Abbi Perets is a successful freelance mom. She owns the accurately named website, SuccessfulFreelanceMom.com, where she helps other moms earn money while taking care of their children at home.
As a successful freelance mom, Abbi Perets has over 20 years of experience in freelance writing. She has worked for some of the world’s biggest corporation, and she has earned a steady living all while taking care of her five children. If you are a mom who wants to branch out and earn a living while staying at home, you will feel right at home at SuccessfulFreelanceMom.com.
Abbi Perets built her career as a successful freelance mom by “working 20-30 minutes at a time, with lots of interruptions, using simple, straightforward strategies that anyone can follow.” She was building up this career while moving internationally, and then to the United States, and while taking care of a child with special needs.
Since becoming a successful freelance mom, Abbi Perets was able to secure a balance between work and family that worked for her.
Freelance writing gave her the flexibility to earn money and take care of her children. She was able to take her son to “speech, occupational, physical, and developmental therapy appointments five days a week for six years—and still maintain a steady income.”
Now, Abbi Perets wants to help other women become successful freelance moms themselves. More than 1000 women have already signed up for her courses and community.
Check out more interviews with freelance writing entrepreneurs here.
I care deeply about the people I serve. Abbi Perets, Successful Freelance Mom
Jerome Knyszewski: What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Abbi Perets: I care deeply about the people I serve. I’ll get on Facebook lives and Zoom calls without any makeup, and I tell the truth about how I screw up projects and other mistakes. I let my kids walk into the room when I’m running calls, and I introduce them on camera. I’m unapologetic about the fact that I don’t fold laundry or wash dishes.
I hire help, make my kids do chores, and let things go undone, because right now, I care more about serving students than I care about folded laundry. (Actually, I never care about folded laundry.) I think people crave real honesty, rather than Instagram vulnerability.
The first time I ran a paid live workshop, I was in my office with the door closed. About 20 minutes in, one of the kids knocked on the door. I ignored it, but the knocking was persistent and unrelenting. “Excuse me,” I said to my screen, and then without remembering to mute myself, screeched “WHAT IS IT?” My youngest, who was about 7 or 8 at the time, opened the door and said, “I want to make a cup of soup, but you said I’m not allowed to boil water alone.”
I was like, “Listen, kid. You have FOUR older siblings out there. FIGURE IT OUT.”
And everyone on the call LOVED it.
Jerome Knyszewski: Often leaders are asked to share the best advice they received. But let’s reverse the question. Can you share a story about advice you’ve received that you now wish you never followed?
Abbi Perets: Honestly, I’ve certainly gotten bad advice, and even followed it, but I’ve learned and grown every time. If something absolutely contradicts my values, I won’t do it. Like, I’ll never listen to anyone who says, “Focus on charging as much money as possible while delivering as little as you can” — advice I recently heard on a call. But anything that seems like, Hey that could be worth trying — I’ll try it, and if it doesn’t work, I’ll let it go.
If something absolutely contradicts my values, I won’t do it. Abbi Perets
Jerome Knyszewski: You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Abbi Perets:
Dependability.
In mid-October 2003, I landed a new freelance client and had a project due in mid-November. I was pregnant with my third baby (Adi, he of all the fame) and due around Thanksgiving. Well, Adi was born on October 31, and immediately admitted to the NICU. I certainly wasn’t going to tell my brand new client, “Hey, I can’t get this project done,” so I figured out a way to get it done.
A year later, the client learned the circumstances under which I’d done the first project, and she was blown away. She was the head of a Silicon Valley company, and she had friends. That story got around, and I had people hire me without seeing my work, because they knew I was someone who got the work done.
Relatability.
When you’re building a personal brand, you ARE your business. I am not even close to perfect. My parenting philosophy could generously be described as “benign neglect.” I send out emails with typos to my list — and I’m a professional writer.
I make mistakes, and I talk about them. I often go “live from the living room,” and I tell people, “Anything can happen. ANY CHILD could walk in right now.” They usually do, but since that’s the reality for the women I teach, it works. It’s not realistic to tell them, Hey, go lock yourself in the office for 8 hours and get the work done.
They work in short bursts of time. That’s reality. And I model that it’s totally possible to be successful, 25 minutes at a time.
Integrity.
My parents have always taught me that at the end of the day, all you have is your integrity. If you wouldn’t want your mom to know you’re doing something, don’t do it. I refuse to run a recorded webinar and pretend it’s live.
I let people know when things are recorded. Inside my membership, each month I go live to share what I earned AND what I spent. Because it’s one thing to say, “Oh, I made $10k in course sales,” and it’s totally different to say, “I made $10k in course sales and spent $8k on Facebook ads.” My students LOVE getting the WHOLE picture.
If you’re feeling burnt out, it’s either because you’re doing too much of the work on your own, or because the work is no longer in alignment with your passion and beliefs.
Jerome Knyszewski: Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
Abbi Perets: If you’re feeling burnt out, it’s either because you’re doing too much of the work on your own, or because the work is no longer in alignment with your passion and beliefs. So, you need to figure out which of those things is true (it could also be both!), and take steps to change it. I brought on a team so that I could focus on what I love most: creating amazing content for my students. I pay people to do the graphics and schedule the emails and build the sales pages and recoup the failed payments, so I get to do what I love doing most.
Jerome Knyszewski: What are the most common mistakes you have seen CEOs & founders make when they start a business? What can be done to avoid those errors?
Abbi Perets: In the online space, I see way too many people think they can start a business with no money down. Get out of that mindset NOW. You have to invest in good tech, tools, and people. It’s insane to think that you can build an online business with a Gmail address, a free website, and the cheapest freelancer you can find on Craigslist.
You have to invest in good tech, tools, and people. Abbi Perets
Jerome Knyszewski: In your experience, which aspect of running a company tends to be most underestimated? Can you explain or give an example?
Abbi Perets: Again, I can only speak to the online space. I think that very few of us here have ANY preparation for running a company. We start off as solopreneurs or service providers, we get an idea and run with it, and all of a sudden, we have a team, and we step into a CEO role we are ENTIRELY unprepared for. I’m personally investing this year in training and coaching around that, specifically. The transition from “having an online business” to “being the CEO of a company” is a big deal, and a lot of us ignore that.
Jerome Knyszewski: You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Abbi Perets: I’d start a Mister Rogers movement. Recently, in an effort to bring more kindness into my life, I’ve been watching a daily episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. I think about the way he speaks and listens, and the specific lessons in each episode. I think that if everyone in the world started the day with 28 minutes of Mister Rogers, we’d all be a lot happier.
Jerome Knyszewski: How can our readers further follow you online?
Abbi Perets: Check out Successful Freelance Mom on:
Jerome Knyszewski: This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this!
