Why I Started Building My Freelance Career Before I Needed It (And Why You Should Too)

In August 2023, I moved from Malaysia to the UAE to follow my husband. He had gotten a job in Abu Dhabi, UAE and I had the choice to go with him.

I say “choice”… but for a lot of women, that situation doesn’t actually feel like a choice. It feels like a negotiation between your career and your relationship. And most of the time, the career is the thing that gives way.

For me, (Alhamdulillah) it didn’t have to be. I had already been building something of my own for years before that moment arrived.

When I landed in Abu Dhabi, I was still a freelance copywriter. My clients were still there. The work was still there. I just happened to be doing it from a different country now.

A year later, I moved again, this time to Saudi Arabia. Three days after arriving, still heavily jet-lagged, adjusting to a new environment and freezing in the cold (who knows Riyadh can be that cold! 🥶) I wasn’t expecting,  I opened my laptop and kept working.

“Wow you’re so disciplined, Naz!”

To tell you the truth, I’m not particularly disciplined.

The thing I didn’t know I was building

I didn’t know, back in 2018 when I started, that I would one day follow my husband to the Middle East. I wasn’t thinking that far ahead.

I just knew I wanted something that was mine. A skill, a career, an income, something I had built myself and could carry with me.

I started with social media copywriting. Working with small businesses, accepting low rates. It wasn’t glamorous. I wasn’t even thinking about my future expat life (I did dream to marry a foreigner and moved abroad tho haha).

But at that time, I was just learning and taking some actions.

Then I got a full-time job at a digital marketing agency and learned ads copywriting properly before I went full-time freelancing.

In 2024, I built a membership for other copywriters. Each step was just the next thing that made sense, it wasn’t really a calculated move toward some big vision.

But turns out, all of it compounded. And when my life changed in ways I couldn’t have predicted, I had something solid underneath me.

“Options” Most Women Don’t Realise They Have

Here’s a conversation I see playing out silently in so many of our lives, ladies:

You want financial security. But you also don’t want to miss the moments that matter — your child’s first words, first steps, the ordinary Tuesday afternoons that somehow become the memories you keep.

So you stay in a job that pays steadily but leaves you with no flexibility. Or you stop working altogether when life changes and then spend years trying to rebuild from scratch.

Both options feel like a compromise. Like you have to give something up no matter what. Feel you ladies!

But there is a third option and most people don’t talk about it because it requires you to start before you feel ready, before you feel like you need to, before there’s any urgency at all.

The option is this: build a career that is designed for your whole life, not just your life RIGHT NOW.

The 5 Things to Build Now, While You Still Have Time

I came across a framework in The Diary of a CEO by Steven Bartlett — the idea of five “buckets” that determine your long-term success.

When I read it, I immediately thought “this is exactly what everyone needs to hear”, especially if you want to build flexible careers that can carry you through seasons of life.

Here’s how I apply it ⤵️

1. Learn a skill that can be paid — and actually apply it

This sounds obvious. But you don’t want to just accumulate knowledge without ever building real capability from it.

I chose copywriting. You might choose other skills like coding, AI, graphic design, UI/UX, virtual assistance, or something else entirely. What matters is that you pick something, go deep on it, and actually use it, not just study it.

The skill is your foundation. Everything else gets built on top of it.

And start as early as you can. Even if you’re not married yet. Even if you have no plans to go freelance anytime soon. Even if your life feels stable and there’s no obvious reason to start.

2. Monetise before you feel ready

This is the one most people skip or delay and it costs them the most time.

Once you have a basic skill, start finding ways to earn from it. Offer your services. Promote what you do. Put yourself out there before you feel perfectly polished or fully confident.

I know it’s uncomfortable. I know imposter syndrome is real. I know it feels safer to stay in learning mode until you’re “sure.”

But you will never feel completely ready. Confidence comes from doing, not from preparing to do.

Every month you wait to monetise is a month of experience, feedback, and growth that you’re leaving on the table.

Start small. Start imperfect. Start now.

3. Build your network before you need it

I started building my network in 2018, back when I was running my first online business. I wasn’t even thinking of it as networking at the time. I was just showing up, connecting with people, and trying to make some friends.

Years later, those relationships became the foundation of my client base.

