Growing old is not for the faint of heart. Believe you me. It is not only change that is constant in life, but hardship as well. And it gets worse as one gets older, especially when it comes to one’s career. Older persons get limited opportunities and diminishing chances. Age is the great equalizer in the corporate world. Upstarts may not have the experience an old hand has, but most of the time upstarts stand on equal footing.

It has been four years now since I have called it quits with my job as a marketing manager in a fairly successful advertising firm. I had that same job with the same company for almost 20 years. But after three decades of waking up every morning, beating the rush hour traffic, laboring on the day’s work on my desk, I resigned from my job and took to freelancing.

I don’t know exactly how it started. All I know is that I can never again go back in time and see the recital of my youngest daughter who is now 15 years old. Or the baseball games of my two sons on those Saturday afternoons when I had to work. I had been bad at time management, and the worst at prioritization.

I know it is kind of hard to get a message across these days, especially when it comes to an old man. But, I know I got to pay some dues. Before you make that jump to a freelance life, consider my two-cents on the subject:

1. Explore your likes and dislikes. Believe it or not, many people I know do not know what they like to do in say, two to three years. Years after they started a career they are still not sure what it is exactly that they are looking for in their work. You will have a better and easier transition to a freelance life if you know what you enjoy doing.

Maybe you already know that you want to open your own restaurant, or work from home doing some writing. Either way, you have to consider if your planned career outside the corporate world is something you are willing to do for years.

2. Research and identify career fields that present growth opportunities that you can take with your present skills level. Read as much as you can about the business. As you stack up on information, see if you can get in touch with industry people and build a network.

When I started my career as a freelance writer, I got a lot of help from career bloggers who specialize in online content management. Some of them I have maintained a healthy business relationship. A good network and knowledge about the business can light your way along this uncertain road to a freelance life.

3. Update your skills set. If the freelance career you want to have is something that is completely unrelated to the corporate job you have done for so many years, you may need to upgrade your skills. Of course, you enjoy writing and you are good at it. But it is different when you have to do it for money.

Freelance writing is a business. And good writing skills are not enough to be a successful freelance writer. Most freelance writing jobs are done online. Learn how to use the Web like a professional freelancer. Use Facebook, Twitter, etc. Learn where to get good projects online. Improve. Your freelance schedule can give you time to learn the business and remain competitive.

But being a freelance writer is not as easy as I have thought it would be. I spent most of my time on my previous job coordinating and talking with people. These skills have their uses now that I am a freelance writer. But there are other things that I had to develop along the way. In most cases they translated to putting off the purchase of one thing or another and delayed payments of household bills. One has to see it happen before doing it.

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