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Alternative to the 9-to-5: Freelancing
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In these tough economic times, a job might not be readily available when you graduate in December or May. However, don’t fret – there are alternatives.
In a recent interview with Michelle Goodman, author of “My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire,” she offered advice to college students and recent graduates about launching a successful freelance career.
1. Do it on the side. It can take several months to a couple years to work up to having a full-time freelance workload. And in the interim, you need a paycheck. Besides, you need experience and mentoring in the workforce, preferably in the industry and position you’re conquering in your freelance life. And temping, interning and/or working a staff position are of course the best ways to get it.
2. Save your pennies. While you still have a paycheck, cut back on expenses and stockpile money as best you can (you need to do this anyway; we’re in a recession). As a new freelancer, having several months’ living/business expenses in the bank is often the only thing preventing you from crawling back to your cubicle gig.
3. Build a network, online and off. If you don’t have a LinkedIn profile, get one. If you’ve never joined an industry-related discussion list or gone to a professional event, now’s the time to start. The idea is to meet as many people in your field as you can, preferably before you leave your day job. Learn from them. Trade ideas with them. Charm them. These may be future clients – or people who will refer you to future clients.
4. Create a killer online portfolio. Whether you’re an aspiring journalist, Web designer or project manager, start accumulating samples for your portfolio while you still have a day job – that is, while you have easy access to assignments and customers. A Web portfolio not only shows you mean business as an independent professional, it saves you loads of time in that “so, tell me about your experience” dance. WordPress makes creating a digital portfolio site simple. So do Web sites like VisualCV.
5. Learn to run a business. Half of working for yourself is wooing clients, negotiating contracts, managing projects, paying taxes and making tricky judgment calls. So, if you don’t know the first thing about running your own shop, now’s the time to learn. Read books and blogs on freelancing, take a workshop at SCORE (they’re usually under $100) and pick the brains of other small business owners. And by all means, take advantage of any training offered in your day job, especially in project management, business management and negotiations. All will come in handy when you hang your own shingle.
Bonus tip: To beat the recession as a freelancer, diversify your client base. Maybe you want to write business articles for the mainstream media. But, writing copy for creative agencies and newsletters for business associations too helps ensure you have more clients (and checks) to line your bank account with. Ditto for writing for both print and Web media outlets. The more toes you have in the client pond, the more work you have access to and the quicker you can ditch the cube farm for freelance life.
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