This certainly sums up most of the reasons I decided not to become a freelancer. I did a few jobs, and decided that I did not have that kind of intestinal fortitude. I’m strictly a hobbyist writer.

Incidentally, you ever consider incorporating? Just create a one-man LLC. It has some tax advantages. And, more importantly, it looks better to people like mortgage companies to say “CEO of TerribleMinds, Inc.” rather than “semi-employed penmonkey for hire.” From what I understand, it’s pretty easy and relatively cheap. It does involve talking to a lawyer, though. Preferably without killing the lawyer. That may not be worth it.

My tax lady and financial adviser have both been a little shaky on the pros of incorporating — I revisit the topic yearly, so maybe this year will be the one. I dunno.

– c.

All of those reasons are reasons why I’m looking (and failing to find -_-) a day job rather than extend myself into freelancing. I don’t know how you folks do it everyday, but I love that you do.

See, this just makes me want to go that route even more. My wife and I have incorporated (Chrysalis Creative Services, LLC) what is mostly a graphic design studio (she is the designer, I write copy and work on web design). We are hunting, but the fact that we both have day jobs (and mine is more than 50 hours a week with commutes included) is making that (and writing regularly) difficult. I’ve had to turn away clients for web design because I’m maxed out on what I can do in the extremely limited time I have. I’m feeling like I just need to make the leap sometime in 2011.

Of late I’ve been writing more, and I kinda miss being a full time writer for all of the reasons you mention. When Teagan was born, I was still a full time WW-er (working remote, which is basically all of the perks and none of the downsides, except for the crappy pay), but shortly thereafter I went back to full-timing it again.

And see, at the time, work *did* fall into my lap, but that ship has sailed. So I’m glad that I can still find some work, and I do miss being able to write at my own pace and play video games mid-day.

But see, I work in education. I get 14 weeks a year off, 11 of them consecutively, and I get to do *no* work and still get a paycheck. So I’m doing OK.

I’m an ex-freelancer. Or on a break from freelancing. I was a freelancer for two months shy of eight years.

Since July, I have worked in the administration of a university, writing rulebooks (which use the same font as the first edition AD&D rulebooks, which is hilarious). I’ve been doing it for two months.

As a freelancer, I worked 80-hour weeks. I barely made enough to support myself, let alone my wife and kids. Towards the end, I burnt out. I barely wrote a word between January and June this year, and stopped dreaming. I stopped dreaming. I lost my imagination.

I was in a bad place.

I’ve spent two months in an office and I am earning several times over what I earned as a freelancer, enough that my wife can pack in her job and stay at home with the kids, which is what she wanted to do all along. I don’t have to work another evening or another weekend. No more 9-day weeks or 32-hour days (that’s not an exagerration). I go home at 4.30pm and chill. I get to spend Saturday with my family.

I am writing poems and fiction again. A I started having interesting dreams a couple weeks ago. The Crunch starts again on Thursday and I’m proud to have been one of the people behind that.

I am a little sad about not being a freelancer.

[...] http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2010/09/07/want-to-be-a-freelancer-just-punch-yourself-in-the-face-i... [...]

The hardest thing for me is getting friends and family to realise that just because I’m at home, doesn’t I’m “at home” in the way they are.

When they’re at home, it’s because their work is done. When I’m at home, it’s because I’m at work. And I’m doing 12 hours a day, at that.

It never fails to fucking stagger me (and hurt my feelings) at how so many of them miss the point.

“Why are you tired? You’ve been home all day.”

“Why isn’t the house cleaned up? You’ve been home all day.”

“Why do you have a headache? You haven’t done anything today.”

I’ve only dipped my toe in the freelancing pond to see if the water is the right temperature, and it scares me. I want to do this sort of thing, but I also want to make money and not worry about each next source of moolah.

I need to use that word more. Moolah. Moolah. What would you like in your coffee? Two sugars, a little Irish creme, and some moolah, please.

What? Right. Anyway. What concerns me about doing it is that I don’t know where to look for work, per se, aside from rpg-companies, because several very cool and helpful people have pointed me in the right directions. There has to be more to freelancing than games, obviously, I just don’t know where to look.

Then there is the doubt thing. I get worried every time I send a query that someone will right back “Look, dude, we’ve been talking about you. Not us as a company, all of us. The whole fucking world. This shit was fun while we were high, but it’s getting old. Put the keyboard down. Go flip burgers. Believe me, we’ll all be better for it. Yes, I do want fries with that.” If just waiting for one response is nerve-wracking, then going through that multiple times a month must be excruciating.

Then again, fuck it. It’s fun.

I took a month of my day job to help look after my little girl, during that time I though about being a freelance editor. I edit as a day job, I could then ease my way into writing. First thing I applied for played out, just waiting for a contract. Like Chuck I have the wife who can bring home a good regular paycheck, that frees me up to give this a shot. I’m keeping my day job for as long as I can though. I’m not ready to let go of the steering wheel just yet.

Hey Chuck, if you weren’t with the wife, do you think you would have still been able to pull it off?

@AaronDB: Hell, yes. I have been there so many times.

Chuck,

I’d be happy to discuss the pros and cons of turning yourself into The Man, i.e. becoming an LLC. I have some experience and knowledge in this area. I wouldn’t like to do it via email, though, so if you’re keen, let me know via email and we’ll arrange a call.

Dave

My wife “works for herself” and usually work pretty long hours. The checks don’t always come on time, but she get to make choices about her day everyday.
I on the other hand am a wage slave. I love getting a pay check every other Friday and getting every other Friday off (working 9 hours days).
Definitely would miss complaining (about everything) with guys if I worked from home or was self employeed.

I worked for myself 5 years ago and other than feeling anxious 24 by 7 about money it was great.

I love to point people to Scalzi’s Money Advice for Writers post: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/02/11/unasked-for-advice-to-writers-about-money/

It’s great advice, and it also hammers home that fact that freelancing is not exactly a slam dunk into your checking account.

I’ve been freelancing for a bit more than three years now (and working from home for eight.) I love it because of the liberty it gives me. I can do all the Mom Stuff without worrying about it hurting my career — all of the middle-of-the-day school parties, karate lessons, bringing in the forgotten lunch. And yeah, I can knock off and play Dragon Age or DDR or whatever if I feel like it. “Research!”

And it’s not just personal freedom, it’s creative freedom, too. When I’m stuck, I don’t have to hammer my forehead on my keyboard until I’ve put my hours in. I can go to the gym or take a shower or put up some peach-ginger preserves and let my subconscious do its thing without feeling guilty that yes, sometimes that’s just the process.

On the other hand, I have some serious workaholic tendencies, and the unending pressure to hustle plus the lack of contextual cues to relax make it so that I… don’t relax or stop working much. Plus I hate giving quotes and I hate invoicing and I hate hassling people who haven’t paid when they were supposed to. But you’ve got to do it.

Still, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Maybe the cost/benefit analysis will come down differently when my kids are bigger, who knows? And it would certainly be different if I weren’t one of the lucky ones with a spouse with a nice, stable job with health insurance. But for now, I’m lucky, I know I’m lucky, and I wonder what I could possibly have done to deserve it.

See? Already this morning, life has intruded upon freelancing — delivery guys, dogs need walking, etc.etc. — and now I’m just playing catch up. *headdesk*

– c.

@Andrea: All true, and next week I think I’ll do a sister post that talks about the truly awesome side of freelancing.

@Robertus: I do very much like the ability to make my own choices. It precludes that I make good ones, but whaddyagonnado?

@Dave: Diggit. I may take you up on that.

@Wood: That was the trick for me — work hard, but not work too hard, or so hard it kills you.

@Darren: My wife is a key part of being able to do what I do. Could I pull it off without her? I mean, I guess technically, yes. But it would be a row almost too hard to hoe — having her around is a critical component to that. Goes to show, though, just how the world is not built for the freelancer or entrepreneur — we must rely on the kindnesses of others to exist, sometimes.

@Rick: “Moolah” sounds like some weird, never-used racial epithet. As to where to look — well, technically, you can look anywhere. Pub companies, magazines, websites. Just depends what kind of freelancing you want to do/can be good at doing.

– c.

There are times when I love it and there are times when I hate it. I don’t freelance full-time, so it’s more of a hobby for me.

When the words and ideas are flowing, it’s one of the most wonderful, addictive things that I know. The sheer rush of creating stuff is such a buzz.

But when the words won’t flow, then it’s a major league pain in the arse. Forcing myself to sit and write stuff, when I’d much rather be doing just about ANYTHING else. is a drag. But I do it anyway, because I don’t ever want to blow a deadline.

Then there’s all the other painful and/or annoying stuff like work drying up after a couple of assignments, or developers who are hard to get in touch with, or a lack of feedback on the stuff I’ve written so I can do better next time, or readers with an over-developed sense of entitlement and a belly full of hate, or not getting paid for months after the book come out (and sometimes not at all) or readers who talk about everything else in a book, but somehow always skip on mentioning my stuff or a list of other stuff.

But all of that fades into insignificance when the author’s copies show up. Seeing stuff that I’ve written actually appear in a book is just the BEST thing. I’ve never grown tired of it, and I’ve been freelancing on and off for eleven years now.

@Aaron:

The hardest thing for me is getting friends and family to realise that just because I’m at home, doesn’t I’m “at home” in the way they are.

“Why do you have a headache? You haven’t done anything today.”

Yeah. That, exactly.

– c.

@Matt:

I try not to do much in the middle of the day anymore that is “play.” I figure, I’ll reserve that for the hours “after” work so to speak — the only form of leisure I take during the day, outside Internet stuff like social media, is reading. Reading has a leisure quality, but is also something that bolsters the work in its own weird way, too.

– c.

Freelancing. Geeze, I was almost over the nightsweats and flashbacks and you have to go and do a blog post.

Yeah, I freelanced. I did twenty years, 1986 – 2006. Actually got over the hump and had a pretty good business humming along. You gotta have a niche, and the whole vampire/gaming niche sounds like a lot more fun than mine. I did marcom work for professional service firms, accounting firms mostly. You needed 3500 words explaining what tax treaty changes in the EU meant for US companies’ transfer pricing strategies? I was your guy. Yeah, OK, it was boring. But I was past the where’s-next-week’s-check-coming-from stage. Arthur Andersen was the biggest accounting firm in the freakin’ world, and their HQ was right here in Chicago and I was dug in like a tick. Ads, newsletters, collateral, web copy, even speeches for the executive team. What could go wrong?

Oh. Enron. Well, OK, there’s that.

Sure, I had other clients, but Andersen was more than half my business, gone overnight. And suddenly their whole marcom department was out on the street looking for gigs while they scrambled for jobs, calling all the same people I knew, and it’s not like accountants don’t understand the whole supply and demand thing, so the average hourly rate (and don’t get me started on hourly rates, either) went from around $100 an hour to $50 if you were lucky.

