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What are the Pros and Cons of being a Freelancer?

Posted by rcpopart • 5/02/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: Advertising, freelance, graphic design, illustration, Online, web

Currently I am a freelance graphic designer and illustrator. I am always going from one online advertising agency to another. It's interesting for me to see both the benefits of having a salary job at one of these agencies and also some of the down sides of working there vs. being freelance. I've come to discover they are both worthy of consideration.

What are you experiences?

What do you prefer?

User Comments

5/02/08

ender

i prefer salary. i hate not having a steady paycheck. i hate having to rustle up my own clients. i hate not having health insurance.

why did i decide that this was a better job than teaching college? oh yeah, college teaching jobs are even harder to get a steady gig with bennies.

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5/02/08

bnsullivan

I've been a free-lancer for most of my working life, but I must say that it helped to have a husband who had more traditional employment for most of that time -- you know, with all the bennies like health insurance, etc.

There have been periods when I had very steady work for ages, and sometimes so much that I had to turn some away, but there also were periods during which I could have starved, had it not been for my husband's income and the fact that I'm frugal and always saved as much as I could during the flush times.

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5/02/08

rcpopart

Yes, indeed. When it's good, it's great! More work than you know what to do with yourself, and then *poof!* for some reason this too happens to me. I've learned to adjust my spending so that there is always a buffer amount of money in the bank, though even that can only last so long. One thing I really enjoy with freelance is the constant change of environment and people. I need that. I seriously don't think I could do 9-5 every week, year after year. I would get myself fired after awhile when I showed up at 2 in the afternoon to do work til 4 in the morning.

:-)

oh yes, and getting up early is actually physically excruciating.

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1. 5/02/08
  
  ender
  
  true, true. but several places i've worked have been more flexible with the hours of their creatives because very very few creatives prefer to be up before ... oh, 10 or 11 at the earliest!
2. 5/02/08
  
  bnsullivan
  
  rcpopart said: "One thing I really enjoy with freelance is the constant change of environment and people. I need that."
  
  Oh yes, I hear ya. I've always liked working on a project-by-project basis for that very reason. Variety -- of work, as well as who you're dealing with. Plus, there's something satisfying about taking on a project and working it through from start to finish -- and then it IS finished.
  
  I also prefer working alone, for the most part. I'm not much for team stuff, with few exceptions. I don't like being a leader, but I'm not a very good follower, either. Most of all, I can't stand committee-type decision-making.
3. 5/02/08
  
  ender
  
  i like the variety of projects and clients - but you can get that through an agency, too.
  
  as for committee type decision making ... ewwwww
5/02/08

jackpayne

How can you go wrong? All you can do is put a little cha-cha cha into the sax section.

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5/02/08

Anniepooh

I am freelance under contract, so the deal is a litle better than most. I can opt not to write a week or so, but then I don't get paid. So far it's working well for me since I'm able to control my hours and family time.

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5/03/08

NewYorkRealEstate

Love freelancing, I did it for a short time in my early career

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5/04/08

rcpopart

Yeah, I agree. Freelancing under contract is the way to go. Although right now I'm enjoying the company of working for an agency for an extended period of time and getting to know everyone there. Feeling like a team player can actually be kind of cool when there is a sense of your value there. I'm like the new kid in class who everyone wants to know about. I'm sure that will fade, but by that time, I'll be out of there and on to another agency (love 'em and leave 'em tactics works in advertising apparently too). I DO love the sense of finalizing a project from start to finishing. Very satisfying. However, not so much when there is a committee deciding on graphic design choices. The slowest, ineffective way to get anything done is by a group of people larger than 3. That blows.

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