Making the jump and going freelance
Those of you who I talk to regularly or pay attention to my ramblings on Twitter may know this already, but I have made the decision to freelance full time as a designer and (frontend) developer next year.
This is a big leap for me, and something that I have hoped to do since not long after I made the decision to get into design. I’ve really enjoyed working full time over the past three years, especially at my current workplace at Monk Media, and have learned so many useful skills that I hope will help me make my own business successful. I’ve also been absorbing all I can from various freelancing blogs and books, talking to freelancers I’ve known for ages as well as ones over in Canberra where I’ll be based, and testing the waters doing freelance work in my spare time (with my employer’s blessing, of course).
With my freelance work so far I seem to be settling into the role of Wordpress and blog expert, which is fun because blogs always have so much personality to bring through. I’m hoping to also design and develop websites for small to medium sized businesses, as well as exploring more print, identity and illustration work in future. So if you’re in need of any of these things, talk to me!
Although there’s plenty of blogs out there on the subject of freelancing I like to read more personal accounts of how other freelancers got started, their approach and how well things worked out for them. So I’ll be keeping track of my progress and any useful resources I find along my way here on this blog. Wish me luck!
Good luck with everything!
Your blog just made it into my RSS feeds ;)
I’ve been thinking about switching to freelance for a long time, but I still lack the courage :) That’s a truly big move and I wish you all the best.
Looking forward to see your point of view on being a freelancer.
Woohoo! Good luck Teresa! :D
Good luck! It can be pretty tough sometimes, but I’m sure you’ll make it through!!!
xoxo
Rebecca
Thank you everyone!
Good luck Teresa. You’re very talented and I’m sure you’ll have no problems. It’s a little tough out there for us freelancers but there are plenty of us around on Twitter if you need any help with anything.
Good luck Teresa. I’m sure you’ll have fun and do great :)
Teresa,
I’ve been a Freelancer for years, now have my own studio/Agency and work with great clients I choose to work with + manage others. Freedom to create, to be, to live wherever you please and work on accounts you actually like are only few things that are priceless about freelancing. When the going gets tough and it will sometimes making your own money, just realize that 1. when things go down they have to and will go up again 2. with time you will learn how to save up for those days and get through them, I have a beautiful house, paid off credit cards, my car is paid off and I pay my own insurance which is not that much, how many people do you know who work full time and have any of it? ;). It is an illusion that you have more stability while working for someone else, you don’t know what will happen tomorrow when you work for someone, you’re not in their head and they will definitely not tell you if your job is safe tomorrow, unless YOU create tomorrow by yourself, you’re never in control, never forget that. We all live once, no one can take back time, every moment counts so make it count in your life and LIVE ;). Good luck!
Thanks everyone!
@Krissy: thanks, and good luck to you too! It’s so helpful talking to other freelancers on Twitter and hearing about everyone’s issues/good things to do with freelancing.
@mystery person: that’s really encouraging! I really hope this will work out for me, although I know it will take a little while get the hang of the whole cash flow thing. I’m lucky that I’ve been saving a bit of money over the years, so should be able to survive the slow periods without too much trouble.