Oh, and those how-do-I-break-in-to-freelancing-calls? Gotta love those.

“Dan? This is Marsha, the entitled bitch? I know your wife from the mom’s group at school? Say, I’m a pretty good writer, and I’m looking to get back into working, but something that doesn’t take up too much time from tennis and stuff, ya’know? I thought maybe you could give me some tips on this freelancing thing.”

“Screw writing Marsha. How do you feel about selling?”

“Selling?”

“Where do you think the jobs come from Marsha?”

“Oh. But you must have lots of contacts.”

“And you want me to share them with you?”

“Well . . .”

“You want me to call up my contacts and say ‘hey, those projects you send me that pay may mortgage and feed my kids, go ahead and send some of those on over to Marsha, OK? I can always dig up some more work somewhere else.’ Do you know what I went through to get those clients, Marsha? Do you know how much arcane business nonsense I’ve had to internalize to do the damn work? Do you know what MACRS is, Marsha? Or the difference between LIFO and FIFO? Or what the PBGIC is and why an HR department needs to care? Of course you don’t. See, even if I gave you my contacts’ names, you wouldn’t be able to do the work.”

“Well . . .”

“You see Marsha, I don’t want you freelancing. I don’t want anyone else freelancing. I don’t encourage competition. And when I find new competitors on my patch, my new goal becomes to shut them down, to steal all their work. To go to their homes and burn their offices and to sow the ashes with salt so that nothing ever grows their again.”

“Well . . .”

“Say hi to Floyd, Marsha.” Click.

I was almost over it. Almost.

@Dan:

You should just jack that comment right into a post of your own, it is Just That Brilliant.

– c.

@Dan: So, what you’re saying, is that you won’t give me your contacts?

The real joy of freelancing is the balancing act between taking on more than you can handle, and not enough to, y’know, eat. Do I stick with just taking work from Clients A and B, which will (barely) pay the bills, or do I chase after Client C and wrestle a big project out of them? What if that big project overruns, and I end up failing to deliver for A or B? Or what if I don’t chase down C, and then A stops throwing gigs my way? And where I do make time for my own projects X, Y and Z?

Freedom, horrible terrifying freedom.

[...] morning Chuck suggested folks interested in freelance writing punch themselves in the face instead. To an extent, I agree. Chasing down work constantly, uncertain of the time money will be coming [...]

Two non-obvious reasons I incorporated were as a liability shield for our household, and to make it easier to see where the freelance income and expenses stood, apart from the main household finances. (Although you could certainly do the latter without incorporating, I suppose.) It also seems to be saving me money, though, tax-wise.

The part I think I’m never going to get over is, sometimes I don’t feel like I’m doing anything. If I’m watching a movie or television show, or reading a book because I have to for a project, it feels like wasted time. When I’m promoting a product, I’m not writing. When I’m brainstorming and taking notes for ideas, those words will never see the final product and it feels like I’m wasting my time.

A lot of times, my work ethic is entrenched in ‘deliverables.’ I’m not sure how to get away from that mindset.

From what your saying and what I’ve seen, freelancing looks a lot like being a professional artist. Looks like something easy and with a lot of freedom from the outside, but on reality more work and time commitment than your average 9-5, and good luck getting others to understand that. By that same token, I’d say that one becomes a freelancer for the same reason one becomes an artist: to some extent, it’s what we are.

I have the luxury to say that, while I work freelance, I am also a “translator”. Nobody outside the biz actually knows how it works anyway, so everybody just assumes I am employed by a company or the mayor’s office, while banks just need me to say “wolny zawód” (“free work”).

I always keep the following things in mind when it comes to working for yourself:

* Steve Kenson summed it up for me thusly: “Working for yourself is great — you set your own hours. Any 80 hours per week you want.”

* The biggest thing that people don’t get about the whole “home office” thing is that YOU ALWAYS FEEL LIKE YOU’RE AT WORK. “Done” for the day doesn’t exist, because there’s always something else that needs doing. If you’re downstairs watching TV with the wife, part of your brain beats you up that you’re “wasting time”, and could be working. You don’t Work From Home — You Live At Work.

* When I end up putting in “just a couple of hours” on the weekends, or on the day after Thanksgiving, etc. I tell people that I have to work, because my Boss is an Asshole.

* You seriously need to build up a thick skin for the whole “it’s not a Real Job” comments, otherwise it’ll quickly become Tower-and-Rifle Time (which, of course, isn’t conducive to a healthy relationship with the In-Laws). I wish this was more of a snarky joke than it is, sadly.

This post was magnificent. I can’t find a job for shit, and if I do I get laid off. I spend up to 12, sometimes 15 hours a day on the internet just writing short stories, submitting them, re-editing my novel, and otherwise just dicking around.

I love it. I’ve always said I wish I could find a way to get paid for this.

It seems like two of the hardest components of this lifestyle are lack of money and your family (ok, your WIFES family) and friends not understanding you, OR what you do.

Well, I’m not getting paid anything now and my wifes family already thinks I’m an asshole.

I’d like to learn more about this freelance road that you travel. A road filled with twist, turns, roadblocks, and pot holes deep enough to swallow an eighteen wheeler pulling an oversized mobile home.

This sounds like the best and worst job a person could ever want.

All I can say is—spot-on. I freelanced full-time (mostly writing, with a little editing and graphic design thrown in on the side) from 1998 to 2004, and I’ve written part-time since then. Everything you said is so, SO true, and a large part of the reason I took a full-time job in 2004. And the scary thing is, a part of me still misses writing full-time, and still hopes to return to that. Maybe after my wife has gotten a full-time job of her own again.

All true stuff, Chuck. Where I live, though, we’ve had just under 20% unemployment. People who worked for the GM plant north of here were tossed out on their ears, and the companies that relied on them and their regular spending shut down too. Working for someone else isn’t much a guarantee of security these days either.

I love freelancing. I’ve had one full-time job with a company I didn’t own in the last 20 years. I took it to get health insurance for my family after my wife had quadruplets. I got out of it as soon as I could and went right back to freelancing again.

I’m very (very very) lucky that I have a job in the theatre which puts my schedule so outside that of everyone else I may as well write as I’ve got no one to talk to.

This means I get a regular paycheck and time to write and freelance without having to worry about the morgage. I get the best of both worlds, freedom and extra cash but still a steady paycheck, but working 2 jobs doesn’t leave much time for anything else, or worse means you can’t take on as much as you’d like.

I realised I could never be a full time freelancer when I simply did the maths after a big project. I was commisioned for about 30,000 words on a dream project I was really hungry to write for, and that work took a month to do. That was as much as I could do in a month and the paycheck would have in no way covered the morgage, thats on the naive assumption I’d get that amount of work every month anyway.

Still, while there is a large part of me that would love to throw myself into working on RPGs full time, being a part time freelancer is pretty damn good and I’ve been really lucky with the projects I’ve worked on. I’d recommend it as the best path until you have at least established yourself.

Oh, BTW, I’ve looked into incorporating in the past, and decided it’s completely not worth it. See: http://www.ninc.com/sample_articles/inc.asp and http://www.publishlawyer.com/carousel6.htm

FWIW, my accountant agrees there’s no point to it.

@Andrea –

Yeah, our accountant said something along the lines of the benefits of incorporation being something of a myth, at least for most straight-up independent contractors. Thanks for the links.

– c.

Wonderful article! I’ve had the problem with the mortgage people at the bank, who refused to consider my income even though I was the primary breadwinner and had the tax forms and check stubs to prove it. Fortunately, friends and acquaintances have never batted an eye, and sometimes they even seem impressed. And I’ve had better job security the last few years than most people I know. Still working on the work-life balance thing — my husband and I manage to get out to see a movie together a couple of times a year! I enjoy “the hunt” and would never give up the endless variety of work and challenges for anything. Or the working in pajamas with public radio on and a cat in my lap, watching the birds at the feeder in my backyard.

Anyway, thanks for sharing an honest take on the freelance life. I hope all the people who approach me, wanting to do what I do but “part-time and on a very flexible schedule,” read it.

[...] Geeze, I was almost over the nightsweats and flashbacks and then Chucky the Freelance Penmonkey had to go and do a blog post. And I had to go and comment. And ol’ Chucky pointed out that I [...]

Nice posting. A little depressing for a new fulltime freelancer like myself. But, still, I’d much rather punch myself in the face than be punched in the face by others, which is honestly how (metaphorically) every single job I’ve ever had in my adult life has been. And if not a punch in the face, then the glass ceiling.

That said, I don’t have a mortgage (yet), so perhaps my tune will change if I ever put down on a house. But I don’t plan on it anytime soon.

Oh, and about the loneliness thing. That is starting to get to me.

I’m thinking about joining a Coworking space (although I get the sense they are more geared toward tech people). Would be curious if anyone has any experience with this?

Thanks much.

ADB got me here. the things you say were very helpfull. i was going to freelancing but i think now i would prefer being a wage slave. for now

El Chuckbo -

You are overlooking one potential benefit of incorporation. You can then employee yourself. No, no real tax benefits for you, but when the bank says “Hey, do you have a job?” you can say, “Why yes. I am senior penmonkey over at Syphilitic Penmonkeys Inc.” You can cut yourself paychecks and everything. You can even have Ms. Chuckbo administer spankings as part of the whole annual review thing if you like.

Dan

When I was laid off, I had every intention of getting another job. Desk, cubicle, weekly paycheck. Yep, wanted that.

But I was laid off at the very beginning of the swell and the jobs that were there were filled by people more qualified than I was.

Freelancing saved me. I feel very fortunate for the opportunities that have come my way. I’ve met some great people and have some nice credits prepped for release.

As someone with two young kids, I struggle to balance hobbies, work, and family. I struggle hard. I like the freelancing I’m doing–it really did save me and continues to be a good thing in my life–but I imagine I’d take a full-time job if the right one came along.

I realized a long time ago that I’m just too lazy to ever freelance! I rather write as a hobby.

One good reason to incorporate: Some high-profile clients will not hire sole proprietors to do their contract writing, only businesses. I’ve seen this in action.

Ah, and what about the infamous “IF you get a paycheck” element?

Sure, you did the work. You turned it in. Now you can await the glorious moment when your client tells you s/he didn’t actually have the money. Or that s/he’s having hard times. Or that s/he’s just encountered some disaster that means that money’s not quite as available as it was when you signed on. Thrill to the occasional bankruptcy notice from your former client – a joy seasoned by the fact that you might just have to fight in court to get back the rights to the work for which you labored but were never paid… it goes on and on. I know the drill all too well.

