The following is a guest post by Holly, a freelancer writer and blogger I’ve known for over five years. I’ve seen her grow her side-hustle, ClubThrifty.com from a tiny site to one that has allowed her and her husband, Greg to quit their day jobs.

Freelance writing is the easiest way to get started making money online. I did some various freelance writing after I left my day job just to make sure I wouldn’t starve to death. Despite receiving a severance and having passive income streams, I’m never 100% sure I’m doing the right thing until a long enough time passes. 

Freelance writing is also one of the main reasons why I’ll never be scared of running out of money again. I know that if all else fails, I can tap my network of startups I’ve cultivated since 2012 for writing assignments. Once you become an established online writer, you can easily make more than the median household income earns a year. Take it away Holly!

As someone who gets paid to create interesting content for the web, I recognize writing talent in everyday people all the time. Sometimes it’s a thoughtful and poetic Facebook post crafted by someone I know. Other times, it’s a witty email, a clever take on an issue, or a handwritten card filled with all the right words.

That doesn’t mean everyone wants to write for a living, but some people absolutely do. Over the years, I’ve watched several of my friends take up blogging to express themselves and (hopefully) begin a digital career. Unfortunately, far too many never blog long enough to build anything meaningful. It’s hard at first, they’ll say, and there are few rewards for someone just starting out.

One of my friends, Karen, is the perfect example of a would-be writer who couldn’t hang in there. After brainstorming passionately for months, she started a blog of her own and poured everything she had into it. But, just a few months later, I noticed she, too, sputtered out.

She worked in a grueling job with hectic hours and desperately needed a change, yet she couldn’t juggle both the blogging and the career. Frustrated, she chose to settle on her regular, 9-5 job. For all the talent she had, giving up was such a shame.

Then again, I totally understood where she was coming from. I could have ended up just like Karen. In fact, I was Karen at least five or six times. When my husband and I started our blog in 2011, I quit at least once per month. I had a full-time job that consumed most of my waking hours, and seemingly, my life force. Oh, and I also had two kids under the age of three.

How safe are we really? It’s hard to know when you hear about an Uber driver gunning down six people in Kalamazoo, Michigan between rides. He had a 4.73 rating out of 5.0, and had zero traffic violations since 2006. Granted, he did have six speeding tickets before 2006, which should have raised eyebrows, especially if one’s function is to move passengers in a vehicle.

I’d like to give some perspective from a driver’s point of view regarding what could have made the Kalamazoo killer go postal and what you can do as a passenger to stay safer. There is nothing that can condone murder, but perhaps more human kindness and improving the way we interact with one another could help prevent a tragic event like this from happening again. I’ve got over 400 rides under my belt and experienced a lot of bullshit that tested my patience. The widening gap between the rich and poor is one of the most important problems we face today.