Comments on: The Upside of Freelancing

By: Matt Balara

Matt Balara — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:39:15 +0000

@tuna: reading this and the downsides as a soon-to-be freelancer you’ve reminded me of plenty of things I need to take into consideration. Ah, who am I kidding? I’m not considering anything. I’m decided and will be a freelancer soon. Can’t wait! But these are good signposts to watch out for, so I can make the right turns at the right time.

By: Téa

Téa — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 08:53:16 +0000

I have such a love-hate relationship with Freelancing that it’s great you are writing about both sides. It’s funny, actually, because even though the pros and cons are there, the weighting is just so different. The pros of freelancing are just so good that we often put up with some serious downsides!

The biggest problem for me is having to be everything to everyone. I have gotten better at outsourcing the accounts, SEO and programming and some other aspects that I am not terribly fond of, but I still work ridiculous hours for not a lot of return. I don’t have anywhere near the amount of choice and flexibility I would like, but whatever pays the bills I guess

I think one of the biggest differences between Freelancing and an Agency is that clients have to have different expectations of us.

When its one or two people working as Freelancers on a project, we simply don’t have the resources to do the same job as an agency might (although some agency work can be very lazy too!). Because most of us don’t attract the big bucks, we can’t test or research as much as we would like to, and a lot of it is on the fly, or I might rush a solution or choose a wrong solution because of time constraints etc. And, when you fuck up, you fuck up directly in front of the client, and you have to do some serious grovelling sometimes that you wouldn’t have to with the help of a sales rep

Anyway, sorry for the novel, great post

By: Ruth Ellison

Ruth Ellison — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 04:31:29 +0000

A thought-provoking post Gary – thanks!

The politics is definitely a good upside. Having worked in large Government organisations, the politics was one of the most exhausting things to manage (and involves so much time).

By: Gary Barber

Gary Barber — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:03:59 +0000

@Rebecca Laffar-Smith – Okay there where some spelling and typing errors in the post, these occurred mainly due to a browser crash and cache pickup of the wrong version on that version, these sadly got carried forward. Anyway this is diverting from the main topic at hand.

By: Rebecca Laffar-Smith

Rebecca Laffar-Smith — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:17:43 +0000

Yes, but conversations are more fruitful when all parties are speaking the same language. It’s one thing to make major edits that alter the tone of a peice and quite another to simply make sure it is free of spelling/typing errors.

By: Gary Barber

Gary Barber — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 13:32:30 +0000

@Rebecca Laffar-Smith If you sanitise a post too much I find you loose your voice and the personality of the post entirely. It just becomes another mindless over worked article. In many instances I strongly believe that a post should be a conversation with the reader.

By: Rebecca Laffar-Smith

Rebecca Laffar-Smith — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 12:06:23 +0000

I think another point on the disadvantage side that your post made me think of is that there is no one to proof your work before it goes live. You’re the last line and you have to maintain your own standards. If you let these fall you’ll lose business.

((Brought to mind because of the massive collection of errors in this blog post. Sorry, professional editor in me was going crazy wishing I could fix them all. lol))

By: Vicki

Vicki — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 11:06:47 +0000

Very well thought out post as usual, Gary! Thought-provoking, as was the first part.

One major thing I found as a freelancer is that it’s hard to deal with sub-contractors, and any delays from them will put me in an awkward position with the client. “My best friend’s daughter died and I had to go [to another state] to be with my friend.” Then following closely on the heels of that, “My son was performing in a concert in another state and I have to take him there, we’ll be gone a week.” Then, “Sorry, I was sick.” Etc etc. So in some ways you’re in control and in others you’re very much less in control than if you had employees. The trial and error involved in finding good sub-contractors can cost you clients.

All the negatives aside, it’s my goal to work for myself again sooner rather than later. The upsides definitely outweigh the downsides for me.