Oh, yeah – and the statement, “Well, you do fill-in-the-blank because you LOVE it, right? Why should you worry about getting paid for it, too?” I wish I had a paycheck for every idiot who’s ever asked me this with a straight face. It’s not work if you love it? Yeah, that’s right – I sit at a keyboard all day until my wrists and hands cramp up because I don’t actually need to be paid…

Do plumbers ever have to put up with this shit?

- SatyrPhil Brucato

After not freelancing for… four? five?… years now, I started toying with the notion of doing it in my free time while in school. Then reality slapped me in the face with a rotting tuna: school is like freelancing in that “free time” is a myth. Yeah, you can study and write papers and do projects whenever you like, but you do have a deadline and any time not spent on doing those things usually means that you’re feeling guilty as hell and also jeopardizing yourself — you never know when an emergency will crop up, or some catastrophic mistake will occur, costing you time and craftsmanship.

School is worse, though, because you don’t get paid for it. You pay someone else to judge your work. Kinda makes me miss freelancing.

I’ve been freelancing for about 10 years total. I may get a squeaky vertabrae from nodding in agreement with many of the observations here.

I may have missed it, but has anyone mentioned the joy of paying quarterly estimated taxes? Not to mention the delightfully high premiums on even the most bare-bones individual health insurance policies. The fun never ends!

You have summed it up. I could have written this myself, except I’m not as gifted with metaphor. But I hear you, brother.

And I wouldn’t give it up for the world.

Just wanted to let you know I linked to this on my Facebook page. We’re mostly comic book freelancers, but the true sentiment is universal.

@Gene:

Glad you thought so, and thanks for the link! Honored to have you here, by the way. You do amazing work.

– c.

My name is Laura, and just like every other comic book writer and artist out there, I’m a freelancer. Everything in this article, and everything in the comments, has been absolutely true for me, except that I don’t often get the “but it’s not a REAL job” comment. What I get instead is, “Ooo, you work in COMICS? That must be FUN!” Yes, yes it is. I get to color all kinds of fun things. Yes, I’ve worked for Marvel and DC. Yes, I’ve colored your favorite superhero. Yes, I’m looking forward to the Thor and Captain America movies. My house is filled with action figures and comic art.

I also get to stay up for 48 hours straight trying to nail a deadline, and I’ve done that at least twice a month for the last fifteen years. It takes a toll on the body and mind, trust me. I’ve spent hundreds of dollars on concert tickets for shows I didn’t get to see. I only just recently managed to get my own health insurance plan, and it doesn’t cover a whole lot. And I haven’t had a real-honest-to-god vacation where I didn’t take work with me since…uh…wow. I can’t even remember.

Why do any of us do it? For the love of the craft, the respect of the fans, the history of the characters. We do it because we’re fanboys and fangirls ourselves. We do it because we were always the outsider geeks as children, and we embrace our outsider geek culture as adults. We do it because it keeps us young, just as much as it ages us prematurely.

Also, comics conventions are way more freakin’ awesome than most trade shows.

@Laura:

Well-said! And dang, it becomes more and more assured that I gotta do up a “Oh, By The Way, Freelancing Is Also Mega-Crazy-Fantastic” post.

Once in a while I do get the “Oh, you’re a writer? Awesome!” vibe — but it’s generally only among others interested in the craft in some way. Everybody else tends to raise a crooked eyebrow. A dubious gaze, to be sure.

– c.

…just as nobody is forcing you to “clock in,” nobody is letting you “clock out.”

This is spot on. I also really liked the hunter vs. gatherer analogy. Freelancers sometimes band together to better patrol their favorite hunting grounds, but watch out if you take down somebody else’s mammoth!

Recently I’ve had nightmares of our hunting grounds being overrun by an alien locust swarm called Demand Media.

Thanks for this bracing cold-water-in-the-face piece. Regardless, I’m working diligently on writing my way out of my day job and doing the whole Freelance thing. Sounds like my plan to take a leave of absence just in case migtht be smart. The desire to do this hasn’t left me since 2006, so I’m slowly trudging up the hill where I then can base jump off. My spouse and family support this crazy move as well. I’ll let you know how it goes.

What’s worse than freelancing…? NOT freelancing because you can’t get any work, and not being able to get a day job because they see you’ve been a freelancer for over 20 years and they just KNOW from that that you’re a lazy jerk who won’t follow instructions! My husband and I have been freelancing forever, and he is still getting work, so I’m back to my original job as his assistant. Still looking for that day job, of course, but I couldn’t even get hired at the local big box store at holiday time, so I don’t have a lot of hope…

I have been a freelancer for over 40 years.

The two things that define my success: BIC Butt in Chair. And constantly reinventing myself. I have 300 books published (yep, #300 this fall) plus lots of poems, stories, some short animation scripts, essays, and would do cereal boxes if I could find the right person to ask!

Mostly, though, I love the freelance life because I love writing. I do NOT get lonely because I play all day with my invisible friends. OK, maybe that makes me crazy. But not lonely.

I happen to love to write. If I were one of those bleeding-onto-the-page sort of writers, I’d have a pension now and live in an old-age condo in Florida. As it is, I have a rambling farmhouse in Massachusetts and an Arts&Crafts house in Scotland. ‘

See–it can be done, can be fun, and can be (in twice yearly dribs and drabs) lucrative. Just get a good agent, a Mac Air , and friends/in-laws/kids who understand. Spouse is optional, but (a least in my case and until he died) helps.

Jane

Ah, commiseration. I always enjoy these essays. Like listening to a love song after a breakup. It’s all talking about me.

Thanks for the heads up on the bank loan pitfall. I actually hadn’t had that experience. Yet.

Thanks, Chuck. I hope you don’t mind, but I posted this to my blog too. I’m always getting mail asking for writings tips (because, you know, I’m SUCH an expert), and I’ve often wanted to skip the ‘chase your dreams’ encouragement, and talk less about the writing process (which generally can’t be transmitted as advice because everyone does it their own way anyway) and more about the ACTUAL CIRCUMSTANCES in which the writing process may or may not happen. I find this hard to do without sounding like a whiney little bitch who ought to be paying people real money for the privilege of having such an obviously brilliant job. Thanks for articulating it far more successfully.

Loved Dan O’Shea’s comment too.

Chuck, you rock. Ive been at it for 15 years and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Its a life only for those chalk full of true grit and the confidence of a wrecking ball. Why do we do it?, some ask; becasue so few can. As Patton said, ‘Pressure makes Diamonds’. Keep up the the good fight bro. – BRS

Ah, truer words in jest and all that… recently had a client who nixed $3000 worth of work (which I was already well into drawing) because HE had scheduling problems – and would it be ok if he just paid me $400 for my troubles? My angry e-mail explaining that the $3000 was paying my mortgage, my kids school, food etc, came as a complete surprise. ‘Oh, I didn’t know you didn’t have anything else!’ — so, you hire me, expect me to block out a number of days to draw stuff for you and then -what?- you assume that when I lose your work I’m just going to shrug and go get magic dollars from the money elf to pay the bank so I can carry on living in my house? I managed to get a better kill fee but probably will be marked as ‘trouble’ in future…

A publisher got me to do an outline for a ‘How-To’ book on comics, when I submitted my costings (which were fairly low, I was banking on the possibilities of royalties) she got royally offended. ‘We get all kinds of professors and college tutors to do books for us’, she said-’ they’re quite happy to work for much less than that. It isn’t just about the money, you know’
You know, when you freelance– it is. Those indentured types get a salary–and write on the side. Freelancers have no ‘side’.

So why have I been doing it for 25 years?? Well yep, it can indeed be “Mega-Crazy-Fantastic”… I get to write and draw funny books all day, visit fabulous places for comics conventions, and occasionally have folks tell me they like what I do. Laura nails the commitment side down- we love it, even as it knocks the social stuffing out of our lives.

Hallelujah!

Sure you’ve touched on all those ‘nagging’ aspects of being self-employed. I’m just shy of celebrating 10 years of owning my own company. Sure it’s been tough (especially the last two years) but aside from a part-time job I doubt that I could ever return to corporate life. Sure the benefits can be enticing, but let’s face the truth: do you really want to? I like knowing that I am responsible for my own economy which includes everything from keeping the books and sales & marketing to going to the bank and depositing the checks.

I would differ on one point — reconsider incorporating. If you consult a CPA and/or attorney you might be surprised to learn that by incorporating you can separate your personal assets from the business.

As for a mortgage… unless I can buy it cash I won’t be indebted to a bank for that kind of obligation ever again. The experience with our last two real estate deals was enough to satisfy me for several years.

Very entertaining article that sums up some my …wry feelings towards my “situation”.
thanks.

Thanks, all! Love all these comments, and glad people found this page.

Did something of a sequel today — a little more about the *positive* side of the freelancing experience. Less on the face-punching. More on the howling, gibbering hymns to freedom.

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2010/09/08/why-you-should-freelance-despite-all-that-face-punching-business/

– c.

@Jane:

First, I have to say: holy crap! Jane Yolen! You just made my day.

Second, I do agree that despite all the pitfalls and leg-traps, the freelance life is worth it to those who find comfort in that kind of freedom. I do, and I love writing, and would also write a cereal box — or a diner menu, or a placemat — if someone wanted me to.

In fact, if any cereal manufacturers are out there? Hey, give me a call. I mean, give Jane a call first. I’ll take the overflow from all that sweet cereal box word count.

– c.

I used to freelance…back in the days when I only had to generate enough money to pay me. Now, I am responsible to make enough money for me, and 5 employees…sheesh…I guess owning your own business is freelancing, multiplied by too many times to count. Thanks for the article…reminds me how much I loved freelancing… x 1.

I love rpgs and gaming, and I love writing fiction but when I was young and naive someone I believed was wise from years of bleak experience told me if you get to write what you love, there will be people who will make you hate it and yourself for the work you do.

As tempting as it was I avoided freelancing. I got a series of jobs that eventually led me to writing and editing copy in a local popular newspaper. The paycheck is nice (nicer than what I’ve earned before) and my editor is great. I have some strong part time work as well screen writing but for low budget/low finance film makers.

I am still tempted to dabble in freelance gaming but I do it strictly to promote the hobby and for people with small outputs – often part time publishers – but no more than that.

I was directed to this post by a bunch of my freelancing friends, and YES, you’ve laid it all out so beautifully, Chuck! There is a real duality to the world of the freelancer (I celebrate my 20th year as a freelance illustrator this year)… walking the financial tightrope, having to scramble for work, etc… vs. the freedom to structure your life in a way that feels best to you.

It’s easy to forget the good (in all our lives) and focus on the tough stuff. I’m alway envious of folks who get a regular paycheck… who can plan ahead with total precision. It’s easy to forget what they “pay” for that priviledge. I know that folks who work 9-5 romanticize freelancing (my ex-wife did, which still makes me shake my head). They only see the freedom, they don’t understand how much the financial uncertainty weighs on you.

