Unlike many freelancers, the decision for me to give notice at my job was based on three factors: I was about to give birth, we were moving to another state and my husband had a very good job. Before this turn of events, we discussed the right time for me to leave my job to be a freelance writer. As an accountant he was able to give me some very practical advice and things to think about, and I’d like to share them with you.
Set a goal:
When I left my job my options were to take a maternity leave and go back to work after several months, or try to freelance. We set a goal: one year to build up a small client base and six years (when our son would be in school full time) to earn the equivalent of the salary I earned when I left at my accounting job. Each year, I would have to earn a certain amount more than the year before.
I did reach my goal. I had several clients plus a newspaper column after one year and at six years I earned more as a writer than as the check-cutting lady at my last office job.
Set a time limit:
I know it’s not something you want to think about but do you have a plan for if you don’t succeed? What happens if a year or two years passes and you’re hardly earning enough to survive? You’ll need to consider that you won’t make it right away and set a time limit. For us, If I didn’t start earning at least a few hundred dollars a month after the first few months I’d have to work part time. By the end of a year and a half I was paying the mortgage and a couple of utility bills with the money I earned freelancing.
Set a schedule
When will you work? If you have kids this is something you’ll especially need to think about. Will you be able to spend at least an hour each day looking for work? Will you be able to spend at least a couple of hours a day doing your clients’ work? Uninterrupted time is key to success. Will you be able to schedule several quiet hours each day to work?
Be Realistic
Take a good look at your finances. Can you afford to leave your job? If you do, will there be a hardship? While this may be what you want to do, you’ll also have to consider the effect on your family. If my husband didn’t have a good job, I would have had to go back to work years ago.
You’ll also have to consider how long your family can survive with the loss of one income, whether you’ll truly have the time to get the work done and if you’ll be happy working at home.
A good work ethic
Not everyone can freelance. Freelancers have to be able to sit down and work without surfing, chatting, watching tv or any number of other distractions. I know the freelance life is very flexible, but without a boss standing over you, you have to be able to sit down and work independently to meet your deadlines and find new clients.
Other things to think about:
- Freelancing is a lonely existance. Can you work at home without the watercooler or lunch buddies?
- Not every month is going to be the same. You might earn thousands of dollars in one month and a couple of hundred in another.
- Young kids are always clamoring for attention no matter how good you think your little darlings can play on their own.
- You have to be able to tune out your friends, neighbors and the world around you in order to get the work done.
- No one will think you have a real job because you freelance. Everyone will think it’s a fun little hobby you can leave anytime to go to Starbucks or shopping.
- Taking on too many clients because you need the money can lead to burnout.
The bottom line
Freelancing and working at home isn’t as easy or glamorous as you might think. Don’t get me wrong. You have flexibility, the ability to pick and choose your clients and make your own hours. It’s a great life. Just make sure you’re ready for all that freelacing involves before marching into your bosses office and saying “I quit!”
August 3rd, 2008 at 10:01 am
Thank you so much for sharing your story with us in such a beautifully written piece! I love how you set realistic goals within specific but realistic time frames.
Your success and your experience shines through in this site - and what you share with us are things I implement into my own plan for success. I already am doing better, getting better gigs and making more money since I found this site about a year or so ago.
Thank you!
August 3rd, 2008 at 10:11 am
Deb,
Some really wise advice in this post. Your readers will gain a lot from reading, thinking and eventually sharing this article with others.
Thanks for sharing your success tips; keep up the great work.
ATB,
David
P.S. Referred by @lizstrauss on Twitter
August 3rd, 2008 at 10:21 am
@Dani - And thank you for your kind words. I believe the most successful freelancers are the ones who set realistic goals and understand it doesn’t happen right away. I wish you much success and hope you’ll continue to keep me posted.
@ David - Welcome. I think we learn best by sharing ideas, don’t you? Thank you for coming and I’ll be sure to thank Liz for her tweet.
August 3rd, 2008 at 11:37 am
Hah! I don’t even have a day job to quit. I’ve pretty much already decided to put my full concentration into writing, mostly writing for this place called Triond. Any thoughts? Am I dooming myself by making my first job the freelance writing and anything else second?
August 3rd, 2008 at 11:59 am
@Nicki B. - It all depends on your situation. I know of several freelancers who went straight from college to freelancing or left work after getting married. The decision to leave a job (or not find a full time job at all) is a personal decision and everyone’s circumstances are different.
My only caution would be against putting all your eggs in one basket. I know of several writers who put all their efforts into one online content mill only to have no source of income when the the website shut down or had enough content. Do keep your options open!
Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.
