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Is This A Booming Time For Freelancers… Or Not?

Johnny
Posted: January 27th, 2009

It’s nothing new that news of the economy, wherever you are at, just gets worse as the year progresses. What I find interesting, though, is that I hear mixed news as far as the sutuation of freelancers in this crappy economy. If you get a hold of a report from a major player like CNN it’s easy to convince yourself that, hey, I won’t be affected.

On the flip side, I see a lot of news and advice from sites such as Freelance Switch and Freelance Folder that have tips on surviving the economic trouble. These all seem to conflict each other. I mean is this a time where freelancers should be celebrating or maybe worrying a little that they could become a casualty if they don’t act now?

Well, the answer is pretty simple. Prepare yourself but be optimistic. Does that mean we worry about the economy, too? Sure, but let’s not panic just yet.

As a freelancer, myself included, you should expect steady work from clients to slow down and possibly even stop. Even if things look peachy at the moment, everything can change in the blink of an eye. Preparations should follow suit. That means updating the resume, hitting the job boards, calling up old clients, and being prepared to find more work on a dime if need be. This doesn’t mean it’s time to scream Holy Shit! to yourself. First of all, yes, this is becoming a freelancer economy and, second, there will always be jobs available no matter how bad things get.

The bad economy is also a good time to take advantage of the slowdown, if you can afford to do so. You have to remember recessions are cyclical and a “boom” usually follows. So now is a great time to take up that project you had in mind or write that ebook you’ve always put off doing. Even a personal friend of mine is using all of this year to start up his urban clothing business in time for the expected rise in the economy next year. This is despite a looming threat of being layed off himself.

Now is a good time to be optimistic even though the good economic times seem far away.

Category: General Rants
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Around the Horn: Week of January 19th

Johnny
Posted: January 26th, 2009

Sorry, I’m a little late on the posting. The other day job took precedence unfortunately. So as we salute the pilot we all know as the U.S. Airways waterskier, I give you this week’s freelancing tidbits.

Arbenting: Ever think about what you give up when becoming a freelancer? Though it’s a little on the pessimistic side, they hold truth to them.

Being a Starving Graphic Artist Sucks: The best piece of advice I’ve seen in a while (not the part about being a starving graphic artist sucking). Short, right to the point and 100% true.

DESIGNM.AG: The 16 business lessons for freelancers and spoken from a wise man. Study each one because they all will be an issue with you at some time or another. Best one in my opinion: #4 Charge up front. Helps keep a steady cash flow.

Freelance Folder: One flaw of freelancers is their tendency to be a do-it-all to please their clients. For instance you may be a web designer and a client may ask you to write the web content which seems hard to pass up. This can get you in over your head, too.

Freelance Folder: Hey, I got on the bandwagon though fairly recently. Here are three reasons why every freelancer should have a blog.

FreelanceMagazine.com: So now you have have the hang of freelancing, are making nice income but want to take it to the next level. Here’s an article that outlines how to reach the top in what you do.

Freelance Switch: One of the biggest challenges to a freelancer is figuring out how to make themselves productive. Well, here are 46 tips for you, so take a few minutes to read through them. You may not get around to all of them but there are several that will be helpful to you. For me: Listing 3 – 5 things to do the next day and checking email just twice a day.

Freelance Switch: So you want to go about starting out in freelance the right way? Actually, even if you are a freelancer, have you done these 7 things to kickstart your freelance career? I know I don’t have my hand up but probably should.

Ink Thinker Blog: One thing that makes everything go smoothly in freelance work are contracts. They make sure you do the work you say you will (and no more) and you get paid what you were promised (and no less). They should be in use by EVERY freelancer, too. Here is a super resource for contract samples and tutorials. Have a look.

Innovative: You probably wouldn’t ever work for free but here are the only four times you should ever work for free.

