I am a boomer who left my work to travel. I am now independent.

This also deposited test is based on a conversation with the 62 -year -old freelancer, Melissa Harlow. It has been changed for duration and clarity.

Before Freelanced, I was director of the service of caregivers at home of our local trauma center and our medical center.

It was probably the best work I never had.

I was at work for about a year. Most of my career was non -profit.

My husband and I planned to travel for a few years. I knew I was going to have to Leave my job.

We made a lot of micro -objectives – Sell our goods on that date, reimburse all our debts On this date, having a boat on this date, and ending our sailing lessons on this date. We bought the boat in early 2015 and I resigned in December 2015.

Navigate the Pacific

On January 14, 2016, at 11 p.m., we left for The Dark Abyss in our boat.

We went from San Diego through the Pacific Ocean, just us. It took 24 days and we landed in the islands of French Polynesia. We sailed in the islands, then we sailed to HawaiiThen back in California.

My husband was in the Coast Guard and he is also a surfer. For him, water was just a comforting thing. I was not a surfer. I was afraid of water. I didn’t know anything about the sail.

I would say that the sail is not what it looks like in the movies. It was epic and dangerous, but I wouldn’t say romantic and fun, at least for me. It was more like, ok, I said I was going to do that and now I’m going to do that, and I put it, I will learn to do it.

We sold the boat, and with this same pot of money, we Bought a motorhome and traveler ALASE TOWS AND AT THE CONDUCT OF CANADA and ALASKA for a year.

We have in fact heard a podcast while we were traveling about a girl who made voices in her motorhome while she was traveling with her husband. I thought it may be something I could do on our return, because I felt changing.

I knew I was a different person, and I couldn’t go back to corporate world.

Go to independent life

When we returned, I literally did not have a job. We didn’t have anywhere to live. We had a car between the two of us. And so it was something that gives to think for me. I had always been very independent and a career woman.

We tried to sell boats for a while. None of us were in it. In the background, I created a business plan for my voiceover work.

Finally, I just said, I will press the trigger and I will do that. I set up a profile on Fiverr and a few other platforms. It was months before hearing anything. After this first order, it was then that it really started.

Freelance allows me to give real time to my parents, not only “I will be there when I can”. My husband and I go out a lot out of network. We backpack, we campWe go to exotic places, we go to tropical places.

I would not have wanted to have made this career change earlier. I was not ready.

My self -taught voice of voice Off has attracted NASA and other organizations

I didn’t know anything about the work of voiceover. I didn’t even know what a form of voice wave looked like. I had to learn everything. I had nowhere to really record. I had to learn in what type of microphone to speak and all the different aspects of sound engineering.

I have just dive and self-bother everything. 2018 was when I took freelancers seriously.

I average $ 30,000 at $ 35,000 per year on Fiverr. Overall, I won $ 200,000 on the platform. I could push it even more if I wanted, but I must be available for my parents and my children. This is why I want to live this lifestyle.

Our lives are very minimal. We don’t need a lot. I knew it would take time to build freelanceAnd it was ok. We had no debt or anything we had to worry about.

My diploma is in psychology, so it is important for me just to help people. This may be why I agree to make 35 large per year, because I like the orders I receive from the mom and pop people who come to me who need a professional voice.

Orders come to Fiverr. I work very hard to make my professional profile and put samples there. I have not paid a professional to do none of my demos, and yet I have always attracted Airbus, NASA, places like this one.

It would be incredible to do voiceover off for Google or Amazon, or a great national advertisement. I am not really starred because, for me, a work of $ 40 is as important as a work of $ 1,000.

My previous work, which was the best job I had, the tools were there. I had to make the voiceover work the best work of my life. I also founded Volunteer voiceWho associates voluntary voice actors like me with non -profit organizations that need help. It kept me anchored and I feel like I do something good for society. I want to leave an inheritance.

The two things together are literally perfect. It keeps me busy. It makes me learn. All the things that this perfect work I had when I left is now here, but I did all that myself.

Someone says, “I want Leave my job. I want to do what she does, “You must be afraid. You must be able to say:” I’m going to do it, get out of my comfort zone, stop spending money on stupid stuff and putting it on the calendar. “”

Have you changed a career? Contact this journalist at mhoff@businessinsider.com.