Freelancing vs. Full Time: Finding Time for Myself Again
June 18, 2008 by Deb
Filed under Freelance Writing
One of the reasons I decided to return to full time work was because freelancing wasn’t allowing me to spend much time with my family – which is why I began freelancing in the first place.
Missing the Little Things
I’m thrilled my career took off as it did. I thought I’d earn a couple of thousand dollars each year to help supplement our income. I’m so glad it didn’t turn out that way. The problem is, almost every waking minute found me working. Yes, my son and I did things during the day, but I found myself with less time for him. Plus, evenings and weekends were spent working. I started to miss the little things like curling up with a good book or watching a really dopey movie.
Now I’m not saying it has to be this way for all freelancers, but that’s how it was for me. I was earning great money – more than I did as a New York City Admin/Editorial Assistant. The perks outweighed the downers, for sure. I worked at home, made my own hours, spent time with my family and traveled with my laptop. Best of all, I didn’t have to get dressed and "go to work" everyday.
Taking a Breather
I made the decision this week to give up all of my paying blog gigs. I may go back to freelance blogging one day, but right now I have a decent day job and some cool personal blogs that are being neglected. I’ve been spending so much time on other people’s projects, my own are falling by the wayside. I want to be more active in my cooking blog community and get my Celebrity Role Model blog going again. Plus, I don’t want to lose the momentum we have with network blogging tips. I want to blog for fun again, and work on my books and other fun writing projects
Everything Old is New Again.
All of a sudden the projects I put on the backburner are looking shiny and new again. I’m looking forward to working on my own stuff and that excites me. Last night I read for two hours and watched TV with my husband and wondered why I didn’t do it more often. I want to get out my crochet bag and sewing basket and remember how to relax. I may even subscribe to magazines again!
Make no mistake, freelance writing is the best thing that ever happened to me – and there may be a day when I go back. Right now, I’m looking forward to having only one job and a few personal projects instead of my hand in every pot.
Yesterday I asked what you missed and loved the most about leaving a full time job. Today I have another question, what parts of freelance writing can you do without? What are the worst things about being a freelancer?
Discuss…
For me, the worst thing about freelancing is the lack of respect for my work time. My friends and family think they can call me for errands or to talk at 11 a.m. People! I’m working, too!!! People think that working at home means they can call you whenever they feel like it.
My husband is the only person who respects my work time…probably because he see’s the negative effects later that night when I’m still working!
Theresa
I feel the same way. People are always telling me I never answer my phone. I’ve grown tired of explaining that I’m working.
Of course the standard thing is waiting on the check and sometimes the constant hustle gets old. When you hook the steady gig or that regular working relationship with an editor it is like a breath of fresh air.
As I end another 15-hour day, I can admit it’s easy to let work consume it all especially when one sees the bills in the mid-day mail. One way I was able to strike some balance was by coaching my daughter for about six years. That time was devoted to her.
I also heard advice once to put family time on your calendar, just as you would a business appointment. Though my wife usually picks the kids up from high school, it falls to me when they have half days. I’d forget them if it wasn’t on my calendar.
I don’t like juggling all the different people that I have to. It gets stressfull and I sometimes, have a hard time remembering everything that needs to be done.
I like being with my kids when I can, but I’m often working till 3 in the morning and running on 3 hrs of sleep. It makes things really hard sometimes.
I also find that it can be hard to work on the things that I have going. I’m always writing an article for something, but want to have something that is for me. I want to work on my books and my own things for my future. So, I completly relate you what you are talking about.
I can relate to this completely. Because of life demands, I had to give up all of my paying blog gigs. It was something I didn’t want to do, but through March and April my work suffered so much that there was no way I could try to keep holding on.
Pitching articles on my time is a little easier. Not a heck of a lot, but some. Not needing to juggle blogs, post several a day while wrangling with the kids, hubby, and whoever else decides they need me…oh yes…I can relate.
Wishing you the best, Deb. Glad to hear you are finding your life again, strange as that phrase might sound. Don’t forget to have some chocolates!
Theresa, I’m glad I’m not the only one experiencing this problem of friends and family not respecting my work time. They even go so far as to say my writing is a waste of time.
This blog comes at an interesting time because a friend and I just had a disagreement this evening. She thinks that I use my writing as an excuse not to get up and go workout at 4 am when I was up until 2 am. She doesn’t understand what I do all day long that takes me into the wee hours of the morning. But, like I told her, if I were running an actual shop of some kind and that was keeping me up she wouldn’t be on my case about it. She’d understand that a new business takes time to build. Well, it’s the same for writing. The only difference is that I’m at home instead of in a shop. I don’t just get to sit around and goof off all day.
I’ve been struggling with friends and family not supporting my decision to write for some time. But, this is what I want to do – with the ups and downs that come with it, I enjoy it all. I’m much less crabby than I was working at a full-time job and I like the freedom of not being confined in-doors on a nice day. I do miss the benefits at a much lower cost, though. I’m single, so I don’t have the luxury of having a spouse’s benefits to fall back on.
