Exciting news: from today I’m finally a full-time freelancer!
When I started freelancing 5 years ago I was straight out of college; I was young, naïve and knew nothing about running a business, but design jobs were hard to find. Lessons were quickly learned and a few months later I was earning enough to give up my weekend job working in a supermarket.
From time to time I had applied for full-time design jobs I saw advertised and the day after I had decided to quit my weekend job, I was offered a full-time job at a multimedia company. Regular pay, job security and the opportunity to learn and further my career won over full-time freelancing so I became Viscom’s graphic designer.
I did still do occasional freelance work on the side though; I found I loved freelancing too much to abandon it, and I had several regular clients who still wanted me to work with them.
After a while I really began to wish I had time for more freelance work. I missed being my own boss, and dealing directly with clients to discuss project requirements, schedules and deadlines, and feedback and revisions. All that information gets filtered through managers when you’re an employee, but I do prefer taking care of it myself.
I realised that one day I’d definitely be freelancing full-time, but having just bought my first home, I put off deciding when to make the change.
Then in October 2011 my hours were cut and my full-time job became a part-time one. I grabbed the opportunity to grow my business, and even though having a job and running a business together was challenging, I was doing well. So when I was made redundant this summer, I was able to see it as a positive situation and knew that this time I’d focus on my freelancing.
Losing my job was scary but it’s given me the push to do what I love, earlier than I had though possible. I’m glad that back in 2008 I chose full-time employment over freelancing. I learned a lot about being a designer and running a business and I made some really good friends among my colleagues.
But I’m even more glad that from today, I’m only working one job and can devote my attention to running my business. I love freelancing!
Photo: SXC
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