August 3rd, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Similar to Nicki, I had a job, but it left, forcing me on my own with a wife who was five months pregnant. Don’t know that I would have made the choice myself without the push. One thing I’d like to emphasize is to make sure one has some cash cushion (SCORE advises six months, but that may not be practical) and remember health insurance, “employer’s” half of FICA (you pay it yourself when you work for yourself).
August 3rd, 2008 at 12:08 pm
@Phil: Very good advice. Health insurance, taxes and money in the bank is a must for anyone wishing to freelance.
August 3rd, 2008 at 4:31 pm
The grass is always greener.
I’m going back to a full-time job after 4 years of somewhat successful freelancing. Time to pay off the credit cards that have supplemented my existence, have a compartmentalized scheduled so that I finish my novel and be on the same schedule as the rest of my friends, get my skills caught up to the market place and make new contacts, and not worry about the late checks anymore. (Which begs the question: Are payroll departments incompetent on purpose?)
My best advice to people about to go freelance is that they have savings and a broad base of clients in place (and continually develop new ones), and to really be sure you are the kind of person who can work alone.
August 3rd, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Great article, Deb. I think the most impacting part of this for me was when you said if not for your husband’s income, you would have perhaps had to go back to a full time job years ago. That truly backs up what I’m constantly telling people; if you’re doing this as the sole breadwinner, you had better be prepared. And even if you are prepared, be realistic about the possibility that it might not work out the way you hope.
I’m on my own now, just as I was when I started this whole freelancing thing. In some ways I’m lucky — no babies to feed or husbands to make time for. In other ways, it has been very difficult. People who know me now but who didn’t know me when I first started freelancing — which is everyone I know online and most folks I know in real life — see me as someone who is lucky. I don’t see it as luck. I started with nothing, and I built what I have through trial and error, failure and success, living cheaply and going without health insurance and decent food (etc) because I was determined to make it on my own without going back to an office. If I had babies, there is no question I would have been back at an office job if only for the health insurance and to have a decent roof over my kids’ heads. On my own, the choice to struggle and do this thing only affected me. In that sense, yes, I was lucky.
I didn’t plan. I didn’t sit down and work out what I should have done or what it would take to quit my job. I quit my job because I was burnt out and fed up to the point where homelessness (seriously) was a path brighter than continuing the path I was on any longer. I left. I ran out of money. Then I decided to try freelancing. I am a big believer of learning from other peoples’ mistakes, and I am always telling people to learn from mine: don’t do it my way. Now I can say, “Don’t do it my way. Do it Deb’s way. [insert link here]”
August 3rd, 2008 at 4:49 pm
@ Amy: I appreciate where you are coming from. I quit a full-time job to be a full-time parent because my work was affecting my (and my unborn child’s health). Then I said, “Now what?” My husband was very supportive of the decision and that helped.
It took awhile to get established and I did make mistakes along the way, but that’s how I learn. In my family, it’s readily acknowledged that the “Jodee way” is the hard way to do things. But that’s OK.
Hindsight being what it is, would I do things differently? Some things, yes. But I can’t complain about where my choice have taken me so far, so they must have been the right ones (for me anyway).
Doing it Deb’s way makes a lot more sense, guys. Listen to her!
August 3rd, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Jodee — Maybe we worked at the same firm.
August 3rd, 2008 at 5:29 pm
@ Amy: I was thinking it’s interesting that we did similar jobs, actually. We might know some of the same people.
August 3rd, 2008 at 6:33 pm
I personally don’t find freelancing to be a lonely existence, but I get frustrated when friends/relatives don’t or can’t recognize that I do actually work. In a few decades when telecommuting is the norm, perhaps that won’t be an issue.
August 3rd, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Deb,
Great post. I think we all have to be totally honest with ourselves every month to validate that freelancing is working for us and the families that rely on our incomes. I am a firm believer in multiple income streams (I have 12) whether we use them or not. Having a couple of potential income streams standing by just in case another stream falls short is just smart. My personal stand-by income streams are blogs, magazines, and online technical journals.
I also started a spreadsheet about 4 months ago that plots out my income potential (if everything hits), goals income (should be less than potential), and actual. Then for each I show the percentage of actual to my goal and total income needed. This really has motivated me and sort of acts as my boss–driving me to the finish line every month.
August 3rd, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Deb, I thoroughly enjoyed your article. It was very well written and captivating to say the least. I just have one question, how did you find out how to get clients, where to look, etc.? Ok, so maybe it is more than one question. Also, did you have a portfolio already established, or did you just wing it for the first few clients? Thanks for all of your help and inspiration!
