7 Woes of the Freelance Creative Pro
When you work for yourself – as a designer, a writer, a photographer or some other creative job – you seem to have it made: no boss to answer to! You can set your own hours! You’re living the dream, doing what you want to do! But there is a downside to freelancing – seven that I’ve listed below.
1. Friends and family expect you work for them for free. I am guilty of this myself, to a point. I ask my lawyer friends to explain legal stuff and ask doctor pals for medical advice. But I try not to take advantage. Acquaintances often naively think that everything creative pros do is fun, but they don’t realize that it takes time and money to produce the product, whether it’s photographing a wedding or building a website.
2. Those same friends and family ask you to run errands for them. How many times have you been asked to sign for a package or walk a dog between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. because people think you’re not on any schedule? They don’t believe you have deadlines to make or meetings to attend.
3. Taxes are hard. So much for the 1040EZ – all those freelance checks are unwieldy compared with one W-2 form from an employer. If you’re a first-year freelancer, it might be best to see a professional tax preparer, and before you go, check online to be sure you have all the proper paperwork.
4. A lack of personal interaction can be harmful to social skills. I’ve found that when I work from home – even for one day – I talk to myself, to the television, to my cats and even to the plants. If I don’t, when I do encounter a human being, I don’t even understand what comes out of my mouth – it’s just an unintelligible rant of non-English. Freelancers would do themselves some good if they got outside to meet clients or even visited the neighborhood café to personally order coffee. Keep those conversation skills active!
5. You need to get your own clients. You could be the best designer or photographer in town, but that doesn’t mean you’ll get any business unless you seek it out. “Marketing” is one of the top answers I hear when I ask people about the downside of freelancing. Creative pros want to create, not sell themselves. But until they’ve earned a reputation that precedes them, self-promotion is necessary to get customers.
6. Freelancers must wear a lot of hats. Aside from marketing, self-employed creatives must also handle all business affairs: IT, human resources and accounting, for example. Sure, I’ve heard of people outsourcing some of these responsibilities, but can you afford to do so right now? Fortunately, a lot of free or cheap software is out there to help with some of these tasks. And rather than resort to point No. 1 – asking a friend to work for you for free – this could be an opportunity to barter your skills.
7. Your “hobby” becomes a chore. That previously mentioned idea of “livin’ the dream”? Now that you’re doing what you love, you might not love it so much. You don’t always get to use your creativity to make art – now you’re photographing uncooperative children, writing brochure copy or designing text-heavy web pages. And in your spare time, do you really want to be behind a computer or pick up a camera?
That’s quite a list of gripes, but all that being said, would you give up the freelancing life to go back to the 9-to-5 world? The freelancers I’ve spoken to value their freedom too much to return to having a boss and having to stuff their feet into close-toed shoes each day. Besides, the coffee you brew at home is usually far superior to that burned-tasting sludge in the office.
How have you learned to deal with your freelance woes?
Jennifer Moline is a writer for PsPrint and the PsPrint Design Blog. PsPrint is an online commercial printing company.
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I’d like to add another one
8. Running out of time, you need more than 24 hours in a day to get points 1 to 7 completed!
AMEN!!! I asked for a 36 hour day for Christmas this past year. Santa didn’t seem to have room in his bag. :(
I looking to start my own creative services business in the next few months and numbers 3 and 5 are definitely going to be the hardest for me to deal with. I’m not very good at pitching myself and I kind of suck at math, haha. I’m hoping at least knowing these things going in that I can stay ahead when it comes to the tax and accounting stuff.
Oh, I’ve also definitely caught myself having conversations with my dinner or various pieces of technology I happen to be using.
How have I learned to deal with my freelance woes?
1. Stop thinking of myself as a freelancer and start realizing I’m a business owner.
2. After I talk to my friends about their 9-5 job woes, being a “freelancer” feels pretty darn sweet.
Excellent point on #1.
LOL! Love the “talking to the cat” comment. Here, the cat’s trying to “talk” to me — if that doesn’t work he walks all over my laptop. Oh, and you should know office cats give printers hairballs. Blech!