For me, it’s the constant interruptions from family members. They think they can pull up a seat and yak while I work! As if writing is just about plunking away at a computer without the thought to put words together! haha
Plus, even tho I work at home, I always feel like I have to do everything… make a great dinner, clean, take time to run errands, and whatever else. My hubby would be the first one to understand if we had to pop in a pizza some nights for dinner, but I feel guilty if I don’t do a million things. It’s the pressure I put on myself that’s the worst.
i left a full-time job to move back to california late last year. with the job market here in journalism very slow, i figured freelance was the way to go. i have a handful of assignments at times, but need to make more money and add some more good paying assignments. i’d like to market my insurance blog or one of my other two blogs, but not sure how to go about that. any suggestions are much appreciated. thanks!
I’m a little confused. It seems like there are contradictory statements here. You said you liked freelancing because it gave you time at home, but yet you didn’t have time at home.
Would you say telecommuting is a better gig than freelancing then? I suppose if I could find work that paid well enough, I’d give up my day job too. But at this point I can’t.
The biggest problem with freelancing for me has been my workaholic tendencies completely taking over my life. If there’s no end of the day for me, then there’s no end of the day.
I burnt myself out so badly that I ended up forgetting punctuation and grammar rules, how to spell things, etc. The good thing is that I saw how badly I was doing and gave my notice to quit my contracts. The bad thing is that I should have done it two months earlier. Instead I decided to push through, thinking it was a slump.
I finally had to make the decision to stop working for now. I’m taking the summer off for sure. I’m hoping that I can start writing again in the fall, but I’m not sure.
If you feel like you’re starting to burn out, do something about it now. Don’t wait until you can’t string three sentences together. Or forget how to use your and you’re. Seriously. I had to correct that in the first sentence of this paragraph when I read through before I submitted this comment.
Take care of yourselves.
Samdra Mendoza -Daly said:
Exactly, Sandra. The reason I began freelancing is because I had a baby and it enabled me to stay home with him. As the years went by I was glad to be home with my son and take him to his activities and spend time with him. The past few months to a year I find this is happening less and less. I spend more nights and weekends working. Plus now that my son is older and playing on his own I work as he does other things. I was home all day but so busy I had less and less time for my family.
Also – That isn’t to say I don’t prefer freelancing, because I do. I just found myself in a situation where I couldn’t say no and had so much work it was getting in the way of everything.
Deb, it sounds like everything is really falling into place for you, which is great! All work & no play is no fun at all. I don’t like having to lug my laptop along whenever we take family vacations. Although I try & get work finished before we leave, I’m always worried that something will happen or someone will try & get in touch with me, so I have to at least check my e-mails when I’m away.
I freelanced before my daughter was born and after she was born. It was easier before she came and made our family complete; but I’m able to spend so much quality time with her it’s pure joy and heavenly sent.
I have found when I take on a lot of projects and I don’t have the time to see a movie or read for pleasure, it’s my choice.
I love writing; it’s important to me. I am fortunate to be able to pick and choose my projects.
Now that my daughter is seven, she sees that, understands as she hesitates and says, “Excuse me,” while I write a complete thought at my computer. She’s so cute.
In ten or less years, she’ll be living and creating outside the home, she won’t be here to say, “Excuse me,” so I cherish those interruptions.
There is a lot to living life. Don’t get me wrong. It can be a real juggle sometimes with early mornings or late nights — unexpected problems or visitors.
Balancing it all is quite a game. I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Something else to consider: I probably wouldn’t have taken this job if it wasn’t a telecommute gig. I don’t ever want to return to a traditional office job – and hope it never comes to that.
I also have difficulty with people not understanding that I am actually working, not just putzing around online all day long. I’m looking for clients or promoting my blog or networking…I always feel like I’m being looked down on because I’m home, but my house is a mess. I’m dealing with it.
I’m actually considering looking for an office job, though a scan of the paper yesterday yielded nothing suitable. Plenty of manufacturing positions, but nothing in office admin, and I know enough about myself to know I’d never last in manufacturing. But I have clients who vanished without paying, others who pay but on their schedule not mine, and then some great clients who pay weekly. But of those clients who pay weekly, two use Paypals e-check system and a week later, my money’s supposed to clear… So it’s not as instant as I’d like it to be.
For me, I love being home and love that my kids are responsible, well-educated kids surrounded by neighbors who are teen parents, druggies or troubled foster kids. It’s rather depressing at times. Then I go to my son’s 8th grade graduation and he gets six awards for academic excellence and I remember that our financial struggles and my pushing aside my job as an office manager was well worth it, but skyrocketing groceries, propane topping $5 a gallon now, and gas at $4.10 a gallon with my husband’s 40 miles a day commute is really pushing the need for full-time pay on a weekly basis.
