60 Seconds with WITS Southeast Speaker — Erin Mullaney
Erin Mullaney is the Senior Web Developer at Erin Rachel Consulting, LLC. Her session at WITS Southeast is “Roll Your Own Tech Job: Starting a Business or Side Hustle from Scratch”.
Why is speaking at WITS important to you?
I attended and volunteered at the first ever WITS in Philadelphia when I lived there in 2012 and I’ve been watching the conference grow over the years. I was thrilled when WITS came down to my new home state of NC. The great content brings me to WITS each year and I’m excited to contribute to it when I can.
What inspires you?
Right now, I’m inspired by podcasts on the topic of financial independence, such as ChooseFI and Journey To Launch. I’m inspired by the many bloggers and podcasters in that genre because they think outside of the box in terms of jobs and living a frugal lifestyle so that one can really enjoy their precious life. I relate so much to their stories because I decided to go out on my own last year and start my own consulting business.
Most useful article you’ve read in the last month
I really liked In Praise of Not Doing It All, At Least Not Right Away by Elizabeth Willard Thames on her Frugalwoods blog. I really like her take in this article because she talks about freelancing while being at home as a lifestyle that can become overwhelming if you let your to-do list and multitasking get out of hand.
When you were a kid what was your dream job?
That’s a hard question to answer because my dream job was always changing. For a while, I wanted to be an architect, but now I love living in apartments and would never want to even attempt home improvements, so I feel like a bit of a different person. I’m so glad I chose to switch from architecture to computer science when I was in college. It was one of the best and most responsible decisions I’ve ever made and I’m honestly so surprised that young eighteen-year-old me was able to make it!
Quote about your session
For years, I never thought I was going to work for myself. I remember saying “I could never do that” to people I knew who had run their own business. Outside forces made me consider trying it last year. I’m never going back if I can help it because I’ve never felt so present and engaged in my own life.
