Yes, it can be tough, and you have to learn how to hustle, but the freelance lifestyle gives you the great benefit of letting you explore your capabilities and discover what you really want to do, as our in-studio experts advise.
The original “free-lances” were mercenaries whose lances were free for hire during the days of the knights.
Unbound by allegiance to any particular clan or fiefdom, they were able to offer their services on short-term contract to the highest bidder.
They freelancers of today, thankfully, do not have to wield their weapons and charge into battle, although they do sometimes have to battle to get paid.
But look at the benefits of the freelance life: you can work in your pyjamas, take a nap when the pressure gets too much, and go on holiday whenever you want.
“As a freelancer, you generally get the leave that you apply for,” says Brendan Jack, freelance writer, director, actor, and comedian, sharing his views during a BrightRock Iris Session hosted by David O’Sullivan.
With Brendan on the couch was Kirsten Kairuz, who runs The Graftyard in Johannesburg, a co-working space for freelancers and other “independent professionals”. And streaming in from her home office in Durban was Ishay Govender-Ypma, a freelance food and travel journalist.
Like David himself, Ishay was a lawyer before she gave up her high-powered position for the greater freedom and boundless opportunities of lancing. Not that it was an easy decision.
“It stemmed from a sabbatical,” says Ishay. “There was a fair amount of agony involved. It was either freelancing, or becoming a comedian.”
For Brendan, who is proof that you can do both, freelancing presented itself as a viable option after seven years as a creative worker in an advertising agency.
“There is the downside of not having a fixed income anymore, and you do have to hustle a little harder,” he says. “But for me, it’s more satisfying being able to do diverse things.”
Kirsten, meanwhile, started her professional life as a freelancer, in the field of accounting. Then she moved into software development, before opening her co-working space.
Freelancing taught her to be bold enough to think and act entrepreneurially, and the only thing she really misses about the 9 to 5 business lifestyle is the “year-end functions and the team events”.
Hence the popularity of co-working, which can help freelancers cope with the isolation of working on their own, away from the buzz of a formal workplace.
“We create a platform where you feel you can be part of something,” she says. But for most freelancers, the main opportunity – and the main challenge – is that you can decide for yourself what thing you want to be part of.
“Maybe freelancing is what you do when you can’t figure out what you want to do,” confesses Brendan. “To a degree, I still don’t know.”
He had no to-do list of “five-year-plan” when he left formal employment to branch out on his own, but what he did have was a passion to cary on doing what he loved doing. And what he loved doing, he soon discovered, was anything that paid the bill.
“You need to become multi-hatted,” he advises. “You need a bigger cupboard to fit all your hats in.”
Ishay, wearing her hat as a trained lawyer, argues that freelancers should have a plan as a well as an ability to just get out there and hustle.
“It’s tough out there, and people are struggling,” she says. “But still, you’ve got to go out there afresh, every day, and you’ve got to be able to bounce back.”
Being good at freelancing means being able to pitch for work, develop a good and solid network, and be wise in the choices you make.
Yes, you can take a nap whenever you want, but you’ve got to be practical and get down to work too. Freelancing really is a path worth pursuing, says Ishay, but it pays to be organised and positive. Especially if you want to get paid.
Freelancing doesn’t have to mean you do it for free, although, as Brendan says, your lower overheads can give you an edge when it comes to quoting for a job.
The “free” in freelancing really means the freedom to explore your abilities, and discover what you’re good at, even if it means stumbling a little along the way.
“The hits and misses help with the momentum of finding where you need to be or want to be, or what you land up doing,” says Kirsten. “You need to become competent in areas that you’re not comfortable in.”
And that, after all, is the real attraction of freelancing. It doesn’t pin you down to one discipline or one company or one field of endeavour.
It sets you free, and if you make the most of that freedom, it can be the best way of working in the 21st Century.
- For more expert insight and advice on the challenges and opportunities of freelancing, watch the full BrightRock Iris Session, hosted by David O’Sullivan.
- This article first appeared on the Change Exchange, an online platform by BrightRock, provider of the first-ever life insurance that changes as your life changes. The opinions expressed in this piece are the writer’s own and don’t necessarily reflect the views of BrightRock.
