Freelance vs $120k?
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- newuser0
Premium NY brand sounds nice. Which one?
- formed0
to the detractors...I've been running my business for over a decade now, never could work for 'the man' for more than a few months after grad school and started my own thing (a la 2000 recession).
BUT it is always up and down. You never, ever know what it will be like the next month, let alone the next year.
BIG DEAL - paid vacations/sick leave and healthcare. Sure, you can take time off whenever you want working for yourself, but not only do you not get paid, you lose money that you could have made.
STABILITY - this doesn't mean that you can't lose your job, that can happen in a blink of an eye (I know from experience here, again, 2000), BUT you do know what you will make next month, the month after, if you don't get fired. Freelance you never will know, not for sure.
GOOD - this uncertainty goes both ways, one month you could make nothing, next month you could make 10 times the amount. That's exciting and frustrating.
BAD - there is just no certainty. I suppose it is all relative. If this buy was aiming for 40k I'd say, shit, that's not much, just go have fun and make your own hours, but 120k is a decent amount of money. If you can get that with "some" certainty, that's a pretty big deal. Obviously there are a lot of factors we don't know "Premium Brand" is that Doritos or Prada? Colgate or Porsche?That's my 2 cents. Again, if it were a small amount of cash, it'd be a different discussion.
- numero10
So randommail, what did you decide at the end? Don't you disappear like that lol
- randommail0
It's been a year ...
and I went to continue down the freelance/studio route.
It's been good money wise. Fairly close to what a salaried job would be, except the insurance and expenses. So the net income was less. But I continue to hope to grow this year.Now another question looms:
My marketing is directed to businesses, not agencies. I think the agencies will hire from time to time based on the portfolio and not my positioning. So it comes down to, should us solo companies (that can team up with others on project basis) market and brand themselves as a "freelancer" or a "boutique studio"???Curious to what you guys are doing, if you're in the same boat as me.
- randommail0
btw, also to add to my update:
2013 was pretty decent money wise, but amazing in terms of lifestyle!
Worked no more than 30 hours per week. Slept 10 hours a day. Went to the gym 5 days a week. Stayed out late on weekends. Freelancers in their 20s/30s - good life if you're confident in your work ability.
- pinkfloyd0
Freelancing was fun but I didn't have the self discipline. Was nice sometimes pulling in 17k in a month, but I needed more stability.
- fyoucher10
Studio. Expect to get paid freelance rates and thought of as a freelancer if you brand yourself as a freelancer, not a studio. Big big difference, not just money (which is wildly different) but everything else essentially.
- Hombre_Lobo0
^totally agree.
Seems to be no benefits to brand as an individual freelancer. Brand as a studio and charge what a studio would charge (more).Obviously people will know that you are just 1 person (or 2 w/e) if they dig around your site, but it's no big deal.
- Hombre_Lobo0
@randomail
Pleased sticking with freelance worked out for you. What do you do out of curiosity? Good thread, many learn.- check out previous page, my post near the bottomrandommail
- hektor9110
Hey @randommail would you mind sharing your day rate? By the way congrats on last year, sounds amazing.
- marychain0
Just curious what 120k gets in new york? Is that manhatten living money or what? I know your taxes are crazy if you own