other positions on the web. This has provided a steady supplemental income for me. I figure if I work 10 hours each week throughout the year, I should be able to make nearly $10,000 doing what I do. That doesn’t sound like much, but it means the opportunity to live my dream a little bit longer.
My fiancé and I are paying down some student loans. This extra income will help to pay these loans off much faster than previously expected. Again, this gives me a longer time to live my dream.
Are monetary issues preventing you from achieving a dream? Maybe you want a bigger family, a new house or are looking to renovate your existing living space. If so, making a supplemental income working just an hour or two a day can make a huge difference in the long run. This doesn’t have to be freelance writing, as it can be any number of things. If you brainstorm ideas, you are bound to come up with something that can leave you one step closer to achieving your hopes, goals and dreams.
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If you know baseball well and can write well, definitely setup profiles on Elance, Guru, and oDesk. Be sure to indicate in your profile that you’re a professional MiLB baseball player. Bid on anything related to baseball writing. As a long-time buyer on all 3 networks (IT related), you will edge out EVERYONE else since the only others more qualified would be (a) BWAA writers (unlikely to be hunting for assignments in those places) and (b) MLB/retired MLB players (also unlikely to be hunting for assignments in those places).
BTW, you should be able to do a lot better than $10,000/year even at $0.05 to $0.10 per word.
Oh one more area that could pay substantially better than even baseball freelance writing. Can you manage social media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.) using your writing skills and baseball knowledge? That’s where your yield would move up from $10-$20/hour to $25-$40+/hour. Good luck. (Sorry have to post this anonymously b/c of my employer)
My husband sent the link to your blog post, and it is so encouraging to hear that freelance writing is helping you achieve your dreams…
I am not an English major but am I am a willing learner. I wrote for Hubpages and got recognition on my first Hub for my category…really cool!
I enjoy freelance writing as I can make money and gain encouragement along the way.
Thanks so much for your post.
I really admire you for going for it and living your dream. That’s wonderful! My wife is in a bit of a similar situation. She’s an artist and we work several jobs in order for to continue with her artistic endeavors because they don’t always bring in a lot of money. She hopes it will lead to more but now it’s modest. Freelancing as an artist with no insurance, etc. can be stressful but when you love what you do it makes it all worth it.
Thank you for sharing this experience. I really enjoyed it. I remember during my high school and college years, I have to write on a local newspaper to earn extra income.
It helped me a lot. It might be a small amount of money that I receive as an honorarium for a monthly published community newspaper but it was indeed rewarding.
I am just interested in the MoneyNing idea that you mentioned. Is it possible to send a write up here and earn? Could you please assist me how? I’d love to be part of this group of writers who share their personal experiences. The write ups are very helpful to people who wanted to get out of debt or the habbit of spending beyond means.
Thank you for pointing out how a little extra work can make a big difference. I am going to remember that as I’m working overtime today!
That’s great to hear about you living your dream, AJ. I have always believed that as long as you are doing what you truly enjoy doing, that is the most important thing. I know people who have given up higher paying jobs if it meant they got to do something they enjoy more, even if it meant a smaller paycheck. Good luck with your future baseball endeavors.
-Jean
I respect minor league baseball players. I grew up playing baseball and thinking it was my dream to become a professional ball player myself, but since things didn’t turn out the way I had planned; I can truly see why becoming a professional was not ideal for me. It takes a lot of dedication and work ethic to be consistently fundamentally sound in the sport. And for the pay that minor league ball players receive is mind boggling for the amount of time and effort they put in to it. To say the least, I glad you were able to find something to do in the mean time, to help you with your finances! Best of luck and I hope to read more of your posts around the web!