Recently I asked the Interweb a few questions about their experiences of freelancing. This is the first in a series of posts exploring their answers…

I first went freelancing/contracting in 1998, when I was working on OS/390 IBM Mainframe kit (old skool!), plugging holes in the Y2K bug. I loved contracting; the money was better for starters. But, more than that,  I’d always hated working for other people…and that seems to be a common thread.

Some people fell into freelancing though, redundancy or a simple lack of full time positions:

“Thrown into it when was I made redundant from my agency job in 2011.” – Cole Henley

“The company I was working for went pop” – Darren Beale

“the decision for me going freelance was not made by me but the company where I worked. – Dan Davies

“Freedom. Fed up working for others.” – David Goodwin

“It just sort of happened” – Dan Dineen

“I would say I fell into freelancing.” – Victoria Jones

“I was very unhappy where I was” – Matt Saunders

And I can certainly sympathise with the anonymous soul who simply said:

“Hated my job.”

In the early 2000’s I was contracting and working at places that I really, really disliked. The travel was a grind and the work was soulless; so I know how the above person was feeling. There is only so long you can put up with the pain of hating your job, at some point something has to give; you are in charge of your career – take the necessary steps to get to where you want to go.

“I imagined that with the ludicrously high rates I could earn freelancing that I only needed to work for a few months a year to match the salary I was on as a permie.” – Rick Hurst

Ah yes! The lure of money! What does Del Boy always say? “By this time next year Rodders my old son, we’ll be milllllionaires!“. I’m pretty sure that it was money which first lured me into contracting in the late 90’s; I’d hear the hourly rate some hired hand was on and think “but, I’m better than you and earning a lot less?!“. But it’s never that simple of course; a full time role has other perks (aside from your monthly wage). And being a freelance/contractor also means you have to make hay when the sunshines – you don’t know where your next project may be coming from.

“It turned out that I loved being my own boss and the new found sense of control and freedom that came with it. What had been a stop gap became a full-time freelancing career for the next 6 years.” – Matt Hill

The above echoes a common theme of stumbling in to freelancing; perhaps that’s the nature of the beast but part of me wishes/hopes that people can increasingly take a long hard look at what they want out of their careers and plan a path which suits them; and not simply get dragged along in wake of circumstance.

“Freedom to work on more interesting / different projects.” – Joshua Marshall

Freedom to work on more interesting projects is a cracking reason to freelance but, for the majority of people, you have to put in the hard yards before you get to the stage of being picky with your clients/projects. If you’re smart, you’ll have a few clients ready & warmed up when you do decide to go solo (as Benjy below did); I did not – I had to create a parachute after I’d jumped out of the plane – not always the best plan (but sometimes the only option).

“I worked for a small web design agency, but one of the directors was leaving, so I decided to make the leap into freelancing. I was able to take all of our design-work clients with me.” – Benjy Stanton

“I didn’t plan on doing full-time client work but also wanted time to do research and talk about performance at conferences, I also wanted to be able to take the school holidays off and spend time with the kids.” – Andy Davies

Ah! The dream of the freelance life! Sipping a cool margarita on an exotic beach, the kids playing in the surf, whilst running your business via a shiny new Macbook Air! For most people, the initial reality of freelancing is a blind panic to get in as much work in as possible; hanging over you, the shadow of next month’s mortgage and a fear of letting yourself and your family down (why don’t I get a proper job?!). Andy is spot on here with his aims for freelancing; be warned though – it can take a while before you get the work/life balance that freelancing and running your own show can offer.

Closing Remarks

A lot of folks seemed to stumble into freelancing, as I’ve mentioned above, that concerns me a little. Hell, if I could speak to my 25 year old self again I’d give him a stern talking to – try to plan it out a bit more. What’s that saying? The longest journey begins with a single step…

Many thanks to everyone who generously shared their experience in the creation of this article (and the series to come).

Next time we’ll explore the answers to the following question:

“What did you think freelancing would be like?”

Joel

p.s. don’t forget we’ve got a conference coming in Cardiff next year (18th of July) which is solely about the business of freelancing and running your micro-agency.