August 4th, 2008 at 12:30 am
Nice post, Deb. My story is sort of similar to yours in that I got married and was moving from Los Angeles to Texas to be live happily ever after with my husband. He made a decent living - enough to support us. And since I had done some writing on the side in the past, it was a good time to see if I could actually freelance full-time instead of getting a “real job” when I moved here. Like you, I set goals and a time table. Five years later, everything is working out nicely. For me, it hasn’t been a lonely existence because my husband works from home too.
August 4th, 2008 at 6:30 am
@M S - I hear you! I have one steady job and the employer just decided to start paying monthly instead of weekly. That really doesn’t work for me. I don’t want to give up the work, but he says after paying me once that trust has been established and therefore there is no reason to have to keep paying weekly. I have groceries to buy - a switch to once a month just doesn’t work for me.
August 4th, 2008 at 6:57 am
Planning to be a freelance writer has to be similar to any other business plan - you need a plan that includes goals, objectives, marketing and a budget.
I stumbled into mine and I’m still trying to work things out.
Eight months ago my husband called to say he’d quit his job and would be home later. HE was the only employed person in the house. Although I was dabbling in freelance I was not full time yet. Even now I’m not where I think I could have been if the pressure to “make more” hadn’t been piled up on me (and if I hadn’t been in shock).
I have found that budgeting freelance income is not as easy as it is when you know what the paycheck will be and when it will come, but we are learning (and even saving).
For the new writers - you just have to search for jobs through every possible (and even unlikely) means out there. Do a search for freelance jobs, hand out (or mail out) business cards to everyone you can think about, and continue to perfect your skills and talents (through classes and conferences).
For those of you who are considering the full-time freelance plunge - set up a savings account with enough funds to cover at least three months worth of bills. This will give you some buffer to help with your budget.
Even experience freelance writers can learn more about budgeting. Living without a salary does not mean you can’t still enjoy the better things in life, it just means you have to plan better to get there.
August 4th, 2008 at 6:58 am
@MS - I also returned to full time work this year, though if I couldn’t do it from my home I wouldn’t have. I didn’t have to leave freelancing but I’m finding I have much more time for my family and myself. I’m working out, reading, and doing things I didn’t have time for when I freelanced. Plus the pay is steady and I don’t have to keep taking on new clients. I love my job but if something happened I’d probably return to freelancing rather than a traditional office job. Good luck to you!
@Amy - If I’m going to tell people to be realistic, I have to be honest. And the truth is if not for the second income I wouldn’t have been able to leave my job. I have so much admiration and respect for you and others like you who go it alone.
@James - I agree we can’t put all our eggs in one basket. I’ve seen many writers put all their efforts into one client or content mill only to find themselves stuck when their client closes doors or has enough content.
@Sal - I began freelancing in 2000 but left work in 2002. So in the two years before I left my job I had one regular client and an online humor column - in addition to the occasional writing job for a local graphic design firm. I found some work on Internet job boards and others through local newspapers that catered to creatives such as the Village Voice.
@ Kori - It’s nice your husband works at home - and you get along. Many people can’t work with spouses. I’ve been watching your rise to success over the years and respect your work ethic.
@Ann - Just about all of my clients paid once a month. I thought about what I’d have to do if my husband didn’t have his job - but plenty of freelancers make it work through spreadsheets and budgeting. With the Internet age comes quick paying clients. When I started my job in publishing and there wasn’t Paypal - writers used to wait months for checks and had to truly struggle. I wish you lots of good luck!
August 4th, 2008 at 8:27 am
Great article and good things to think about. I am just starting out, but my situation is a little different. I left my Technical Writing job in 2001 to stay home with kids. I did some mystery shopping to bring in some extra money, but nothing significant. We are used to living on one income. We don’t want me to have a fulltime or even a part time job with regular hours, so that I can pick the kids up, be there when they are sick, volunteer at their school. But, I want something to do and something to bring in some money. The point about setting realistic goals is one that I’ve been trying to explain to my husband. I have a goal that by May (when the kids get out) to have some steady clients and bringing in some money, but I think he thinks I’ll be earning what I was before.
August 4th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Hi Deb - thanks for the things to think about! As you may remember, I am planning on quitting my job (tomorrow, actually!) and it was so helpful - and very comforting! - to read that awesome check list you wrote and realize that I had thought about those things already. Your post has really given me courage, strength, and a sense that I know what I am getting myself into as I prepare to freelance full-time. Thanks again for the great post, I really needed it!
Nace
August 4th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Deb: This is a very well written article. Your advice on having a plan and sticking to it is key! If you ever want anything in life you have to lay it out on paper or something so that you can see it. Thanks so much for this article. It was so inspiring. I recently graduated with an English degree and currently I just write for Demand studios. Hopefully, something else will pick up, but I know that having those goals in line in key–and mine is to become a writer!