Lucky me – I have trouble coming up with difficulties! Since I gave up work-a-day a year ago to freelance full time, I’m the happiest I remember being.
The thing I had the most trouble adjusting to is the uneven cash flow. I’ve started keeping some money in my business account so that I can pay myself at least a limited amount each month, no matter what my receipts are, and for the moment that seems to be taking care of it.
Luckily, we have enough income without my steady paycheck that we haven’t had to cut back. And, I’ve set limits on what times I work, which is successful for me most of the time.
So – no complaints!
I could do without playing collections agent. The follow-ups and waiting for payment can occasionally seem never-ending. I’m generally not a pushy, demanding person, so this aspect of running my own business has taken me outside my comfort zone. In the beginning, I waited TOO long to follow up on payment status because I didn’t want to be rude, only to learn eventually that the client forgot to send it! I am also very distracted by Internet browsing (MLS listings!) and have no boss standing over my shoulder to hold me accountable.
I am just getting started, though I already scored a great gig. At the moment, I am just slightly frustrated that my roommate seems to think that I have it easier just because I get to work from home. She works part time and goes to school at night. I have a full time “regular” job that can be physical and exhausting, then I have to go home and try to write. We both have it hard, just wish she would see it better.
I was going to say I didn’t have any regrets, but Therese nailed it lack of respect. I’ve been a business owner for six years. I started freelance writing towards the end of last year. I work out of the home. The lack of respect that some people have because of that fact is amazing. I have to admit over the years, most of those people have improved however, there are still a few people that automatically assume that just because I work out of the home they can call or stop by anytime. I’m still working. The only difference is I’m a business owner, and I work out of the home.
Right now, I don’t dislike anything about freelance writing. But this wasn’t always the case. During my first two years as a writer, I worked days, nights, and weekends. Not because I had to, but because I chose to. I loved the extra money, and I was able to achieve a lot of financial goals. But in the end, it got too hectic and I started to hate writing. That’s when I made the decision to take a step back and stop accepting new assignments. Now, I don’t work evenings or weekends, and I’ve even taken a few vacations without my laptop. It’s all about finding a balance.
I definitely agree with all those who say that family/friends seem to think they don’t work. I’m sure many others have had to say, “Uh, Mom, I’m trying to work…could we talk about your neighbor’s new begonias another time?”
Often when I tell people that I freelance and work at home, they say, “Oh, you’re so lucky, I’d love to do that!” And the thing I always warn them about is this: when you freelance, there are no days off, there are only deadlines. And when you do have a day off, chances are that means you’re unemployed and you better be trying to do something about that. When I say I’m not working or am in between projects, people tend to assume I’m going to museums or the movies all day. No, I’m trying to save money and looking for work.
Another thing I point out is that when you freelance, you’re always “auditioning.” Let’s be honest–when you work in an office, you can coast to some degree every so often. Maybe you don’t have the most important role in a project, maybe your company is in kind of a holding pattern during a slow season. No matter what, you’re still getting your paycheck. When you’re a freelance writer, you are always the most important person doing your assignment. If you don’t do absolutely top work or don’t get it in on time or have a difficult relationship with the person you’re working for, you’re not going to get hired again by that editor. Worse, if someone else asks that editor about hiring you and that editor just shrugs and says, “Well…” you’re not going to get that job either. So there’s a lot of pressure to always be perfect, I find.
That said, I couldn’t stand working in an office. I like working on my own and being responsible only to me and one editor. I’m glad not to constantly be dragged to meetings when I have other work to do. I’m thrilled not to have to deal with the trains during rush hour. Yes, it would be nice to have a steadier income and a more predictable schedule, but I hated more what I left behind than what I’ve found.
@ Skippy: I’ve had many people comment about my “hobby.” This is not a hobby; I run a business.
I understand what you said about being constantly auditioning; I totally get now why actors are so insecure. You are only as good as your last project, and there are no guarantees that someone is going to hire you for the next one. I am very fortunate that I have only had a couple of days where I haven’t had any work since I got my first gig, and I certainly don’t take it for granted.
But now that I have finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up, I have to say that I’m having the time of my life. I never get up and go to “work” because it doesn’t feel like work. And the worst day I’ve ever had as a freelancer beats the heck out of any day I spent in an office. It just wasn’t the right place for me. What I do now feels right.
for me, it’s the lack of insurance. we make it so hard for individuals and entrepreneurs to get insurance. it shouldn’t be that way.
It’s funny in a “be careful what you wish for” kind of way – you hope and hope for freelance assignments and before you know it, you’re buried under them.
Hi Deb.
Thanks for clearing that up. I do understand the freedom you must feel to have a secure income but still have the benefits of working from home. This is essentially my ultimate goal. I would love to be able to take time to work when I am feeling productive.
I hope the American workforce can make strides towards seeing the benefit in quality of work, rather than rigid schedules.