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Topic: Tips on juggling full-time job and freelance
| Author | Message |
| salsera | Posted – 11/30/2007 3:10:56 PM | show profile I'm in the fortunately position where I have a full-time job and also have started to pick up more freelance work. However, it can be tough juggling the freelance projects and a job that has very little downtime. Any more experienced folks out there with tips on how to do both? |
| DQ102 | Posted – 11/30/2007 4:23:42 PM | show profile I did this for years before going full-time freelance, and it takes discipline and organization. I did my best to set up interviews I had to do for freelance pieces either early in the morning before I went to work, or early in the evening after I got home from work. Sometimes I had to run home and do them at lunch time. Thankfully, I didn't work far from home. You have to commit to spending evenings and weekends writing up your freelance assignments. Yes, it is a lot of work, but it pays off in the end. I have been freelancing for a few years now, and I never would have been able to do it full time if I hadn't laid the groundwork by freelancing while I was working full time. Good luck! |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 11/30/2007 6:19:02 PM | show profile Make you you negotiate sufficient time to do the pieces. A lot depends whether your boss knows about and is OK with your freelancing? If so, you can always get a cellphone and conduct your interviews from your desk, being clear that is your lunch hour. |
| WritingEd | Posted – 12/1/2007 1:33:19 AM | show profile As DQ said, early morning and evening interviews are the way to manage reporting. In a pinch I have done the occasional lunchtime phone interview as well (using my cellphone). Sometimes the only way to get assignments done is to take a vacation day from my day job. If you're married, support from your spouse is essential. When he or she is hanging out on weekends, you'll be stuck working. I have found that it's important to not take on too much freelance during my most stressful time periods on my day job. You really have to have that job take priority when there are conflicts (without ticking off your freelance editors, of course). |
| UrbanMuse | Posted – 12/1/2007 1:44:07 AM | show profile I've been thinking about this a lot lately, because I've been getting a ton of assignments and biting off more than I can reasonably chew. I'm trying to limit the number of sources I'm juggling at any given time. One recent source asked to reschedule a phone interview THREE times and it really screwed up my schedule because I was rushing home after work (my office is an hour away so I couldn't run home during lunch and I have no privacy for phone interviews during the day). Personal essays and roundups don't generally require sources, so I'm trying to do more of those to stay sane. I do sometimes take a vacation day to get caught up or spend a whole Saturday or Sunday writing. Hopefully I'll be full time freelance in 2009 so I can devote more time to that. ------ www.UrbanMuseWriter.com |
| Marie | Posted – 12/1/2007 1:04:27 PM | show profile Ditto to what everyone says. Do as many interviews as you can early in the morning and in the evening (if you're on the East Coast, use California sources) and on your lunch break. Depending on what your day job is, you might be able to take assignments that are somehow related to what you work on in the day, and so your outside interviews won't be that obvious. But you must give the day job priority at all times. You have to allow enough time, probabaly double or three times the amount of time you'd need if you were writing the piece without a day job. You need to negotiate easy deadlines. This might force you to turn down certain jobs. I find I have to turn down anything that has less than a week's deadline. Ten days is ideal. And you have to use the weekend to write. If these are stories you really want to write, that's not a big deal. Get up early on Saturday, and pound away until 4 p.m. Revise on Sunday. It's a good way to test the waters regarding freelancing before leaving your day job. Full-time freelancing is not for everyone. |
| UrbanMuse | Posted – 12/1/2007 2:23:28 PM | show profile I'm curious... do you all tell your editors "I have a day job so I won't be able to turn this around until next week"? I don't want them to think I'm not serious, so I usually say, "I'm working on some other assignments right now, so I'll need a few extra days for this." And that's usually the truth. ------ www.UrbanMuseWriter.com |
| Metro Writer | Posted – 12/1/2007 9:08:10 PM | show profile I wouldn't tell my boss I was freelancing on the side. What I do off-hours is none of her business and I don't want her to have an excuse to give me the least amount of salary increase so that she can look good with her budget. |
| globetrotter78 | Posted – 12/1/2007 11:17:33 PM | show profile I do a lot of my interviews in my car using my cell phone and a digital recorder. That way I don't have to rush home all the time. This can be hectic too, but it has worked pretty well for me so far. |
| Marie | Posted – 12/2/2007 12:21:48 AM | show profile What's wrong with telling an editor you have a full-time job? Why does that mean you're not serious? I'm not serious because I like to earn a living? All I care about is what an editor thinks of my work, not my lifestyle. If you turn in good work on time, they think you're serious. That's all they care about. |
| UrbanMuse | Posted – 12/2/2007 11:16:19 AM | show profile I have a full time job, too, so I wasn't insulting anyone who freelances on the side. I just don't want an editor who has the option of hiring me or hiring a full time freelancer to think that because I have a day job, I won't put in the time and effort to thoroughly write and research my assignment (because I will take a vacation day if that's what it takes to meet my deadline). There are some writers who are hobbyists and others who see it as a business. I want editors to know that I take my writing just as seriously as a full time freelancer. My boss is actually aware of my freelancing, because I used some of those clips to get in the door as a copywriter. In some situations, you wouldn't want to advertise that you have a side gig, but in my case, it showed initiative. ------ www.UrbanMuseWriter.com |
| Marie | Posted – 12/2/2007 12:02:42 PM | show profile I understand. But the thing is, if you have a full-time job, you're not going to be able to give the same commitment to freelancing as a full-time freelancer. There's just no way you can do it, and it would be overwhelming to even try. You wouldn't be available to travel without a lot of advance notice, for example. And there's some quick turnaround assignments you'll just have to turn down. Just take on what you can, do a great job (that's better than trying to do a lot of assignments in a mediocre way) and if you really love freelancing, you're building a good foundation now from the security of a day job to eventually make the switch, if that's what you want. Doing great work -- rather than feeling you have to be available for every assignment -- is what's most important now. You can always call the editor when you have a slow time at work, or when you're taking time off, to say you're available. |
| candylilacs | Posted – 12/2/2007 12:37:20 PM | show profile My freelancing has gone way down since my full-time job. I just can't do as much and drop everything for two hours on a Wednesday afternoon to do a revision when asked. So I probably do about four to six big-ticket freelance assignments throughout the year planned with vacations. It's still a little hectic with revisions and such, but they're generally East Coast so I can do a lot of early morning work (I'm in NoCal.) I also do some low-stress local freelancing which is totally workable with my schedule where I can talk to sources after work or on weekends. Personally, the more of those you can do, the better (less stressful!) your life will be! ------ http://www.mswritesguide.blogspot.com |
