#FreelanceLife - 8 Month Update

Other risks of freelance life: boredom that results in copious amounts of selfies. 

Whoever said that freelance life was fulfilling, aspiring, and full of promise was lying to you.

Freelance Life Woes

What they should have said is that freelance jobs do no a paycheck guarantee, that your emergency savings nest egg may dwindle scarily quickly, that your car and dryer and all major appliances can and will break at the worst possible time, that you will forgo dinners/drinks with friends because you have to do things like pay actual bills to sustain your life, that clients just may not book any sessions.

Jobs To Support The Jobs

They won’t tell you to consider other jobs. Jobs I’ve strongly considered over the past eight months include but are not limited to:

·      Hawking handbags at SAKS

·      Beer pourer / bar tender

·      Barista – you get free coffee right?

·      Event planner

·      Social media copy writer

·      Dog walker, adventure cat trainer

·      Professional Canva presentation maker

·      Full-time jobs in areas/fields I hate but have the skills (yes it came to that)

Freelance Life Highs

What they also won’t tell you is that you may end up with a free and WORKING (yes, this is a key consideration when getting free things) dryer thanks to a simple posting on Facebook and a client who remembered your need, that friends will send you leads and contacts and connects that turned into steady gigs, that a $50 service will turn into a $300 service, that you will snag another quick turnaround freelance job just in time to pay the bills and avoid the dip into that emergency fund.

Attitude Adjustment

What I’m trying to say is that the past eight months have had dramatically high and exciting times and just as many times when I’ve literally held back tears as the stress has gotten too much and I’ve contemplated joining my husband slinging beer at night. But at the very same time, I have so much to be thankful for and it, and my sheer willingness to refuse to fail, pushes me on every day. Having your own business is not for the faint of heart. It’s great as a side gig when you have steady income coming in, but if you have a business that is dependent on clients, it’s not at all a steady thing when you first start out and you will NEVER need to stop the hustle. But as my favorite Shark Tanker Mark Cuban said, “I’d rather work 80 hours for myself than 40 hours for a corporate company.” And it’s true – as much as this freelance life and owning your own business is a roller coaster ride – I can’t imagine it any other way.

Coffee or wine? Wine or coffee?

So what else don’t they tell you? Coffee and wine will be some of your best friends on this journey. In what order? Well, that’s up to you.

XX,

Sydney