For me, freelancing is the perfect match. I’m pretty self-motivated (especially when I need to pay the mortgage), and I’m miserable when I feel like I’m being dragged off someplace I don’t want to go for x number of hours. It’s not nirvana, but it works for me.

So thanks for the great post, Chuck. I’m going to copy the url and forward it on, and check your your follow-up post.

cheer,

Chris

Thanks, @Chris. It is the right mix for me, too — I think for some people it’s a career that fits like a soft glove (perfect for gentle face-punching), but for others it’s all stick, no carrot.

Thanks for passing along the link and visiting. Love your work, by the by.

– c.

Nobody’s stepped in with the classic question – “What’s the difference between a freelancer and a large pizza?”

I still have a Day Job, one that lets me write copy all day. Some days I yearn to take up The Hunt full-time, but not until I can pull together enough money to simulate a year’s worth of income suckled from the Corporate Teat. Is it a cycle of self-defeating disappointment? Only the Shadow knows….

Don’t forget the tension of working on personal projects for free vs. spending time tracking down those deadly Paying Gigs. Sure, IF I get that novel finished and published, maybe I’ll see some money for it. But those orc stats aren’t going to write themselves.

Oh, the punchline – almost forgot. “A large pizza can feed a family of four.”

HOLY SHIT are you spot on with this! The vacation thing kills me. It’s hard to relax on vacation, knowing that every beer you buy to sip on the beach digs your hole a little deeper.

The in-laws thing, too. I spent 5 years repeatedly explaining to my father-in-law what it is I do. I’m not sure if he finally got or just gave up asking. I assume the latter.

And the mortgage? You know what my occupation is listed as on our mortgage? Homemaker. They took one look at what I did then moved on. It’s nice to know how little I count.

But, as you say, it’s an awesome life. One that I wouldn’t have been able to get off the ground without my awesome wife who is a supportive as they come. What Rob Wieland says above regarding personal projects is always a factor, and my wife is always on me to work less on paid stuff and more on personal stuff.

This is truly a strange existence. One that I feel lucky to live and one I hope never to have to give up. Volleyball companion or no, to the punch in the face of freelancing, I say thank you!

By the way, this has gotten a lot of play from some pretty big artist types. Names you’d surely recognize. It’s pretty sweet!

@Steven –

I am certainly surprised at the attention this is getting, yeah. Glad to see those who have posted here (hi, everybody) — hoping to find out who else is spreading it around. I see the link popping here and there over bit.ly, but hard to see who else is moving it around, say, Facebook.

Very cool.

Face-punching aside.

– c.

Thank you for this article. It is the perfect description!

Freelancing is like climbing mountains; it’s truly a test of one’s character and strength.
It can take a really long time to learn the habits required to “establish a good pattern of work.” And there’s no one to blame but yourself when things go wrong and you miss a deadline.

Weekly paychecks are an amazing luxury. I went from working part-time and freelancing to a full-time job in the field I wanted to be in and even nearly 2 years later I’m incredibly grateful for the weekly paycheck. For a while I was also freelancing part-time, but like Wood it was burning me out (on top of my work especially) and I’m much happier right now. That said, I won’t rule out freelancing again someday.

Posted this on Facebook and twitter. Great job Chuck! Now if you’ll excuse me, I hear the drawing board calling me…

bloody genius. i’ve just started freelancing. and now i’m going to start budgeting so that in six months i can afford a volleyball and some paint. (poor wilson–that scene was really on par with the death scene old yeller, or maybe one of those times gonzo loses camilla–i mean *really* thinks he’s lost her).

i appreciate everything you say. and identify. except i have only one dog so we’re just going to have to perform Waiting for Godot over and over and over again. no trinity for us.

This post is awesome! It totally describes some of the crap I’ve had to deal with as a freelance grant writer. You missed the part where the client tries to get you to do work for free, though. Or, at least in the non-profit world, this seems to be a huge problem. “I’ll give you a percentage of the grant you win!” Right… I’m going to write 10 grants for you, you’ll win 2-3 because funds are tight across the board, than I get paid 10-15% of a $5,000 – $25,000 grant? No, thanks. Not to mention that funders don’t fund grants with a finders fee.

But my favorite aspect of freelancing!! Crossing the Canadian boarder!! Holy hell!! When I was a student (the last time I went to Canada), they didn’t care. Have fun! They told me. Now!! How much money do you have in your bank account? Will you have access to your bank account? How many clients do you have? When’s your next contract due? How do you know your friend? Are you sure he’s not a client? What kind of work do you do, exactly? What are the size of the grants that you write? Do you work with government grants?? And on and on and on and on. It took me 25 minutes to get through customs!! And no, this dude was not making friendly chit-chat, his eyes lit up like a deer in the headlights when he heard what I did. Next time I may lie, and just say one of my clients is my boss. It’s kind of embarrassing reciting my weak, tiny bank account to a government official with a whole bunch of people standing around…

I love freelancing most of the time, but there are times I miss a steady paycheck. Usually that’s at the beginning of the month with the mortgage is due.

Bobby

It’s great until it’s not…as in the market crash of ’09 when xx% of most of my freelancing friends’ business evaporated virtually overnight. We all agree it’s starting to come back, but….the freelancers’ economy tracks very closely with the overall economic recovery, so…

And as for vacations, well, I always tell people when they ask me that my boss is such a beast, she never lets me go. Gets a laugh every time.

Wow.. Awesome. You just summed up my entire career with both the benefits and pitfalls.

Especially the part about the in laws. My mother in-law STILL thinks that all I do all day is sit at home and play on the computer. (Despite paying the lion’s share of the bills and buying my own house)

This article made me smile and jump for joy. I am not alone in my plight!

I’ve been freelancing for the better of nineteen years now, and it’s been mostly a struggle. I’ve had to give it up a few times, or take a sabbatical, and have had to get “real” jobs when work slowed down, but I’ve been lucky to always come back to it. I have a love/hate relationship with freelancing.

I hate not having regular “moolah”, or health insurance, but nothing beats not having to get up at 7am and sit in traffic to sit behind a desk all day with someone looking over your shoulder. Of course, having to make phone calls to get another job while you’re in the middle of the current project you’re on is no picnic.

I remember when I was married, I used to regularly have to explain to my wife that, “Just because I’m home, doesn’t mean “I’m Home”". It’s both a blessing AND a curse, but it’s my life at this point, and getting a “real” job sucks when you’re used to being your own boss.

Currently, I’ve been away from my home for six months (I put all my stuff in storage), visiting friends and traveling, but making sure I get my work done and sent it. An I get paid by direct deposit, so I can be anywhere. I’ve got my motorcycle, which carries my art pad, pen and pencil case and laptop, and I after a few weeks in NY (which I’m going to next), I think I may head across country, back to CA, and then maybe spend a few months in Mexico. How many 9 to 5 ers can say they do that?

Lucky for me, my husband works. And the way the work world is out there now, doubt get a part time job in the real world. My son has been looking and applying now for year and half. So I write and submit, plus promote what i have. It’s a struggle. And yes, i still love it cause I am writing.

I have been freelancing for almost eight years and it is equal parts awesome and I-want-to-climb-a-church-tower-and-start-a-career as a sniper.

By far the toughest part has been simply getting paid bu clients who owe me money for work I did weeks, months ago. Before I was a freelancer and dreamed of doing it, it never would have occurred to me it would be so tough simply getting the money owed to me.

This is a great piece, it made me feel a little bit better about my chosen lifestyle choice. Look for me on the news!

I feel you pain, and your elation. I have managed to limp along freelancing and dragging along various part time jobs or full time consultancy position (which always screw up my tax situation… but that’s another topic). You sum it up wonderfully. Thank you.

Awesome article. Freelancing is just another name for contracting (less the commute). When the jobs over the money stops. Pay is 60, 90 120 or more days out and then they hold retention sometimes for more than a year. There are those that if they smell or think they smell weakness will try and get you to sign off for pennies on the dollar to get that next check released (note: to self don’t be weak).

[...] Want To Be A Freelancer? Just Punch Yourself In The Face, Instead "You must forever track down the work, look for its tracks and track its scat — you stalk it through the brush, across the veldt, hoping to stab it with your inky lance and bring it down. It means you’re always hungry. You’re always desperate. It makes one weary." [...]

Wow this so sums it up, I”am a freelance illustrator and I will say being a freelancer definitely puts you up against the wall you have to be cunning like some wild animal, while at the same time chameleon, change your colours to suit your needs.

But I wouldn’t do 9 to 5 again i believe when you find the courage to take a leap like this you really do put your all in you rely on your ability to perform at your best.

I found registering as a graphic design usiness helped me alot with the mortgage monsters and phone companies .

ended up starting my own business and flip flopping between 6 months of working outside and 6 months of working on my own business… all the while employing people so my business continues while I can’t contribute… its long hours and it sucks but it really is the best of both worlds

I just got out of freelancing…after being in over a decade. The hardest but most memorable years of my life.
I worked all over comics and video games…childrens books and advertising even designing sets of characters for cgi movies. I loved freelancing…i was getting flown to cali left and right to go to meetings with people twice my age…for seemingly no reason.
I took my first vacation freelancing. I lived alone for the first time freelancing.
i wasnt making ridiculous loot or anything. But hell …i was doing it. Getting through on my art. My way. On my own steam. Savings account. Nice cushion in the checking account.
Happy as a man could be.
I never quite made it to going after health insurance…but really i never knew a freelancer who did.

Then….a stretch of no work like you would not believe. A big fat nothing.
The fucking gobi desert of dry stretches.
From 50 gs….to 8. in 12 months. Bad business head? too young?
Shit i dont even know.
I worked at a gym. i did construction and demolition(also without health insurance). I worked at the water department. In sewers. In the fucking winter.
Freelancing all the while…but just never picking up the steam i had.
Once you lose that drive…that push…its terrible trying to get it back.

Freelancing is all about push.
Constant unending perpetual push.
one trip…one stumble…is sometimes is all that it takes.
i had lost it for a sec…stumbled,fell and spiraled.

It went on like that for a few years…me pushing and getting very little if nothing back.and then i got a job….a real job.
My first ever real job doing toy package illustration for lucasfilm(pilotstudios.com).

I barly made it through though.. Departing freelancing, i had a huge student loan debt(budgeting and complete immaturity kept that monster at bay), horrible acid reflux, anxiety based insomnia, a credit score of about 8…. the works.
i think i just ran out of push.
Two years into my job now…and i have gotten the push back. I freelance after hours and on the weekends like a mad man. i have started my own company. i am drawing better and faster than i ever have.
I lucked out. I got saved.
At the last minute…scooped out of the oblivion…of being on a demo crew for the rest of my life.
I get up every day and am thankful for my my awesome 9 to 5 job drawing star wars stuff.

