I escaped a cult and became a female breadwinner after starting on Upwork. Freelancing

• After escaping a cult, Julia McCoy turned freelancing on Upwork into a successful business.
• McCoy’s business, Express Writers, grew to $1.8 million in revenue with 100 contractors.
• She sold Express Writers for over $1 million and now runs FirstMovers.ai with AI agents.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Julia McCoy, a 33-year-old business owner in Arizona. Business Insider has verified the financial claims. This story has been edited for length and clarity.

I was 19 years old when I decided to follow my passion. I Googled “How to make money writing,” and I found Upwork, which back then was Odesk.

Freelancing on Upwork allowed me to escape the difficult living situation I grew up in. Once I was free, I turned my freelancing into a successful business. My entrepreneurial ventures now support my husband and two children.

I grew up in a cult that made it difficult to work

I lived inside what I considered to be a cult for over half my life. It was a religious extremist environment with a dress code of long dresses, curfews, and spiritual rules. I was allowed to use the internet, attend community college, and work at McDonalds, but only if I gave my father the bulk of my earnings.

Within a month of creating a freelancer profile, I tripled my income at McDonald’s. I woke up at 4 a.m. every day, applied for hundreds of gigs on Upwork, and fulfilled any gigs I got in the afternoons.

While freelancing, I met the man who would become my husband. Josh hired me to run SEO for his website, and we immediately hit it off. I told him about growing up in a cult, and I realized I had to get out.

I bought a car in cash with my freelance money in 2012, packed up in the middle of the night, and drove from Pennsylvania to Missouri to be with Josh. We started dating right away. I haven’t talked to my father since.

I made $30,000 in my first year as a freelancer

Being a one-woman show was difficult because I was responsible for the sales, marketing, content creation, tech, and fulfillment departments. Josh wanted to leave his business as a website developer, so he joined me as the CTO of my company, Express Writers.

We got married in 2013. Josh and I working together helped the business grow quickly, but everything else took a back seat once we had our daughter in 2014.

We started talking about the logistics of parenting. I had been the breadwinner since the beginning of our relationship and would continue to be.

We had stability because I hired some managers and implemented a delegation process. I could work an hour a day, sometimes even less, and spend most of my time with the baby.

Josh went back to building the technical side of the business, and I went all in on continuing to grow it after a year off

Josh worked a lot less than I did. As I worked more and late into the night, Josh took over making dinner, caring for our child, and doing household tasks.

The business grew significantly. Revenue hit $1.8 million in 2018.

My husband and I were the only employees, but we had 100 people who were all structured as contractors. My team did everything a client could need content-wise: Wrote blog posts and website pages, edited copy and articles, wrote ebooks and guides, and offered content strategy.

I sold my business and started a new one

When the business started making seven figures in revenue, I started to think about selling it. I wanted to do something else and was tired of being responsible for that many people. I also saw what ChatGPT was capable of, and AI was a real threat to writing and freelancing.

After hiring a brokerage specializing in e-commerce, I sold my business for over $1 million in 2021.

I started a new company called Content Hacker, which I would also sell to my next employer for a multimillion-dollar valuation in exchange for a partnership stake. I created courses, taught, and built an online community with Content Hacker.

Our son was born in March 2022

Josh stepped into his role of taking care of us four — the home, family, cleaning, and even growing food for us. He installed solar panels and made the house almost fully off-grid.

I don’t think I would’ve reached this place of success without Josh’s support. I’m very ambitious, and Josh knew if he were to try to box that in, I would lose my passion for life.

Next, I took a job at an AI startup

In January 2023, I discovered an AI company I was interested in and pitched the founder for a job. I told him I was a former content writer who had sold my agency, knew the content space, and could help his business grow.

He hired me, and by March, I was promoted to vice president of marketing. I was doing well, so I told him to make me president and bump my salary. My salary was $100,000 initially, but it increased to $300,000 by August 2023.

I’ve since left that position and returned to entrepreneurship with my third company, FirstMovers.ai. I have a small team and have created AI agents to manage most of the business’s tasks.

Josh takes care of everything at home, and I’m grateful

I start work at 8 a.m., and if I’m at a networking meeting, I might not be home until 9 p.m. When I do come home, everything is done and taken care of.

Even though I’m the breadwinner, we haven’t split up our finances — we share one bank account. Nobody has a side account; nobody says, “This is mine!”

We keep a family budget; if we want to make a big expenditure or investment, we discuss it and always make a joint decision. That communication has helped us overcome any kind of animosity.

Being the breadwinner has not affected the relationship romantically. It’s funny because Josh says he sees it as a very sexy thing.

I feel grateful for this opportunity to support our family and have an amazing husband who supports me by caring for the home and our children.