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Where are you at in your freelance journey? If you’re more risk-averse, you may be working a salaried position while building your freelance clientele in the evenings and on the weekend. Maybe you didn’t have the luxury of preplanning your exit as an unexpected redundancy has catapulted you into freelancing.
I would love to know where you’re at in your journey. I’ve created a very short, two-question survey that I hope you’ll do. It would help me tailor this newsletter to your needs. Thanks for taking the time to do the survey!
Now, let’s get into three different strategies to make the leap into freelancing, with pros and cons on each.
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Strategy #1
Working in a full-time, 40 hour a week salaried position and freelancing on the side
Pros
It’s the most gradual way to work towards making the leap
No loss of income while you build your client base
An opportunity to create an emergency/rainy day fund with your extra freelance income (instead of spending it!)
Cons
Long days and long working weeks
Running the risk of burn out if it goes on for too long
Missing out on potential work/new clients if you’ve maxed out your hours and a new opportunity comes along that you can’t take on
Potential conflict of interest, depending on the work you do and the type of freelance writing you’d be focusing on
Having to divide attention between two different jobs/careers
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Strategy #2
Working in a part-time, 20-30 hour salaried position and freelancing on the side
Pros
The part-time salaried position could over your overheads so you don’t need to worry about not being able to pay your regular bills
The other hours can be allocated to freelancing and building a client base
Cons
It may take you longer to save up for a rainy day fund as you’re working less hours than option 1 - unless you negotiate yourself a bloody good rate for your freelance work (and your salaried position)
Having to divide attention between two different jobs/careers
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Strategy #3
Jumping straight into freelancing with no client base and no salaried position as a safety net
Pros
Being able to fully focus on your freelance career and growing your client base without the distractions of another job
Cons
Not having a clear plan ahead of quitting a salaried position to freelance is probably not the best idea - unless you can’t avoid it due to redundancy
If you do want to jump straight into it, I highly recommend you have at least 6 months of income saved up in a rainy day fund in case work is slow
Quitting your salaried position to freelance without a steady stream of work on a monthly basis and a rainy day fund saved up will often lead to a heap of anxiety that could have been avoided. If you have the luxury to plan ahead, don’t take it for granted.
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What strategy you choose depends on your situation. If your circumstances allow, another good strategy could be to combine all three into a transition plan. Most of us would probably start off with working full-time in a salaried position, perhaps at some point dropping hours to work part-time in the same role or applying for a different job.
The last piece of the puzzle would obviously be to quit your salaried position if you wanted to focus fully on freelancing. For some of you that may not be the end goal - you might just like your salaried job and the team you work with too much to leave it all behind. All of our journeys and circumstances will look different, but we have one thing in common - we love to write!
Like what you’re reading?
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This week’s great reads
I think it’s important to read widely, so you can expect to find a broad range of topics in this list every week:
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Freelance/contracting jobs opportunities
Cold pitching companies and publications you’d love to write for is a great way to grow your confidence and your network, but if you’re keen on “warmer” leads - here are a few opportunities I found.
Pitch a first-person read of love, lust and loss to Metro Opinion
Apply for a social media manager position at the BBC’s The One Show
Pitch to This Magazine (Canadian residents only)
Apply for a remote paid internship in The Economist’s digital department
Note: I try to only include opportunities that are decent and well-paid. However, more often than not rates, unfortunately, aren’t discussed in the call for pitches/writers. You can check Who Pays Writers? or Contently’s freelance rates database to see if the publication or organisation is listed and what they tend to pay.
That’s it for this week’s WordCount! If you’ve enjoyed reading this edition, please feel free to share it with fellow freelance writers. Or have a look at last week’s newsletter.