I have been lucky enough to see the ugly side of both worlds…..and the overwhelming greatness of both as well. It has been a truly eventful ride. I dont regret a single second of it.
I just wanted to say …that was a great article chuck….A pleasant reminder of a world i left behind…and a nice reality check to keep doing what i am doing:).

thanks.

greg titus

@Greg:

That’s a crazy story — all of life is a journey, I guess. Glad to see that you’re back moving toward That Which Makes You Happy (and also possibly an anxious wreck).

By the way, great site, awesome work.

– c.

@All:

Want to respond to everybody, but holy hell in a handbasket, there’s a lot of you. Which is awesome. Thanks for coming by, glad this li’l blog post struck a nerve.

I have suggested, on Twitter, that we freelancers should form a more perfect union. A union without pants.

So, y’know. Get on board.

– c.

I fell into without trying. I just wanted to do digital painting. not qualifying for unemployment sucks. and being alone all the time sucks… but making my own hours.. rocks.. good toss up i think. no stuck in traffic.

yeah your ALWAYS working. but i love my work. alot. so. whats so bad about doing what you love everyday all day long? nothing at all. i hate normality. so i really like freelancing. I was even told i could come work in house if i wanted to on some spare computers. i miss working with humans its true. but.. i dont miss waking up early. going to work. staring at a screen for 2 hours trying to get comfy . then work for an hour. then lunch. then work for an hour. then break. then work for 2 hours and home. and having to abide of the company rules. screw that. i make my oooown rules. and its awesome.

high five to freelancing

i like the idea of freelancing support group. maybe locally per city kinda deal. where you can go to a mixer and meet other pale pasty ppl who get it.

I just sent this to my husband. The one who I just drove with over 14 hours since we can’t afford plane fare, to do a big weekend convention; not much of which we saw, since he had to work the entire time, selling himself, his work, and listening to fanboys prattle on about themselves and their talents, and how they “could do it better” (though some were nice), while asking for advice. My husband, who even spent time talking to our waiter at the dinner place after the show, giving free advice, because it really doesn’t ever stop. My husband, who works until 5am most days, and who is even now, taking on smaller jobs from wherever he can, since I was laid off from a world-renown non-profit 23 days after moving into our first house, and still can’t get hired – even at Starbucks – for over 1.5 years now. He took the opportunity of being in a very bad car accident a long time ago to do freelance writing full time, and hasn’t looked back. It’s resulted in some very lucrative, known work, but as you mentioned, nothing is forever.
Thanks for writing this; it really hit the mark.

Hell yes. Thank you.

I’m a professional artist, all of the above applies to being a painter too. The biggest thing is people taking there time paying you, and some people just don’t get it. I wouldn’t trade it to be “normal” ever.

Pissing myself laughing. No..It’s not funny. I think I have just gone stark ravers working by myself all day. Or was it because I bang my head on the desk repeatedly on a daily basis? Anyway, thanks for the brief respite from reality. Thank you.

Heh, thanks, Chesme.

(Clean up on Aisle #4.)

– c.

just want to agree with all you say.
So far i have spent five years living hand to mouth watching myself transform into ma clampet .
but i think i am ocasionaly cheered that wearing slipper socks in my bedroom with two smelly dogs can be classed as a career.
go well.

I’m not brave enough to venture into freelancing, and I know it. I admire those like you and my cousin, who can Plus I’ve got self-esteem issues, so I couldn’t market drawings I’m not even sure are worth it :S

I was a freelancer for about 10 years doing IT work. Eventually gaining a wife and child made that whole health insurance thing a real deal breaker and I took a permanent job with one of my major clients. Of course, about the same time, my wife left her job to be come a freelancer.

Having worked both, neither is really that much different than the other. Instead of worrying about getting the next job, you worry about loosing your current one. Because of this you work all the time just the same as when you were a freelancer, because if you dont….they might replace you with a freelancer who they dont have to pay benefits or a regular check to. And that regular check is like crack cocaine. Two months of direct deposits, and your absolutely hooked to it. Thats how they get you. They know you will keep coming back for more so long as that supply is steady.

I realize that I am a bit late in writing to this, but I’ve been mad crazy busy and they block some of WordPress’s functionality at work (which is apparently what happened about a month ago when I tried posting comments previously).

With that being said…I’m right here, right now punching myself in the face. It hurts – a lot. I’m in an awkward middle stage type of area – I work full time, have a 20 hour a week commute, go to school full time, and run a freelance business doing web and graphic design. I’ve been doing the whole freelance thing for a little over seven years now and you sir, speak the truth! It’s been like I imagine going through hell at some points in my flittering career. I’ve had some downright nasty clients, some absolutely stupid clients, some flighty clients, and some back-stabbing sons-of-bitches clients. Sometimes they really do make me just want to punch myself in the face as opposed to having to deal with them. And let’s not forget – Everyone wants something for free. “You look young, so you won’t charge me, right?” I knew I shouldn’t have gotten that tattoo that said “stupid” across my forehead that one time I got really smashed a few years back…(what’s worse is I did it myself so it’s actually written backwards).

My biggest issues with freelancing (and part of why I got a backup “day job” again) are 1) getting clients to pay (not just on time…but at all! I’ve had clients pay me 50% up front, their site gets all the way done, then they drop off the face of the earth and wonder why in the hell I didn’t leave their site up a couple years later…) and 2) attracting new clients. Then of course comes the lovely part of actually getting the information that you need from the client…*checks watch* three months later. “Oh hey! Why isn’t my site done yet? You said it’d only take you a month!” Yeah but that was AFTER you gave me the files I needed…

That’s not to say it doesn’t have it’s perks though. Walking around with no pants is pretty awesome. Having my ever-ready supply of Mountain Dew and Doritos is pretty sweet. And come on, let’s not forget the bacon – fresh from the kitchen stove. It’s also great to be able to have my new Alienware computer as a tax deduction (it has pink lights! *squees*). I also work much better in the afternoon/night time so that whole waking up at the butt crack of dawn-thing is easily something I do not miss.

I’ve also certainly had my fair share of hellish bosses too. Yes they can read this post and kiss my lily white ass too. I’ve been “let go” for being eight months pregnant, for having to go to too many doctor’s appointments when my daughter had to be in a full body cast because or a rare disorder, and I don’t think I’ve ever actually had a “permanent” job because I look like such a young little girl. I’ve always been hired in as contract and I’m 25…almost 26 years old. I feel so little respect. I am super shy and not outgoing unless I feel that the environment is safe to be so in (like if I were doing what I want to be doing – working in the game industry or movie industry or comic industry…or well okay anything creative, no more corporate crap). Many jobs don’t respond well to that but I can’t help who I am. I do my job, I’m creative, I have great ideas, I’m honest, ethical…oh wait that’s it right there. And THAT’S why I strive to freelance. Despite the crazy clients calling me up at 4 am wanting to know if they can add a Flash intro for free by the 5 pm, or the clients that after signing a contract, refuse to pay what is owed, or the client’s that say “I want a website” and I have to go “that’s great, but what’s your site supposed to be about” and they’re all like “I dunno – you’re the web designer,” I still feel a burning need (oh wait that just means I have to pee) to freelance.

The economy slumped has certainly hindered things quite a bit for me. I had a steady amount of clients a few years back and then they just…died. I think a bus hit them…maybe it was an Obama train. Even so, very recently I’ve seen things start to pick back up again and as I go through the job I’m at currently, having to re-interview and re-test for the very job I am doing now, if I lose it, I say “fuck ‘em.” It’s time to start again – pantless, bacon-eating freedom, complete with frolicking deer babies.

Wow I need to edit my posts better lol. Try to ignore if you can, the horrible grammatical mistakes Maybe the deer babies will eat them.

Since I just entered this crazy, menacing career path a couple of years ago, I’ve learned only about, oh, let’s say, an infintesimal nano-fragment of what it means to be a freelancer. Being retired with mailbox money certainly helps cushion the blow of looking for gigs on the path to fame and fortune in the writing field.

That said, I have to admit to freelancing being the only viable choice for a person like me. I’m afflicted, you see. My mind doesn’t shut down at any given hour of the day/night. It continues to process idea after idea that simply must be fleshed out and sent to somebody. The “who” doesn’t matter so much as the “Get it out there!” imperative.

I know that I’m a bit slow when it comes to productivity. I won’t argue that point. It’s not that I can’t do it so much as a function of learning curve. Well, that and my tendency to get pulled off-track by interesting bits of trivia and fascinating websites that eat up an hour here and there.

Recently, though, I hit on the perfect solution to my problem of too many varied ideas, never enough time to travel and do things, meet people, or find the world. I dragged my sister, kicking and screaming, into the world of photography, watched her passion grow out of all control, and then hit her with those unbridled words “Let’s take out act on the road!”

The planning has started, the ideas have been corralled, the future is just as uncertain as it was last week. But, we’re looking forward to the freedom, the adventure of the open road. And at the end of it will be a book. During the journey will be the freelance articles with just the right twist to make them memorable. And that is what we’re after.

To be very honest. I doubt either of us could tolerate a regular job anymore. It’s not so much that we must make this work for us in order to satisfy the Muse, but rather, we need these last many years to be ones of exploration, self-expression and discovery, and fun. We played the corporate game, the professional game, the game where no resprect accrued.

I’ll take my chances without worrying over mortgages. I’ve been there and tried to get rid of them. Show me the merge lane and just let us take to the highway.

I tip my chapeau to all those who freelance. That wee job is the backbone of the industry today and every day.

I’m a freelance illustrator/graphic designer and have developed a strategy to this “freelancing” game.

I always have a hundred projects going on at once, some on hold, some with deadlines all within a couple days of each other. Good projects, too, just no idea when they’ll come to fruition and I’ll get my damned check.

My method is to find one consistent money maker, from which I can finesse at least a bimonthly paycheck , to keep me afloat. Those jobs aren’t always the most exciting ones, but they give me the stability I need to not freak out every time there’s a gap in new commissions. I have a lot of skills in new media, though, and it’s pretty easy to find a 3 month contract doing game art or web design; I imagine not so much if you’re a writer or traditional artist.

These contract jobs sometimes involve working onsite part of the time, so it does help with that feeling that I might become a mole person as well.

I’m one of the lucky ones. (Well, for now.) Thanks for the chuckles.

I freelanced for 4 years. Then I decided I wanted to stop doing other peoples projects for upwards of 60 to 80 hours a week.

So I got a job. That way a guaranteed 20 to 40 hours I have for my own work.

I still take the odd evening project but they are small. No more 6 month projects.

So now I have a bit of both worlds.

I would love to be a freelancer, and I’m seriously considering it.
But I have back up.
I’m currently in the Army and saving almost every penny (except what I need to live and drink on), debt free, and working on my Masters of Business Administration.
So I have money to keep me afloat, and will have an MBA to fall back on.
We’ll see how it goes, haha

I have to disagree. I love freelancing. While it has it’s cons (and what doesn’t?) I make a ton more money than i ‘d ever make at a full-time job. Yes I work lots of hours, but it’s work I love to do for the most part. I look forward to doing it every day.

