Being Freelance Doesn't Mean You're Not Employed

I think if I were to have a dollar for every time someone ‘joked’ about that, I wouldn’t actually have to work. What those people seem to think, is that because I do not have a permanent position on someone’s staff I must not have a real job. To those people I say this – come try my world for a while before you say that I don't work full time.

Freelance comes from the time period where knights and mercenaries were around defending strongholds and kingdoms. While some knights were on the landowner's payroll, there were a few that roamed around from place to place as a lance for hire or as someone who was ‘free’ to work for whomever needed the help. For a price of course. {A big thanks to my dad for reminding me this is where it came from. He’s a smart guy, but don’t worry I checked and this story pans out.}

As a freelancer we are often lumped in with the self employed, which in many ways is similar, but most of us are not actually self employed. For someone who is self employed typically there is a business or company attached to them; their own. A freelancer is someone who is hired for a specific length of time, for a specific amount of money. Once the terms of the job are complete we move on. A lance for hire.

There are many wonderful things about working as a freelancer.

For one, we are able to pick jobs that interest us. We are given specifics on the project and we can decide whether or not we want to be involved. There’s a lot of freedom in that. Of course, choosing which jobs to take normally comes after the period of taking any job just to pay your bills! Another great thing about being freelance is that we are able to set our own schedules. Because we don’t necessarily have a boss (it’s a client) we are trusted to know what the best schedule is in order to complete the task. (This can vary from profession to profession and can be on a job to job basis as well.) This kind of freedom allows for us to take on multiple projects at once, work from many different locations and gives us access to tons of different people with every job.

Perhaps my favorite thing about working as a freelancer is the fact that no matter how bad a job may seem, there’s always an end. I work in television and film so our projects are extremely intense and we are expected to get things done quickly in order to save money. I’ve always said that what we are able to accomplish in one week’s time takes other’s over a month to do the same thing. It’s not a matter of talent – though I’ve met some amazingly talented people – it’s actually that we don’t have any more time than what we are hired to do. If you don’t get the job completed you will not be hired again and you will not be recommended for future projects. That’s a major motivator to someone who doesn’t get paid if there isn’t a job.

While those are just some of the good things that come with being a freelancer, there’s also the long list of terrifying factors to take into account.

There is no guarantee of work. We are not given a job by someone else. We have to find it – enter in the work that other’s don’t see us do. We are constantly looking for the next project, the next source of income. We don’t work, we don’t get paid. It’s really that simple. And really that terrifying. There can be long stretches of time, especially in the beginning, of jobs that come in few and far between. We have to be able to manage our time and our money in order to get through those stretches. There is no payday every other week. The payday comes at the end of a job. No job, no payday. I’ve repeated myself here I know, but it’s a biggie!

It takes a special kind of person to be freelance. We need to be able to manage time and money. We need to be able to constantly network and research in order to find that next job. We have only our own reputation to get us work and therefor get us paid. We have to remain calm in the times of slow work flow and we need to have the drive to find the next project.

I’m not saying that there won’t be times even for the most seasoned freelancer where a bit of panic sets in and you wonder if you will ever work again. I’ve been doing it for over 13 years now and I can honestly say that about twice a year, I have sleepless nights wondering if this is the year that I officially can’t pay my bills. Will this be the year I have to move into my parents basement with my two cats?! But I work hard and I’ve been lucky enough to always find more work. And the cycle continues. It’s gotten easier as time has gone on. I’ve more clients that are looking for me versus me looking for them. Word of mouth has allowed me to find new clients and my reputation has helped to bring my name to the top of the list when projects come up. I’ve had to work constantly to make that happen. Even when I wasn’t being paid. Sink or swim as they say.

For those of you that are considering going freelance I hope this helped. It’s not an easy road, but it is fun. And there are so many benefits to working like this, that this hasn’t even begun to scratch the surface. But it’s hard work and there a lot of people out there that won’t understand that just because you aren’t being paid that day doesn’t mean you aren’t working.

You are not unemployed, you are freelance!

And like the knights and mercenaries before us, we soldier on in an unpredictable field with many challenges that most others are unable to do or understand. And to me that makes us kind of badass just like those who came before us.

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