Using Freelance Work to Revive Your Passion
Posted February 18, 2015 & filed under Job Search
Every career encounters a barricade at some point. Your creative solutions may not snap into place anymore. Your passion may smolder like dwindling coals instead of blazing like a warm fire. Changing employers is often a solution, but before you do, it may help to try your hand at being a freelancer.
What Makes Freelance Work Different
Many Americans find an appeal in freelance, contract, or consultant work. Current predictions are that 40% of the U.S. workforce will be in freelance or contract positions by 2020.
Professionals who adopt this employment model are attracted to three big pros.
- Freelancers often enjoy flexibility in their work schedule and can take on project volumes that suit their lives.
- Freelancers can choose their projects and in turn pursue an ever-changing set of challenges.
- If the atmosphere isn’t the right fit, a freelancer is free to leave once the project is over.
Certainly, there are downsides. Freelancers spend more time searching for new positions to keep their revenue stream steady. All of their insurance costs are assumed alone (unless you work with a staffing agency that lets you enter in on their policy). Furthermore, it’s never guaranteed you can transition from contract work to a full-time job at a business that fits you. However, if it sounds like the pros outweigh the cons, there are ways to test out the waters.
Considering Your Contract Rate
It’s the part that gets most easily overlooked at the beginning. Applying for freelance or contract roles without thorough data on your projected hourly or daily rate is counterproductive. As with any job search, you need to know the worth of your skills.
To get that number, it’s important to combine information from Salary.com, fellow professionals, and even recruiters (recruiters know what multiple employers are willing to pay for specific skills).
Remember, that once you have a contract rate determined with a client, you typically can’t renegotiate down the road. Freelancers who try to change their fees halfway through a contract will quickly earn a bad reputation.
Know Where to Look
The source of freelance and contract gigs can vary from one to the next but there are a few main sources:
- Job Boards – The big job boards all have their own options for freelancers and contractors. It’s easy to differentiate full-time work from contract work.
- Freelancing Websites – oDesk, Elance, Freelancer, and other freelancing sites limit their offerings to just freelance, consulting, or contracting gigs. That way, you’re never wasting any time on mislabeled opportunities. It’s a great way to diversify your portfolio.
- Recruiters – Employers often have variable needs. The ebb and flow of projects mean that having certain employees regularly on-staff may not make sense. In that instance, it’s easier to reach out to a recruiter and have them bring in contract employees. Often, they have access to positions that aren’t advertised anywhere else.
Setting Yourself Up to Succeed
One snare that tends to catch many first time freelancers and contractors is the planning fallacy. Our brains naturally assume best case, streamlined scenarios when setting a schedule. Interruptions and temporary roadblocks aren’t given consideration until they come up and ruin our plans.
When giving clients a timeline for your first few projects, don’t go with your gut estimate. Chances are that you’ll innately underbid on time and overpromise on results. Instead, do one of the following:
- Take your original estimate and add one-third of that time and you’ll have a safe result.
- Consider the length of time you think it would take someone else to complete the project. Often, your estimates will be far more honest.
The key to success while contracting or freelancing is to give yourself a buffer to ensure that your client is 100% satisfied when all is complete. That way, you’ve not only learned valuable new skills, but you can set yourself up for other jobs if you feel the need to move on from yours.
by James Walsh
