What's it like being a freelancer?

[themothership]

Hi all

I'm sitting here at my desk on my second day back at work, feeling pretty unmotivated and missing little dd terribly. I've been at the same company for 5 years but the politics of the place exhaust me, and being a manager Ihave no option but to deal with them.

If I'd had a choice and could afford to, then I'd be at home with dd full-time but thats not an option. However avoiding all the politics and personality conflicts etc that come with being enmeshed in a company structure suddenly seems very appealing. I'd really like to hear from other freelancing mums about what it's really like, what the pro's and cons are etc.

Thanks!

(In case it's relevant, I work in new media)

Er.. well, I like it, but (a) you need childcare (b) you need an assured income. In fact I've just gone for a p/t jobshare to support my freelancing.

I don't have childcare or an assued income, but I get a steady supply of work which I fit around dd. I don't work full-time hourse but I work evenings and weekends when dp is around. It's tiring but worth it, and I can build it up when dd starts school.

Hi
Thanks for your messages so far. Yep, I would have childcare (well, dh home 2 days a week and mum helping out for 2 days). By assured income, do you mean lining up jobs in advance etc. to keep the money coming in?

Is freelancing less emotionally stressful, when you don't have to get involved in the politics of the organisation that you're working with?

Just out of interest, what industry do you work in carribeanqueen?

'Is freelancing less emotionally stressful?'

IME, yes. I went freelance 6 mths ago and I am approximately 750,000 time happier mainly because I feel so much freer. No hassle about whether so-and-so is out to get me/meetings which will swallow up half a day, just put head down and get on with my job (which I can now control to some degree, ie no sweat about weeks off for halfterm etc, no negotiations around Christmas/halfterms etc) and I'm the boss.

I had begun to hate my job, and now I'm remembering why I liked it to start with.

Yes I am considerably poorer, but I have cut back on my hours so that's to be expected.

If you are fairly confident about getting work, do it. It was hugely scary at first but I decided I would make a real effort not to get too stressed for at least 6 months. And 6 mths in, I'm really oddly happy.

Thanks bakedpotato, that's really helpful. I'm thinking that if I have to work, then it's really important to me that I don't spend the time that I do get with dd with my mind elsewhere, constantly turning over stressful events etc. - I want to be able to leave work at work when I come home to her.

Anyone else got any experiences that they're willing to share?

I'm a freelancer and I love it. Just as you say, no politics.

I still work in an office though and people can be pretty unkind to contractors (our pay is higher but is offset by no hols/sick pay) but I ignore it.

I have been asked if I would take a permanent job time and time again and always refuse. I just couldn't take the HR hassle, meetings, performance reviews, bitching etc.

Thanks, this is all so helpful.

Another question: at the moment, I've negotiated flexible working whereby I'm doing 4 days a week and have tried to ring-fence my hours (although we'll have to see how that works out). I realise I probably won't be in a position to work 4 days a week if freelancing, but how much expectation is there on you to stay late, do overtime etc. and how do you handle this? E.g. do you charge extra for overtime?

And another thing... do you think being a freelancer measurably improves the quality of time spent with your kids? I guess it seems implicit in the absence of the emotional stress that some of you have talked about, but it would be helpful to hear more.

After the birth of my first son I went freelance - doing tech PR. Initially I thought it would be quite tricky because with PR you kind of have to be ready to work when your client has a story to be told or something breaks in the news. But I managed to line up 3 clients that I worked on contract for - I only worked 3 days a week, but I checked email every day and sometimes did a bit here and there.

It was a much better existence - far more free and no more commute (because I largely worked form home) but if I hadn't had my DH's salary coming in to pay the bills I think I would have found it far more stressful as there is no way you can assure you have income coming in. Clients can cancel your contracts and then you're stuck.

Also, you have to take care of your own taxes and do paperwork like invoicing etc which is less fun - I like to just get the money in my account at the end of the month.

But I love being my own boss. And now I've shifted out of tech PR and have set up a small PR consultancy focusing on the baby market (www.peekaboocoms.co.uk) - and so far it's working out well.

Good luck with your decision

themothership - what field are you in - that will depend on the type of freelance work you can do? For example, in PR, lots of people hire freelancers to work in their offices almost as one of their members of staff. In that case, I don't see how you will spend more time with your kids. You will have more paperwork to do and will always be learning a new client/environment, which I think takes more time. You can charge for overtime (I think).

Personally, if you want to go freelance to spend more time with your kids, choose to work only 3 or 4 days, and then try to find clients that fit that. You won't make as much money but you need to weigh up why you're doing this.

If it's to avoid company politics, I think you'll get that no matter who you work for, freelance or not. Obviously , not being a permanent employee you won't get dragged in as much, but you'll still be aware of it. A downside of freelancing is that you don't get the sense of community that you get when you at a company e.g. office Xmas parties or offsites. It can get a bit lonely.

Hi - I'm in new media, and work for a consultancy. There seems to be a lot of work around, but it tends to be project based, and a particular project may last for a week to a few months or more. Because of that, it doesn't sound like I'll be able to avoid working a full day week. But I'm a manager at the moment, and no longer get my hands dirty and have to spend it wrestling with difficult personalities instead. The objective isn't necessarily to have more time at home because I realise that it isn't hugely realistic, but to have a better quality of time at home because of the detatchment I might have from the political stuff that seems to get me so down....

HAve a look at www.freelancersintheuk.co.uk - might give you some ideas as to what's out there.