I’m not sure why some freelancers have problems getting paid more than others. I think it’s the way they decide to let their clients treat them. I require 50% upfront and final payment BEFORE I hand over any files. Believe me, this makes them pay immediately.

I was nodding so much while reading the post and comments my head almost came off. Extremely true about needing to find a niche – although maybe not one quite as small as Dan’s, at the risk of being put out of a job overnight.

I’ve weaseled my way into the SEO/web copywriting niche, which, for some very weird reason, seems to have given my career a ring of validity in the World’s eyes. Maybe it’s because I can throw around marketing lingo like a pro. Sure, keyword research is a heluvalot less exciting than vampires, but whenever I feel like someone’s not taking me seriously I can just bust out a “well, if you really want to increase conversion rates and overall ROI on your content marketing strategy, we’ll need to pull in more qualified traffic by targeting niche longtail keywords.” Booyah.

That constant nagging, sick pit of your stomach looking-for-work feeling is definitely my least favorite part of freelancing. Even during good times, I can’t let my mind stray more than a few months down the road where my project calender is STILL BLANK. Overcaffeination sans pans is worth it.

Thanks for the great post, Chuck.

I’m a freelancer of sorts, I do ebay consignment for people. I make insane money, put little/no money up front and work from home…plus even more money from selling my own products along side. I completely understand the mentality… I never STOP working, I actually do grab a ‘regular job’ 3 months out of the year just to get out of the house and try to STOP thinking about money for a bit… Luckily the 9 months I do work more then makes up for the pidly $12 an hour I get ‘working’.

I try to explain to my friends…one friend in particular I had the SAME conversation with every week for almost 2 years. “So where you working?” “I work for myself.” “But how do you pay the bills?” “I make $35/hr in my underwear, how can I NOT pay the bills?” “But you don’t have a job.” … Then I’d pick up the check… *SIGH*

Heh! Great article. And beautifully written.

All the pitfalls you cite are the reasons I haven’t decamped from DilbertWorld for a freelance career. But there are days (many days) when I wonder whether I can stand one more minute of corporate slavery. Things are tough all over, I guess.

I’ve been a copywriter for 30 years and an in-house eCommerce copywriter (for a huge apparel company) for nearly 11. I *love* what I do (except for catalog work, which I loathe). I just hate everything else about it — the control freakery and micromanagement; the bureaucracy; the insane hours; the relentless stress and pressure (downtime? what’s that?); the crazy conflicting deadlines; the corporate incompetence; the “pooper-scooping” behind less conscientious colleagues. (No reflection on said colleagues, BTW; they probably have the right idea. I’m the crazy one for taking this stuff so seriously.)

But I’m a lousy hustler and self-promoter, and I’m pathologically shy and nervous, so freelancing is probably out of the question.

Plus, I’m close to early retirement age. Sometimes I wonder: Should I freelance in retirement? Or should I just take it easy? Only problem with the latter path is that I would be bored stiff. Writing is in my blood. I actually *love* writing website product descriptions. It’s a disease.

But enough with this blather about me.

Again, excellent article. You’ve pinpointed the dilemma perfectly. I just wish I knew how to resolve it.

Apparel Copywriter in DilbertWorld

@Amber Weinberg – some sites require database connectivity and therefore a live site (luckily they can be disabled after). For static files that works out as you ssaid but even so, sometimes a client just decides that they weren’t as committed to a project as they first thought.

Amber, I admire you. You have guts. I ALWAYS wooss out when the client starts talking fees and payment schedules. Not sure I can overcome this, really, unless I just reach the point of being so busy I can tell ‘em to bug off. But even then, I’d probably be too nervous and intimidated to stand up for myself. Oh well….

But then it looks like you would know that. How do you handle it then??

@Agent99:

Retirement sounds like a great time to embark upon a pattern of personal writing.

Just my two cents.

– c.

@Amber:

Definitely check out my followup post –

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2010/09/08/why-you-should-freelance-despite-all-that-face-punching-business/

Embraces the, erm, more positive (read: pantsless) perspective on freelancing.

– c.

I don’t know if this has been said in the comments above — my apologies for not pouring through all 115; freelancers are busy, you know — but in the 9.5 percent unemployment state we live in, some are thrust into freelancing not by choice but by necessity.

Employers right now are actually doing A LOT of contract hiring. Why? It’s much less committal than hiring you as a full-time worker and they don’t have to pay you benefits. Work needs done. They need you to do it, but not as badly as you need to have it. So, you take the gig. Sometimes you even plod into the office as if you were an employee, but you’re just an IC. And they can dispense of you when they’re done with you.

It sounds like a terrible existence, but you have one bit of leverage: Get as much per hour on your going rate as you can. Because they’re not paying you benefits, or for your equipment, or for liability insurance, or for you to sit around on a slow Friday playing on Facebook, they will go up 5-10-20 bucks an hour from what they offered you initially if it means sealing the deal and getting you started right away. Negotiate, negotiate, negotiate and sign an airtight agreement that entitles you to legal recourse if they are late paying.

I predict that after health care reform is fully ramped up and after other fed. government measures are in place, we’ll all be working for ourselves in 20-30 years. We’d better get used to the plight of a freelancer.

Oh I sooo enjoyed reading this, even though I should be editing like crazy to meet my 4pm deadline today! Found this link on Twitter btw, i’m @lifeatlucid.
I’m a freelance photographer, been at it for a few years now and whilst I adore it, feel I have aged more than any woman should, see my kids growing up wondering who the hell I am and feel lucky that my hubby is a fairly independant bloke that doesnt need too much looking after – because I am always working (except for washing, cleaning, cooking…oh, wait on) like I said – always working.
I am torn between guilt for the mother/wife I am not being, joy at the fact that I am living my dream and exhaustion for all the above reasons.
So, excuse me while I go pop an antibiotic, to stave off this tonsilitis – I have a shoot on tomorrow that doesnt include time off for being sick!
Thanks for articulating what we freelancers are going through, It is still soo worth it isnt it!
Clare.

Thanks. It was as therapeutic to read as I’m sure it was to write.

On slow says I teach my dog to do the conga. This alleviates money worries and entertains my wife when she gets home.

Work, finding a job, freelancing isn’t easy as you already said it… life is NOT easy. having an EDUCATION so you can freelance is a BONUS, having a job in the real world is probably a good idea to have before you go off freelancing for the first time in your life and it seems many of you have had jobs already before you started freelancing, etc. Experience is a good plus to have if you are not going to go out and get a job to get the experience FWIW.

I have tried eBay stuff (consignment or reselling) just to get an idea of what it would be like, its a lot of math, paperwork organizing and keeping yourself straight/screwed on. I don’t know what’s so hard to understand about freelancing, if I asked you what do you do for work and someone replies “I’m self employed” or “I own my own business” or “I work for myself” or “I am a contractor” isn’t THAT enough to understand, I don’t understand WHY people don’t understand??? What’s so mind boggling? WHY do you have to ABSOLUTELY work for a company in order to have ANY credibility? That’s FUBAR!

I worked in a call center for almost a full year and lit my ass on fire just to give them an excuse to let me go (actually I skipped work and then finally told them I had had it). It was getting more difficult to keep the job let alone maintain standards especially since I have a disability.

I worked at another call center for a season but I did mail order, so much simpler yet I didn’t want to do it after it was over. I could do mail orders better than I could talking with somebody even in person (which is why I will never go into sales because I just don’t have the knack for it)

Here’s something the bankers NEVER EVER understand and they never will because its so freaking ambiguous than freelancing (its called not having a job and money is planted in my account every month from a settlement trust fund).

I like the “freelancing” style, one thing I haven’t read about in your post is “freedom” (and I haven’t read all the comments, there’s way too many) . I keep seeing ads and infomercials or whatever that say “you could work from home with TOTAL freedom!” its just an illusion, you don’t have freedom if you did you’d be out of clients! You have more “choices” IMHO but you don’t have more freedom, you are rigidly boxed in because YOU have to be the one doing it not them or someone else unlike having a regular job 8-5 kind of thing all you have to do is go there, do it and come home and you have the freedom to leave your job behind you have MORE freedom by having a regular job because of that (unless you have one of those jobs that follows you home too) although your freedom ends when you are at work so its temporary unlike freelancing your freedom is never there because its with you all the time.

I also believe in freelancers, more choices and more quality than quantity is my idea of getting what I need and at the same time supporting the individuals who do it.

I have just left art school, just finished my fifth cup of coffee today, and just sat back down in front of my computer next to my bed(in my parent’s house).
I have only been a graduate since July. Even if you do have work to be doing, in my case I’m lucky enough to have been commissioned a few small paintings, how do you stop yourself going stark-raving-bonkers?

Just as a very late chime in, as I read through the comments more and more what I’m seeing is a need for some kinds of “Freelancer Support Company”… Some company that offers health care, income tracking so that there is a Company that a bank or other service can call… maybe some socialization benefits… maybe even some accounting and tax services (because you really need to squeeze every dollar today).

If there’s demand, a service will evolve to fill it. So Chuck and others… what could a company do that would make your life easier and smoother and reduce the amount of time I spend keeping an eye on clocktowers?

I freelanced on and off for most of my twenties, and reading this article brought me out in a sweat of recollection. I was never particularly successful, scraping a living in London, but that was because I HATED asking for money and I HATED touting for work. Not an ideal freelancer then….

I wanted the whole morning lie-in, no packed tube train, cat on lap, hilarious and original think-pieces about the inanities of modern existence, celebrity friends on Facebook lifestyle. But the reality was writing articles of which I was often ashamed, accepting commissions at which I’d really want to flip the bird, and being made to feel pathetically grateful for being ‘allowed’ the ‘opportunity’ to pitch features for consumer magazines that I’d never myself want to read in a million eternities.

I’m now 33 with a full-time job, and I wanted to post because I feel like the ol’ 9-5 is (predictably) getting a bit of a bum rap from the 24/7 massive. This comment is a reminder that it IS possible to have a good, well-paid job with a nice boss and nice colleagues. My commute is under half an hour, every year I get paid more than twice as much as I ever did when I was self-employed, I have plenty of time to sit on the internet during the day, I get an hour off for lunch, my holidays feel like holidays – and I can afford to go to nice places, the commute gives me time to read novels, I don’t feel guilty when I watch TV or spend an hour listening to music, I have plenty of time to satisfy my writing urge on my blog (and I don’t have to kowtow to some commercially-driven commissioning editor), I’m accruing a nice pension and I have excellent health care (not that I need it, as the NHS in the UK is amazing).