Category: Around the Horn, Freelancing Links, The Week in Freelance
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Around the Horn

Johnny
Posted: November 28th, 2008

  • From Freelance UK: Freelance graphic designer Andrew Chipperfield explains a typical client we should all be aware of: “Then came the turning point for me. He asked to meet up to discuss some bigger opportunities he might have for me. So i went to meet him, as it turned out, at his shop. I turned up to see his £80,000 LandRover with personalised number plate, and a few people working for him. At that point, I decided to get the meeting over and done with, and that I wouldn’t be doing any more work for him. I didn’t want to work with someone who blatantly lied to me.”
  • From CNN.com: Kate Lorenz interviewing freelancer Ryan Saale on trying out freelancing part time: “A lot of people don’t want to commit full-time skills to a part-time or temporary gig. In this economy though, it can allow you to not only try on a job for size, but to also improve your skills, impress a potential long-term employer and network like crazy with people in your chosen industry,” she says. “Instead of nervously waiting for the right full-time career, you can potentially make something better happen in the short term.”
  • Here’s how I earned my riches as a freelancer… so can you!
  • Still squinting while reading this? Paul Boutin of Slate has an idea you should try out.
  • From Rubiqube: “… I can’t deny the fact that self-employment has its perks. Some of these perks are the guilty pleasures that make you say “I’ll never go back to that 9 to 5″, whenever you see an interesting full-time position on one of those job boards.“  Amen to that.
Category: Around the Horn, Freelancing Links, The Week in Freelance
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What Does Freedom (At Work) Really Mean?

Johnny
Posted: November 5th, 2008

I remember all the way back when I was sixteen years old, I had at the time a job which I thought had the greatest freedom that a job could possibly have. To an extent it still holds true to me today. You see, I worked in a rather rundown cheesesteak shop (without a sign I might add) inside a large shopping mall. The pay was borderline free for my employers here but I had it made.

I worked alone most times, made myself a sandwich when I felt like it, called my friends, gave free food to my friends once in a while and cut out early nearly every day I worked. Don’t tell mom but I even drank beers from next door in the back room. I probably would have worked there for free if they would have inevitably fired me (which they didn’t).

Although this wouldn’t fly in today’s place of employement (that sandwich shop did close down by the way) we still have an idea of what kind of freedoms are ideal for us in the workplace. Can you picture a drunk tank where you can clock in and sleep until you sober up? How about just coming in whenever you feel like it, having a two hour lunch or having a beer while you’re at a meeting?

It would seem our perception of freedom in the workplace is derived from wanting to skirt the rules our so-called superiors set for their employees which is true in a sense. Workplace freedom is, however, the desire to break free from the CONTROL that our employers have to place on us in order to for us conform and do our jobs.

Though I hate to use political references, you can view this employer control as a kind of socialism where your freedoms (to come in late, drunk, etc.) are suppressed for the productivity of the whole, which is the company. The downside to this is that it is totally necessary for a company to survive. OK, maybe there are exceptions like the Google campus, but we all can’t work there, can we?

Then there are the freelancers who would be the democratic adversary to the “socialist” company. A freelancer’s freedom, however, isn’t what you’d expect. Sure, you can expect to sleep in and wake up hungover once in while but what you would actually consider freedom in the workplace actually becomes a distraction to the freelancer.

Control for a freelancer is not placed in the hands of another but within himself. It is ironic that this complete control often drives new freelancers to quit and go back to their jobs. After all, YOU have to look for your own work, manage your own business and make sure you are making ends meet and then some so you can continue. This is all on top of the actual work you do. This added responsibility often drives people to quit freelancing or to not even start at all.

The truth is freelancing does have it’s learning curve and there are certainly going to be times where what you are earning will become an issue. The way to deal with that control, however, is to use it to your advantage. In other words, learn the ropes, take your punches and keep on rolling. I’ll admit that it’s easier said than done but when the end of that learning comes near you won’t regret it. Only then you’ll see what freedom at work really is.

Category: General Rants
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