Have you Freelanced?
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- breadlegz
Just curious ...
For those of you that are in a full time position. Have you tried freelancing in the past? If so, why did you get back into full time.
If you've been thinking about Freelancing for a while, what's stopping you jumping into it.
- _niko2
Why not both?
I think tons of people have day jobs and freelance on the side. It's a good way to build up a clientele and go full freelance if you get busy enough.
- exador1-1
years ago, back around summer of 2004 i think, we'd been bought and merged with Allstream (think AT&T Canada ...) after about a year of working there, our entire floor was layed off...
it kind of came out of nowhere...
I was lucky enough to get asked immediately to fill in for a design contract in the marketing dept.
I decided then and there, that I'd take the contract, and also start freelancing...
I guess I did it for about 3/4 of a year all together...
with the contract and the ton of work I was able to pick up, I did really well, considering I'd never thought of going freelance before...
it was pretty scary at first...we're sort of all conditioned to want to work for a big company, get a regular pay-check etc...
But i was lucky... I'd made some great contacts, and called them all and let them know I was available for work, and the phone started ringing...
a few notes though, to anyone thinking of doing the same...
• you have a tendency to say 'yes' to EVERYTHING...because you're worried they'll never call you again if you say no...
which leads to overcrowding your calendar with too much work.• because you're generally working from home, the home/work balance can get pretty wildly off.... you tend to work a LOT....
and weekends become just another workday....you can make a ton of money though, and that's pretty exciting...
but you HAVE to keep a very tight control over what you do with it... always save about 10% atleast of every check for tax etc...
all in all, it was a great experience, and If I had too, at least I know I could probably do it again...(ie, the mortage always got paid, life went on, i did ok...)
it's not easy though
-helps if you're married to a girl that is really good with keeping the books and is super supportive etc etc... :)
- PonyBoy2
Yes.
- antimotion0
Both full time and freelance.
Full time is a specific client/brand, freelance is a few that I dig and some that just help with extra bills or savings...
It can be really overwhelming sometimes, but at some point if I have enough stable clients, I may take the leap into full freelance.
I would say try to do projects on the side that may help you build new skills. For instance, I'm attempting a little video and 3d stuff here and there. I direct as well, so if I can't handle the project physicallities, I can speak to people who do for the best results.... but, that carved into any budget for yourself, so have to make the decision and figure out best route.
- Peter0
> Have you tried freelancing in the past? If so, why did you get back into full time.
Earthquake happened. All clients sans one held their budgets, and consequently I bled for months. When a recruiter suggested a job I jumped back on it.
Also I'm pretty bad at chasing new business.
- CyBrainX-1
I freelanced from 2013-2015. Most of the work I did was in motion graphics but some was in ad banner work. I'm not good at hunting down new work and clients so I made about 2/3 as much as when I was full time. A lot of the freelance gigs I picked up in motion graphics were very short term. It wasn't always easy to get into a steady groove but I paid my dues, got better and eventually got a good full time job about a year ago.
- This doesn't need a downvote. It is one in itself.CyBrainX
- doesnotexist0
I used to freelance. I still do, but I used to, too.