I work in a bank in the City as a personal assistant. It’s not glamorous. I don’t get to interview Britney Spears or the Beckhams, like I used to when I was a freelance celebrity journo. I feel fairly immoral working for a bank when in reality I’d like to be promoting a more caring, sharing, community vibe. My job doesn’t challenge me intellectually, and I rarely have an interesting story to regale my friends with at dinner. But I’m happier. Much, much happier.

Just wanted to stick up for the other team.

It’s funny, when I got laid off in 2008 from my editorial job, lots of people said, “Why don’t you just do freelance?” And I said, “Because my unemployment checks are more reliable and often more robust than freelance pay.” I had to explain over and over that being a freelancer today means hustling, working 7 days a week, never saying no because you will drop off the call list, and doing many hours of work and be paid instead by the number of words you generate. I did freelance a few times in between jobs, and while I don’t like being an office monkey, my need for a regular check and health benefits and a job I can leave at the office and not take home turned out to be more important. And now that I have a job again, I fantasize every day about going freelance…….

Awesome. One of the best articles about freelancing I ever read. You pointed so well all the drawbacks of the freelancing. I really like your writing style (how you talk to yourself).

I definitely re-visit your blog.

Love it! Don’t know you or my blog – was forwarded this piece, but a lot of it rings true.

On the one hand, I’m luckier than you in the sense that I live in Europe and experience the joys (no sarcasm) of universal and affordable “socialized” healthcare. And I have no mortgage.

On the other hand, I have no significant other (to dull the loneliness), my apartment is just one-room (the “commute” is all of 2 feet, but seperating “work”/”life” is all the harder), and rather than writing cool stuff about vampires I pay my rent by translating boring and badly written stuff someone will read once and then throw away.

Nevertheless, a lot of this rings true. In particular:

Payment! Yes! I like to joke that it requires more work and effort to get paid than actually do the work I am paid for. Except it is no joke. A minimim of 3 reminders seems standard.

You don’t go out. I do. Most days. To the grocery store down the block. Many a week goes by when saying thank you to the surly clerk there is my only human interaction. I hated most of the people I worked with in my “proper” jobs, but sometimes I miss them so much.

Needing to find work. A nightmare. Especially when free-lance translators are a dime a dozen, and agreeing to work for strangers means taking the risk you will never actually get paid.

Yes, free-lancing is great. Some of the time. But I salute anyone who can do it long-term (with a mortgage, family, etc.) I do it because I’m also doing a PhD and its the easiest way to combine the two. But I can’t imagine doing it forver…

As the early-retired husband of a freelancer I see (and hear aplenty) about the pitfalls. Still, it’s a sweet and interesting job to do if there’s another income and some support for the freelancer in the house, a type of a sometimes paying hobby really, that tops up my income and keeps my wife at home and sharp.

I’m onto you!! I know your game son!! All that, just to put me off huh? So I don’t threaten your patch right? Nearly worked…

Seriously though, great post, makes me want to write even more!!! By the way, if you take the bridge at speed, using the unicorns as a elevating point, you can make it to the other side-and the John Wayne Gacy clones say “Hi! Love your work.”

Full-time freelancer here, going on my seventh year. All those hassles are true, Chuck. But then I think back to all the years I lost working in newsrooms. Work was never “done” there either. Job security? The spectre of layoffs was usually hanging out by the vending machines. So many endless, pointless meetings. Not seeing my home in the daylight for months on end. Working weekends to stay caught up.

Now, no matter how bad things are here in Freelanceworld, I can get up from the desk without asking permission, walk out on the back porch, feel the breeze, smell the fresh air. Or, if it’s winter, watch the snow fall and rejoice that I don’t have to commute in it. As the psalmist said, it restoreth my soul.

I’ve been a freelancer since 1987. Yes, I’m always at work and yes, I’m always looking for a job. But it’s bliss.

All life is work?, nah, i freelance, I’ve been doing it for a few years.
And it sounds like you’re not getting the right clients.
If you did you could just set your work times and respect them.
It’s about responsability and it’s about choosing the right people
and saying NO a lot.
So, no i rather stay as a freelancer and never look back at those
times when i worked at an office and hated my life.

Right on the money. Every word, gospel.

I just finished my first freelance contract last week and it pains me to admit it was a complete disaster. My inexperience in dealing with clients combined with the client’s ignorance of all things digital led to a perpetual breakdown in communication, and the deadline was missed. I was paid only half my fee; a total some not worth the time and grief spent on the project.

My experience matches your description to the T. At first I was excited; overjoyed by the mere idea that my bath towel could be synonymous with work attire. After 2 weeks of 20 hour code sessions, maddening conversations and processed food I perfectly matched the ghastly figure you described. My friends stopped calling after a week, my dog refused to even look at me, and it’ll take months at the gym just to regain the ability to climb stairs.

…but here I am doing it again. Thanks for your post, it was a nice way to spend my 5am break :/

Thank you. Now I can stop answering all those questions and just direct people here. You have pretty much summed up my life. Only my husband is self-employed too. Can you say “paying for health insurance sucks the life out of you?”

I too try to wave people off of the freelance life — but after 26 years, I can’t even imagine working any other way.

Do what I do, tell people you are unemployed – that takes care of “what do you do?” question. When they ask why the house is so dirty, just say you’ve been watching TV all day long, day after day!

When time off just feels like time without pay – gather your things hop in the car and take an epic trip (oh and don’t forget your laptop to do your work!)

When all feels sad and lonely – think of a new startup to work on and open up a new browser window to watch random youtube videos.

If you’re thinking of going back to your 9-5, just remember that asshole who will be telling you what to do every day and compare that to your wife / husband telling you to get off your ass.

Very well said. It’s the same in the world of freelance photography… though sometimes we do get to go out and play in the sun.

~Travis

The hardest part is going from being self employed, to employing others. It seems to make any of these jumps you need to stock up on money to survive the long haul.

First of all, work a few months at an actual company and that way you get COBRA if you are terminated or whatever. There’s your health insurance, at the same rate as everyone else. Whoo.

Second, save up money. Those 50% up front payments should cover ALL the work. The other 50% should be your bonus. That way you can start employing people. And then you are truly getting freedom!

It’s “cater corner”.

Ted –

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/caddy.html

– c.

Really fine reading

I enjoyed!

Hey at least you’re writing stuff people can understand. I remember when I found out what it took to be a well-known poet. William Carlos Williams – the doctor. Hart Crane – the advertising copywriter. Al Ginsberg – the chanting harmonium player. We live in a country in which the arts are all something mysterious to most people. They envision dingy garrets. And suffering for your craft. But, then, so did my neighborhood woodcrafter. And the guy who collected his paycheck for babysitting a pulp digesting machine from 11pm to 8am. Regular wages are designed for drones, or for people who are struggling to push their way out of the damp, stinking soil into the sunlight at long last. Welcome to Earth.

Hi!!,
I just came here from hacker news. I have been freelance for 7 years, love it.

I had felt the same way you do, but I don’t feel that anymore. I have improved a lot. It seems like it is only now when I have started to “get it”. A lot of people had followed this path, learn from them instead of thinking your problems are only yours, that there are bad things that are immutable, you can do something about it.

Why don’t you create a club of freelancers? It is like a swimmer pro that decides to swim alone all day, you need to learn from others so routine doesn’t kill you. This DOESN’T MEAN you need to work for the man, you just need to organize like the man does, find other freelancers, just talk with them, they have the same problem you do. People with common objectives improve way faster(you will always find someone better than you that you could learn about).

Being alone means you could cease to learn from others, to grow, that’s bad, because you can improve it. DECIDE to do something about it, read books and watch videos and improve your live.

I read books like The power of full engagement.Tony Swartz. Travel, learn and be happy!

Bravo! right on the money. >20 years freelancing (with a few breaks to get group medical insurance and a mortgage acquisition – right on the money there). Free lancing is definitely not for everyone. But I definitely prefer it over a job with a dysfunctional company!

[...] Want To Be A Freelancer? Just Punch Yourself In The Face, Instead (tags: advice career design freelance life work writing) Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)links for 2010-07-05links for 2009-10-13links for 2009-08-25TT Faces… [...]

[...] Want To Be A Freelancer? Just Punch Yourself In The Face, Instead [...]

[...] I embark on a new chapter of my professional career, one freelance writer’s thoughts on the toils and tribulations of the craft got me laughing so hard I’m actually looking [...]

[...] I embark on a new chapter of my professional career, one freelance writer’s thoughts on the toils and tribulations of the craft got me laughing so hard I’m actually looking [...]

But if you had a regular job you might not get to write hysterical posts like this that had me in stitches! It’s month 2 for me but I love it so far. I quite enjoy being a social outcast. Some days i don’t get dressed til 5 o’clock. Others I decide against showering or brushing my teeth. I am more sociable now then when I was working in the real world, and all with people on twitter on all 4 corners of the globe who I’m never likely to meet. It is a strange life but I wouldn’t swap it. That is until those commissions dry up..

[...] Want To Be A Freelancer? Just Punch Yourself In The Face, Instead <span class="“> – Annotated [...]

[...] I embark on a new chapter of my professional career, one freelance writer’s thoughts on the toils and tribulations of the craft got me laughing so hard I’m actually looking [...]

Freedom has a cost but has no price.

Freelance is like building a new company : it’s very hard at the beginning. If you have work, you work a lot, sure. But I think (and I hope) you finish by finding a good way to be equal between your professionnal an your personnal life. For me, I couldn’t go back in a “normal” job. I couldn’t support to hear what I have to do, to ask if I can be off for any reasons, etc. I understand perfectly that this way is not for everybody. But the cost of my freedom, of having my own choices, of the luxe to decide with who I want to work and when, etc. is at the end not so high. And freedom has no price in my opinion. I have a lot of collaborators now, freelances or not, and it’s very exciting to meet a lot of different people. After 8 years in my job, in a closed team, I couldn’t support to see anybody. I became unsocial…

So, my conclusion: yes it’s hard, yes it’s sometimes as described above, but I definitively prefer that than to be a slave in my golden jail!

I’ve been freelance food and cookbook writing full time since the early 70s, and I think your title could be improved to “Considering Freelancing? Just Slit Your Throat, Instead.” This would save folks a long, painful death. I was nodding at every word– endless work hours, scratching for jobs, low pay, feeling guilty when not working, the string morgage banks saying,”income’s too ‘spotty’–only counting what your W-2-collecting spouse with an actual job earns.”

But food writing has it own little pitfalls, the biggest one being that everybody who eats thinks he can write about food. My vet said: “Oh, you write cookbooks. I want to write one someday.” (And I wanna be a vet someday.) Any celebrity for any reason (or no reason) can hire a (work-for-hire) recipe developer to come up with a little content, then slap his or her smiling face on the cover, and dish up a best seller. (Mrs. Obama could write a “green” cookbook containing 75 recipes for yard clippings and it would fly off the shelves.)

