Photo by /junku-newcleus.

In 2007, I was an employee working with a great company.

My boss was intelligent and inspiring. My coworkers were amicable and worked well as a team. The office environment was entirely casual; no suit and tie required. The pay was acceptable and vacation time fair.

The work was adequate, with some days more challenging than others. Office communication was radically transparent, as the staff would often meet weekly to review the recent triumphs and discuss the goals ahead. By most accounts, I should have been content with my career.

But something was missing.

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Like so many others before me, I realized long ago that freelancing is the only way to take full advantage of life in a free society. We all want greater control over our own daily schedules and future accomplishments. But while many of us can plainly see the allure of never having to ask a boss if we can go on vacation (or take a nap at 2pm), we often don’t view ourselves as entrepreneurs in the traditional sense… you know, those dynamic people who can make a business hum along profitably whether it’s an ice cream parlor or a rubber band factory?

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Freelancing on the side while keeping a full time job can be a good way to test the waters and save money before plunging in full time. In fact, I freelanced part time for three years while building up the confidence and the clips to succeed as a full time freelance writer.

Though it’s often the sensible thing to do financially, it’s certainly not the easiest. Any part time writer, designer, coder, or other freelancer will tell you that it requires careful discipline and superior time management skills.

Here are several tips on tackling freelance projects while keeping a full time job.

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As the new year is just around the corner, some of you might resolve to take a step forward into becoming a freelancer. According to what’s been written in the comments at FreelanceSwitch, there are those of you thinking about this.

With the way the economy has been, it wouldn’t be too surprising if the freelancer ranks grow in the next few months. Here are a few tips to get you started.

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Photo by Kyle May.

Starting out as a freelancer can be an exhilarating ride, but those first few miles can be littered with frustrating potholes if you don’t know what to watch out for. If you’re just about to make the plunge into freelancing – or you’re trying to make your existing freelance life run more smoothly – take a moment to read these “rules of the road.” They may save you from the late nights and nail-biting stress that await you just around the curve.

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Whether you’re a part-time graphic designer or full-time web content writer, a freewheeling blog consultant or an outside-the-box marketing genius, you jumped into freelancing for one simple reason – and it wasn’t simply “the money.” There’s no doubt money was a motivator, but what you were really after was freedom. Freedom from a day job, freedom from financial stress, freedom to work wherever and whenever you want to … but are you really on the path to enjoy that freedom, or are you just fooling yourself?

Freelancing Should Be A Springboard, Not a Treadmill

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As you probably know freelance workers do much more tasks than just designing, writing or whatever it is you do to pay your bills.

So why spend time and energy sharing your knowledge?

These days altruism is not very common. We’re so stressed with our work that there’s little free time left, and we want to spend it on anything else.

But moreover, sharing what you know is risky. Someone could steal your ideas or your techniques. It’s even a little unfair! Why share what you learned by yourself, with so much effort and without help from anyone else? And what do you get in exchange? Isn’t it a risk for your business? Is it worth the effort?

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I’ve written numerous times about remote working, including how remote working works for freelancers and how freelancers can overcome the daily challenges of working remotely. In this post, I’ll be talking about how I’ve launched a web design studio remotely.

Why do it?

Us freelancers love working for ourselves. We like the thrills of deadlines and chasing work. A common problem we face is that our services are not always scalable, as many of us are billing by the hour and we can only ‘get out’ what we put in. By establishing a business, I can take on a managerial position and spend more time making important decisions than sweating hours–but only if that’s what I want.

There’s a nice balance here, as I can still do as much work as I like but I never feel I have to. It’s still a freelance arrangement, as all clients are remote and the business is a collection of freelance and part-time staff, but is managed in such a way that it provides 24 x 7 service. That’s the first lesson: you can continue to enjoy everything you love about freelancing if you establish your business with a freelance business model.

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I know everyone hates the term “pay your dues,” but sometimes that’s exactly what you’ve got to do.