Totally agree with “How many times have you been asked to sign for a package or walk a dog between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. because people think you’re not on any schedule?”
They will not understand why we need to face to the computer from 9am – 5pm… they don’t understand we got a tight schedule. Time is cost.
Good point, Dan! I should have included that procrastinators will have a difficult time freelancing unless they keep strict deadlines — not just for a project but for the steps in between, too.
Jennifer- I totally agree with # 4. When I go to CVS or the market, I always try to strike up a conversation with other shoppers in the check out line, or the checkout person and everyone looks at me and thinks I am crazy!
‘How have you learned to deal with your freelance woes?’
Routines. Routines. Routines.
I’m planning to work 9-5 then use 3-5 hours do freelance work. at weekends I’m planning to unwind myself and go social.
3-5 hours means that I will work at night to do my freelance work despite my clients are usually available at night in my GMT
How have I learned to deal? I’m still trying to work that out.
However, some hard lessons I have learned along the way…
* Being on a schedule is a must – as Bjarte said, “Routines.”
* Customer Service is Important – a happy client is more likely to be flexible when necessary.
* Work Hard in the Beginning – set up a positive reputation for yourself then build on that.
* Set Aside Time to Socialize – otherwise your life will disappear.
* Make Working Fun – I wear a lot of hats when I work, literally: fun ones from the halloween store.
* Join the Economy – hire professionals to take care of stuff you can’t do or don’t have time for: taxes, lawncare, car maintenance, etc.
* Stay Malleable – be open to change, you never know where opportunities come from.
* Seek Help When Necessary – when life gets you down, there’s nothing wrong with asking for help, professional or otherwise.
really enjoyed this article. #2 and #4 made me LOL. I’m a first year free lancer and blogger, its tough!
great reminder that I have to do taxes. ek.
I can totally relate to point #4 – ‘A lack of personal interaction can be harmful to social skills.’
I always try to get out and about 3 times a week if I can. Usually to play Squash, and then at weekends to see the other half and friends.
If I don’t do that I notice myself getting in a muddle when trying to just tell someone what I’ve been up to that week. Or I draw a blank when trying to continue a conversation.
Great article! Founds lots to relate to there.
I find that having a list of things to do, in some vague kind of order of priority, helps me greatly – not least because I gain a great deal of OCD satisfaction from slowly and deliberately crossing things out.
Getting out and about to as many networking and social things as possible helps greatly.
Social networking internet sites are good (I found a link to this very article on Twitter, for example.)
Going off on training courses and CPD jaunts is very good for the self-confidence, especially if it is feeling a little battered.
A pair of really good EAR DEFENDERS is a must in my house – it allows me to carry on working even when both my own children and half those from the local neighborhood are downstairs playing Nintendo. *sigh*
Eric: I love the idea of, literally, wearing different hats! Oftentimes we need a bit of levity when we’re facing deadline hell.
:) Thanks Jennifer. I find it’s hard to scowl at a deadline when you have a silly hat on.
Wow! Number 1, 2, and 4,… boy I tell you! I live those everyday!
I found that joining groups/clubs and even the gym help with my interaction with people. I’m also in a band and we perform pretty regularly.
I wholly agree with making time to exercise — don’t work out from home, but rather, get outside! Take a power-walk, go on a hike or just join a gym. You’ll feel energized and be among people for a bit. I belong to a gym that’s open 24 hours just in case I only have time to squeeze in a workout at 3 a.m.
I think i have had to deal with each of those. I had to end up getting a workplace office due to too many distractions at my home office. My son likes to come in and turn off my computer and let me know that i am done working for the day so i can take him to the park. As far the marketing yourself as a freelancer goes i like to make to make it a habit to spen the first 2-3 hours of day devoted to the business specifically marketing and make it a goal to call at least 5 prospective clients a day, within those first 2 hours preferably so i can devote the rest of my day to what love to do, design.
suffering with #5 total of lack interaction and adding the other responsibilities. Used to be a stage artist now I can’t muster up the courage to speak to ppl besides family and close friends.