The other teensy problem is that folks feel it’s perfectly fine to help themselves to recipes that someone else spent time (and money for ingredients) perfecting–and without compensating and often without even giving a credit. Even a copyright provides no protection, since the “borrower” can simply make a few cosmetic changes to a recipe to avoid legal risks. (Of course, the creater would actually need money to sue, limiting risks even further.) I suppose I should just feel proud rather than grumpy that my recipes are worthy of being stolen by some high-profile people, publications, and websites.

Excellent article (which I’m reading while compiling sketches for a package design illustration) – Love it! It’s great to not feel alone! Am I the only one who has gone to the post office on sunday *having no idea what day of the week it is?* (um, multiple times).
echo

In case you’re wondering why–if freelane food writing is such a terrible business–I’ve stayed with it so long: My spouse has always earned us a good living. I still love the work. And nobody can steal whole books from me or can take away the satisfaction I have of holding some of my well tested, well written, attractively produced cookbooks in my hands….

Freelancing is about giving up some (financial) security in order to get a large amount of freedom in return. You want to work from 5 AM to noon everyday? Done! You want to take a week off every 2 months? Done! Take your kids to their activities in the afternoon? done!
You don’t have to answer or bend to the crazy suggestion of a pointy hair boss. The biggest challenge, apart from the financial insecurity the first few years, is to have great self-discipline and become excellent at what you do. Self-discipline is on how to manage your time, to know when it is OK to not work, or say no to another project you don’t have time to do, but that you still want to squeeze in because you want the cash. Excellence, because over time your clients, will come back if they know they can rely on your expertise, and they will advertise your work without you even realizing it sometimes. Nobody said it was easy, but most great things are this way. It’s all about what your personality can handle, some are made for it, some will prefer the stability and direction you get at a regular job.

Cheers!

@Echo:

I am frequently unaware of:

a) The date

b) The time

c) My pants

Your work is awesome, by the by.

– c.

[...] This guy has no idea how easy things are in 2010: Mortgage companies don’t get it, and nobody else really will, either. (I mean, except other freelancers. Freelancers should form a support group for one another. I guess maybe they already have? I think it’s called “Twitter.”) Go ahead, try explaining to your in-laws what you do. Or your parents. Or that new girl you’re trying to sex up. Nobody seems to believe that freelancing is real. It’s as if you’re playing pretend. “That’s not a real job, is it?” “No, I just made it up. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go hang out with my pet dragon and have a tea party in Narnia. The life of a freelancer never ends!” [...]

I was a full time Freelancer for over a decade (1990-2001) and your post pretty well nailed it. Something I have not read a lot of in these posts is the struggle caused when you attempt to “control” the flow of work . Not having a steady flow means always committing to more than you really should and becomes relationship destroying monster. If you are a very social person (I am) being up at 3:00 am, alone in your apartment, under that desk lamp can be pretty rough.
You also never knew that an inanimate object could hate you. You know, the clock. Clock hate can be the worst. When you aren’t looking, that little sucker just reels off the numbers.
Yer better off doing the full time gig. Like me. You know, fall into something that sucks the life out of you during the day so you can posess that holy grail known as Health Insurance. …………..

I feel your pain, i’ve left my last agency its about 2 months, and money are just going away and not coming in… eh i have to say, you need guts, i’m havin’

god damnit.

I want to go into freelancing, as a game designer and author. What I do right now is write stories and homebrew mechanics for D&D and wish someone would notice me. If I could get paid for doing that, even if it was barely enough (or even not quite enough) to keep me alive, I would be happier than a boogeyman in an orphanage.

[...] right now, and most likely will get harder and harder. That it’d be less painful to just punch myself in the face. But then another part of me thinks that I shouldn’t give a damn. That becoming a writer is [...]

I find freelancing a lot like trying to put smarties tubes on a cats legs to make them walk like a robot.

@Chuck: A “penmonkey”, A “freelancer” whatever you may call it, its a JOB and we are not robbing banks or smashing planes into federal buildings on a commercial airliner in the name of God! Too political, but true!

Governments/Politicians aka White Mafia’s and their unleashed in the wilderness hunting goons; like Banks and Financial Institutes tell the same story to me when I go out to seek a Home Loan. Even in times when “Economy Brides” are screaming and against all odds “You are a performer” but not in the prawning eyes of the Goons! Because:

A) Your a Freelancer not a certified Corporate organization which can declare bankruptcy overnight like The Lehmann’s. So we need a class act, like them!
B) We created a FOOBAR situation by lending loans and credit cards to street dogs and lamp posts (As said earlier), so we must cover it up.

A review from Kasper Labs on Vista is more than applicable here:

“Freedom itself creates threats, whereas restrictions reduce flexibility. The more restrictions, the less user friendly the system will be.”

“In other words, if you are jealous of your partner, you may forbid him/ her to go out alone, or you may even lock him/ her up. Of course, the greater the restrictions, the less likelihood there is of someone else entering into a relationship with your partner. But the more restrictions, the less happy your partner will be. Ultimately, the question is do you really want an unhappy partner?”

“Even if an ideal balance can be found between restrictions and usability, the history of security shows that any protective barrier can eventually be overcome or evaded in some way, as long as someone, somewhere, is interested in doing so.”

Nice blog!! i also know a very good site for Freelancer.

Oh no – now, in the time I was supposed to be finishing some client work, sitting here in my nightie with a huge cuppa, I’ve “wasted” 20 minutes reading your brilliant post – and all the engaging comments

As a freelancer for over 30 years – the last 20 “forced” because of having a severely disabled son at home to look after, I soooooo related to your post.

But the comment that stuck @Gareth was “I don’t work from home, I live at work”.

Yep. Luckily, I love where I live!

You, Sir, win at the internets today. Your article was perfect.

My parents still think I “don’t work and do shit all day” my kids think I’m at stay at home mom (which is a job unto itself and not the same thing AT ALL, CHILDREN)

I will frame and put this in my office (where ever it is that i can be alone and away from my family) and ensure that everyone i know reads it.

bravo man!

Marie

Oh wow, after just two years as a freelancer, this article feels like a hug. No one ever told me that the free part of freelancing is scary as shit.

Having said that though, I’m now going to go get my coffee.

Great article, and great discussion on the board!

I’ve been freelancing for about 6 years now, and have just had to take my first part-time job in a couple years. Ironically, it’s work doing Location Support for film in TO, which today paid double-time to spend 12 hours watching a hole in a wall, to make sure no-one went through it. That’s it. Oddly, at the end of the day, I appreciated having a workload to go home to!

What I’ve been learning over the last couple years is that the key to freelancing is not just being disciplined and suffering the lack of spare time. The biggest part that defines how rushed off your feet you are 24/7 is managing your clients. That’s not just a reference to the time they need allocated to their jobs, but also to their expectations and unreasonable demands. And, that usually starts at the beginning, when I’m telling them what I can do for them.

Doing web design and development like I do, you often find that you are up until 1am not because you couldn’t do the job, but because the client called at the last minute and INSISTED that something be changed or added.

Now, before I was freelancing, I worked in theatre – so I was used to the up all night stuff, but that’s because those experiences come from having to rely on volunteers, weather, and the artistic passions that made for big egos, big wastes of time, unreasonable demands that had to be met before opening, and so on. As a director/producer (which was my thang) you had to balance the resources your meagre funding could afford you, the willingness of your volunteers, the abilities of your cast (and their egos) and your crew (and their egos) and end up with it all working right on the night. As Julie Taymor can attest to, this is sometimes not easy to do – and if you don’t have the ridiculous money behind the show, it’s even MORE difficult.

When it came to actors, I knew I could get them to deliver their best by starting off on the first day by defining the terms of our working relationship, and what might be expected of them if we were going to make the show a dynamite one – and this could include anything from “You all need to have learned how to juggle by next week,” to “We will have safety crews on standby for the scene with the flaming sword.” This could inspire – or make people bail. Better to have them bail early.

As a freelancer, you are kind of like the director who’s trying to “make it”. You want every job to be one you can show off in your portfolio. You need every job, so you can eat. If you get a job, you are VERY reluctant to stand your ground and say “no, that will cost you more money” or “no, I will NOT stay up all night to get this done, because that is what you are asking me to do, deadline be damned.”

Creatives tend to take gigs that they THINK will make them look great, and wind up in a nightmare project that ends up paying nothing, destroys their sleep patterns, their relationships, makes them doubt themselves, etc – and SO many actors, as talented they may be, wind up being a teacher, or a manager at the shoe shop in the mall, or going into the family business, or becoming homeopaths, because it’s a regular paycheque

It was a revelation the first time I said to a client “You know, I’m afraid i just can’t help you any more. Your deposit covers most of the work so far – here is the materials and work to date, so please find someone else to finish this.” I had, of course, allowed the client to get completely unreasonable in a way I could use in any lawsuit, before I said this. However the experience taught me that some people can not be pleased, and making the rent would be easier to do without the dark cloud that had been hanging over my head. It’s easier to get a new client when you don’t feel so on edge.

These days, I’m doing pretty well. The best bit is, I sleep regular hours, and don’t find myself talking to myself through clenched teeth at 10pm at night. The standard line sits on the bulletin board above my desk:

“I need to remind you at this juncture that you hired me to do A B and C by Date X, and I agreed that was possible contingent on providing 1 2 and 3. I would be delighted to do the work you are asking for, but not without you paying for the additional time required, and with the understanding that the agreed deadline may need to be changed to accommodate for this. I believe that would be the most professional way to resolve this situation.”

Below it is another note, written in caligraphy:

“Your failure to be organized and prepared is not my problem.”

All my clients that are regulars repeatedly tell me my customer service is excellent. I don’t snap at some of them, or bite chunks out of my tongue all day – I patiently explain that some situations require them to a bit more understanding of how I am able to work for them. And I plan for hiccups and delays; I use the Scotty rule – multiply the time you think you can do it in by a factor of four, and use that for your quote if you can. You’ll find when you get it done a few hours past when you thought you’d get it done, you still have time for a movie before bed.

And FYI – that incorporation thing? If you don’t do it, you can at least use it in conversation and make the relatives happy for a time. “I do XYZ and I’m currently freelancing. I’m currently looking at incorporation.” When they ask what that means, explain incorporation to them. Then explain the pros and cons. Suddenly, they’re listening!

Great article! I guess I’d rather punch my self in the face then have a boss punch me in the face. When I worked at a full time job it’s was like working alone. I sat there all day with headphones on with my head buried in my computer.

Thank you for summing up so concisely everything that I love (and hate) about freelancing.

[...] I invite you to watch from the safety of your own home as I undertake this exciting and often warned against career move. Will he be able to make rent? Can he find affordable health insurance? [...]

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