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Making the jump to freelancing.

// March 1st, 2007 // Freelancing

In September 2005 I made the jump to being a full time freelance web developer. I have to say it was a risky move given my financial state at the time, but I’ve never looked back. It’s been one of my better decisions throughout my working life.

Before September 2005 I had worked in various industries as a web developer, working on a range of products and web sites. Most of which, I hate to say, were pretty boring, and didn’t provide much motivation. The people where ok though, no problems there, it was just the projects and the industries that weren’t particularly inspiring. The jobs were taken more out of the need to pay the bills than the type of work they would offer. Before I was a web developer I was a manufacturing engineer, not a particularly good one in my view, and I do wish I hadn’t taken that route at college and my initial career, but we all make mistakes, and hopefully learn from them, so I can’t complain.

As a freelancer I have the luxury (kind of) of working from home, and am lucky enough to have a broad enough range of skills to turn my hand to most things web related. Sometimes the learning curve is pretty steep, near vertical in some cases, other times it’s a little easier to apply what I know to get the desired results. I am also in the enviable position, at the moment, of not having to go out and look for work. So far my networking throughout my working life and social life has brought the work to me. I don’t think this will continue, so this year is probably going to require a bit more sales which I am not so comfortable with.

As a freelance web developer I can work on a range of projects from simple maintenance of existing web sites, which may involve a bit of HTML or some graphics work, to full blown database driven sites where I have to build the whole site from scratch, including the database and design work for the site. The variety is what keeps me going, I found when I worked full time for companies that the job would be the same thing day in day out and it really did my head in. Plus I don’t have any management making stupid decisions about the projects now, but I won’t dwell on that.

As I work from home I no longer have to commute to work, which is probably one of the biggest plus points. I hate commuting and it can really affect the quality of your life, it did to me. Sitting in a car or on a train for up to two hours before work and two hours after is no way to have a life and I really feel sorry for all those people who still do it, day in, day out. Maybe they will see the light one day.

Freelancing has it’s good points and bad points. Let’s cover the bad points first and get them over with.

• Perhaps the biggest disadvantage of being a freelancer is cash flow. A regular pay day is now a thing of the past and there are times when paying the bills does seem like a bit of an impossibility. The thought of having to get a full time job to pay the bills has occurred on a few occasions, but luckily it’s not become any more than a thought so far.
• Time management can also be a downside. A 9-5 working day is not really a realistic option. It’s nice to try it, but if you think that’s all you will have to do then you will have a bit of a shock. OK, some days are very relaxed, but I have had quite a few days where I have worked from 9am through to 2am, several days in a row. Not the best way of working, but at least you can charge by the hour!
• Staring at the wall can also be a downside. Working at home no longer gives you that office environment with the banter between your work mates and people coming and going. For me it’s not a problem and I haven’t missed it, but for other people I know who have gone the freelance route, only having the wall or the pet cat to talk to has got to them at some stage.

For me, these three things are the only downsides, well in my case, only two of them. The advantages are much better and far outway and downsides.

• The biggest advantage over a full time job is earning potential. You can charge by the hour and invoice for every hour you work. Your hourly rate will also be a lot nicer too. The advantage of charging by the hour is that if you want to you can work the long hours, if you have the work on, get the project finished quickly and get the money in. For the job I was doing before going freelance, if I worked the same hours and got paid for all the hours I worked at my freelance rate, I would earn at least 3 times as much, probably more, before tax. Quite a difference. Of course, with freelancing you are never guaranteed the same amount of working hours as a full time job, but the potential is there.
• Time management is also a plus point too. As long as you get the work done by the deadline you can now do the work when you want. So if you want the morning off, you are the boss. If you know you need some time off during a project you can build that into the plan. The project might cost the client 2 weeks worth of your time, but if you tell them that those two weeks of working will be spread out over 3 weeks of time then you can take a couple of days off, still get the work done and still get a decent amount in the bank. Of course, you don’t get the luxury of doing that on all projects. The luxury of setting the project deadlines doesn’t always fall to you so it can be more like doing 2 weeks worth of work in the space of 1 week to meet the deadline. That’s when it’s not so fun.
• New opportunities are another major plus point. If you are freelance you can take on anything you want, and do so when you want. For instance I had the opportunity to teach evening classes which I wouldn’t have been able to do working full time. It was something I’d wanted to try and I enjoyed it. It was something different and another skill to pick up. If someone offers you a day of work a week doing something totally different then you can take it. Something you can’t make the most of when working full time.
• Networking seems to be a lot easier when you are freelancing. Word of mouth is great way to get your name known. If you do a good job as a freelancer, your client will tell other people and point them in your direction. Do a good job as a full time employee and you might get a “well done” from the boss, but that’s about it. As I said before, all my work comes from word of mouth from the people I have done work for. I guess that means I am doing something right and I hope it continues, but I can’t rely on it.

So if you are reading this, thinking about going freelance I shall pass on this bit of advice.

Only make the jump to full time freelance if have guaranteed work ready for you as soon as you leave your full time job, or you have enough money in the bank to live on for at least 3 months while you get business in. Don’t forget you might do 3 weeks worth of work in the first month, but the money might take at least 30 days to come in from when the project finishes so it could be over a month before you get paid for it. When I went for it, I knew I had work ready for me and that I would be paid quickly for it. Again another thing not everyone gets, but it was there because of the contacts I had made during my full time work.

Make sure you have a back up plan. If you can’t get any work, you need to know what you will do and if it’s realistic. Don’t think you’ll be able to walk into another full time job straight away.

Try and be organised. This is more a “do what I tell you, not do what I do” as I’m not a very organised person when it comes to paperwork and keeping records. I’ve learnt fast though and do the minimum I need to make invoicing and accounts relatively easy.

Other than that, go for it. It could be the best thing you’ve ever done, and it could be the most character building thing you’ve ever done too.

I wished I had done it a lot sooner.