Writing has its side effects that not everyone will enjoy or tolerate including marketing, bookkeeping, paying your own taxes.

A dream job lets you love it so much that the nasty side effects are just part of the job not something that makes you sweat bullets (well, unless you injure yourself… carpal tunnel, anyone?)

You leave those NASCAR guys alone. They’ll kick both our a$$es.

I pinkie swear I didn’t take your word. Seriously, I sent that post to Deb early this morning. You can ask her. I guess we were just on the same wavelength today. That or I can’t seem to blog about anything else!

@ Michael S. - Thank you.

@ Pablo - That can be true. Generally, I think of the “pit crew” more as your peers or partners on the freelance side, rather than on the home front (though I don’t object to that idea, put forward by Michael K. in the first comment.) The goal is, of course, to turn the family and friends into “fans” or even “sponsors,” to carry the analogy much further than it was intended!

I loved the Pit Crew analogy. The problem is that in some cases your crew is not in tune with you, especially when you are part-time freelancer. For example, it is hard for partners or family members to understand why you are working on the computer on a sunny Sunday to reach a deadline

@Kristen: Thanks driving the above point home! =)

@Bob: Great post. I agree with John Ek that this has relevance to most freelance home-based businesses. My business occupies the application development and graphic design spaces and I can identify with all of the above points, isolation in particular. I find that getting out of the house (even if its down the street to a Wi-Fi enabled restaraunt or coffee house) goes part of the way to solving that isolated feeling by simply being around other people while working. Taking that idea to the next step and surrounding yourself with a group of like-minded professionals with whom you could collaborate would go the rest of the way.