Pressures of Freelancing
As exciting as freelancing most definitely is there is pressures and challenges a freelancer must face and overcome that they wouldn't have to encounter whilst working the ‘mainstream 9-5’.
No work means no money there is no complexity about that, freelancers must find work or sell their product. It's all well and good when you have jobs lined up but the daunting thought for every freelancer is when the work dries up as Henrique stated
‘What I find difficult about it is, there's sometimes there is major pauses where there is no work coming in’
Just as appealing the idea of picking what jobs you work on it's the freelancers job to get the material and then find clients with no guarantee that their work will be accepted.
Either if you rent or buy equipment those expenses are solely on the freelancer and the better quality projects calls for better equipment, another aspect of a freelancer's expenses are travel and research.
Money is such a huge factor that a freelancers motivation to follow stories or projects of their interests may turn to covering projects that can guarantee some pay even though it's outside of a freelancer's interests and comfort zone.
When asked ‘do you still feel a main pressure for freelance journalists is the uncertainty of regular pay’ Kurt without hesitation responded with
‘absolutely without a doubt’
Working as a freelancer requires a lot of motivation, freelancers are responsible for everything and there is no set working hours
if you don't work you don't get paid and when you are working alone with minimal support the work load can begin to seem daunting. Compared to working at a company, freelancers have no paid holidays and no sick days so the motivation to work is an important aspect.
Freelancing is up and down and it's this uncertainty of up and down which scares people the most. The first 3- 6 months may prove to be the hardest period of a freelancer's life and work may not even take off
it's like waiting in line for a popular rollercoaster ride that excels 400 feet at its highest point, it's not only about how long you're willing to wait for business to pick up it's about how long can you financial wait to go on the roller coaster?
“Freelancing isnt just about selling your talents,advice or wares. Working for yourself as a creative professional also means playing chief executive, bean counter, sales rep, marketing maven, tech support, contract manager and admin assistant.”
Goodman, 2008