Here’s why this matters: when life gets busy. For instance, when you have a newborn, or you’ve just moved countries, or you’re going through something hard, trust me you won’t have the energy for intensive client outreach. You want work to come to you, not the other way around.

BUT, that only happens when you’ve built the foundation way earlier.

So start now. Join communities. Make friends in your industry. Think about how your skills can benefit others before you think about what you can get.

Be a giver first. The network you build today is the pipeline that sustains you later.

4. Accumulate resources in every form

Resources aren’t just money (though savings matter and you should absolutely build them!)

Resources are also knowledge, tools, mentors, and time. Every course you invest in, every skill you sharpen, every relationship you deepen, these are ALL resources that compound.

And they are much easier to build when you have the time and energy to build them intentionally, rather than scrambling to catch up when circumstances change.

Think of it like this: the woman who spent three years building skills, savings, and a network before she needed them is in a completely different position than the woman who starts from zero when life suddenly demands a change.

Both women are capable. But one of them has a runway. The other is trying to take off from a standing start. Be the woman with the runway. Give yourself enough leverage.

5. Build your reputation consistently, quietly, over time

Reputation is the result of everything above 👆, done over and over again.

It’s the clients who come back. The referrals from people who trust your work. The name that gets mentioned in conversations you weren’t even part of.

You can’t manufacture it quickly. And you absolutely can’t fake it.

You build it slowly by delivering good work, communicating honestly, keeping your promises, and showing up even when nobody is watching.

Start building yours now. I mean “NOW”, while you have the time and space to do it properly.

What Happens When You Don’t Build Early

I want to be honest about the alternative — not to frighten you, but because I think it must be talked about.

When you wait until life forces you to figure out your income, your options become very narrow.

You take whatever clients will have you because you need income immediately. You underprice yourself because you haven’t had time to build confidence or a track record.

You feel behind and rushed and like you’re starting over (even when you’re not).

I’ve watched this happen to women I know. Smart, capable women who simply didn’t get the advice to start early, so they didn’t.

And when circumstances changed (a move, a career break, a relationship ending), they found themselves rebuilding from scratch under pressure.

And when you’re building under so much pressure, you becomes vulnerable, you seek “quick fixes”, and it becomes riskier.

You deserve better than that. You deserve to make choices from a position of security, not desperation.

What “Freedom” Actually Looks Like

People hear “freelance career” and think about the Instagram version — laptop on a beach, setting your own hours, total bliss.

The reality is quieter and probably “more boring” than that 😅

Freedom, for me, looked like arriving in a new country three days after landing and opening my laptop to work on a my project. Without having to frantically sending my resumes everywhere just so I don’t remain “jobless” in a new country.

It looked like not having to ask anyone for permission to follow my husband. Not having to choose between my career and my marriage. Not having to explain a gap in my resume or take a significant pay cut to start over somewhere new.

And for you, it can be like choosing to have a longer maternity leave to spend more time with your newborn, choosing to hire a helper to take care of you and your family when you need it most.

It may not look much. But to some people, it can be life-changing but it is only possible when you have built it early, BEFORE you even need it.

A Note to Women Who Are “Not Ready Yet”

If you’re reading this and thinking..

I’ll start when the kids are older, when I have more time, when things settle down, when the time is right..

If there’s one thing you need to know, time and money rarely exist together especially when you haven’t built your leverage.

You don’t need a perfect plan. You don’t need to quit your job tomorrow or plan your entire life this week.

You just need to start one thing. Learn one skill. Make one connection. Take one small step toward the version of your life where you have options.

Because one day (maybe soon or maybe years from now), life will ask something of you that you didn’t see coming. A move. A change. A door closing somewhere and a new one opening somewhere else entirely.

And when that moment comes, you want to be ready. Not scrambling or rebuilding from zero.

Where to Start

If copywriting resonates with you — if you love writing, if you want a skill that works remotely, that pays well, and that can grow with you over time — then this is worth exploring seriously.

Copywriting is what gave me my freedom. It’s what I’ve been teaching Malaysian women to build for themselves inside TFCC Membership — not as a get-rich-quick scheme, but as a sustainable career built the right way.

But even if copywriting isn’t your path, the same principle stands:

Start building before you need it. Your future self will thank you.