Case in point: I got a cold-call from an aspiring copywriter a few days back, asking for advice. I put it on my list of people to respond to, but not very high. After all, I’ve got to cover my own butt, first, and I’ve been positively swamped with work. I planned to give her a buzz back within a few days. But later that night as I am cooking dinner, she calls back. Twice in the same day. (Not to mention, after hours.)

I’ll say it before, and I’ll say it again: I’m not a good mentor. Not because I don’t have the expertise, but I don’t have the patience to offer one-on-one support to others. I do better writing about it for the masses. I’ve learned not to feel bad about this, because everyone has their talents and mine will probably never be mentoring. I help in other ways, by offering you witty posts with some valuable advice. And my incessant blabbing on Freelance Radio, which I am told is useful to many.

That said, I don’t mind giving advice to new freelancers. I think it helps all freelancers as part of this great big circle we’re in. Take advice from others, give back… that sort of thing. But I do think there’s a difference between getting pointed in the right direction, and just being lazy while expecting others to do the legwork for you.

Here are some ways you can get advice — without pushing the bar.

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You’ve surely heard the term GTD, aka Getting Things Done, coined by David Allen and spawning many dozens of desktop and web applications, not to mention some popular GTD websites. Some freelancers read or scan them religiously.

Personally, I can’t even get through the principles of GTD, let alone apply them. It seems like a ridiculously complex approach for something that could be so much simpler.

I’m not the first to say it, but I feel that GTD is too structured and too restrictive. For example: six levels of focus?! (Even this one-page short version of GTD seems too complex.) Consider that if you’re not getting something done, it’s probably due to one or more of the following reasons:

1. Wanting to over-deliver and give clients a 110% effort and not knowing where to start.
2. Feeling restricted from too much structured planning.
3. Feeling overwhelmed from lack of any planning.
4. Overbooking on client projects.
5. Not really wanting to do it.
6. Poor health, or personal/family distractions.

Out of these reasons, #6 is something that you’ll have to solve separately, and #4-5 are solved by saying “no”. Reasons #1-3 are the ones to watch for: these probably cause most procrastination because you don’t know how to start. These are resolved by taking a simpler starting approach: GTS. Continue Reading

Photo by Jenny Huang.

The idea of freelance writing had always been appealing to me. Although my background in fitness and nutrition prepared me more for personal contact. After a few years spent in the gyms and working in academia, I knew I wanted to help people, not one-on-one, but through my writing.

Unlike many there was no leap of faith involved in my decision to begin working towards my goal. To avoid missing a once in a lifetime opportunity, I left my office job and set off on an adventure to live abroad for a couple years due to an assignment with my husband’s employer. With the language barrier and those ever frustrating document issues, I had no plans to work in our new city. Fortunately, this gave me the perfect opportunity to launch my freelance writing career.

It took me a while to get my ducks in a row, toughen my skin and start tackling the process of learning about freelance writing and blogging. I never once thought it would be easy, but I also soon realized there was a lot I didn’t know.

These are some questions I ask myself on a daily basis and some answers I’ve come to discover through both my external research and that all-important internal reflection about my desire and will to write.
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Let’s face it. Some freelancers don’t always want to be freelancing. Some want out. How about you? Is freelancing what you really want to be doing, long term? Is it a means to an end? Do you have something that you’re gearing up to do? Maybe you haven’t decided yet what comes after your freelance career.

If you have decided where you’re headed — whether it’s into freelancing, out of freelancing, or into a different type of freelancing — do you have a plan for your career transition? Even if you do, you know better than anyone how much time client work takes up, and how much “free time” is left over. You might feel confident that your next career will happen, but do you really have the time to make the switch, and do it properly?

The sum of those parts usually means that many freelancers do not follow their dreams. It’s been said many times before that if you’re sufficiently complacent in your life right now, you have little motive to change it (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs). You’re not “hungry” enough. The spirit of your goal might stay with you, but it’ll never have form beyond that unless you “get hungry” and take action. However, that action doesn’t have to be painful, or rushed. Continue Reading