#14: Why Would Anyone go freelance? (Part 1)
Self-employed motivations
As a kid, when adults asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up, they often added: Do you want to do the same job as your parents? I answered a firm No. Not because I disliked their job, but because I didn’t want to be self-employed like they were.
Yes, at 8 years old, I wanted the stuff that union workers past have fought for: paid leave, ‘normal’ work hours, a steady pay check. And yet, here I am: I’ve now been self-employed for over a decade1.
A bit of both
Some workers are forced into self-employment, for instance after being laid off. Others go freelance with joy in their step and a masterplan, because they want to be their own boss. I’m somewhere in between: I half-intentionally fell into it, then stayed there.
I went freelance because I wanted to be a journalist. Knowing that permanent journalism jobs were rare, I accepted that selling articles one by one was the most realistic way in. I didn’t particularly want to work on my own, and I for sure was not initially cut out for hunting clients and invoice payments.
The reasons why I stay freelance are different. Now that I’m more established, I value the flexibility to fit in assignments around the time I want to spend with the kids, and around my beloved’s cross-border career moves. I also cherish the freedom to decide what I want to work on—not always, but often enough—and especially whom I want to work with.
Slightly delusional
Most freelancers I spoke with2 for this piece said they want to be self-employed.
Jo Breeze, a crowdfunding consultant3, seems to have warmed to the perks of freelancing like I did:
“The reasons I chose to go freelance feel less pressing than the reasons I stay freelance, and one is the freedom to do work as and when it works for me. So if I want to sit up til midnight working on a report because I’ve got the flow, I can do that - but crucially, I can do it because maybe I sacked off work entirely that day to go for a bike ride, or plan to spend the next day visiting a friend and getting some errands done.”
Oh, how I admire Jo’s healthy boundaries between work and leisure. I had similar intentions when I went freelance: “I’ll visit art exhibitions in the middle of the week! I’ll work in the sunshine while sipping a fancy hot beverage!” HAHAHA! Wasn’t I naïve (and lacking in self-awareness). I certainly did not intend to eat cereal for lunch, glued to my screen by a diffuse need to be productive, wearing a fleece plaid with sleeves because I’m motionless and cold.
In control?
One advantage of freelance life that popped up in several testimonies is control, which surprised me because I don’t feel in control as a freelancer. I may be more dependent on the decisions of gatekeepers—editors and media outlets generally—than other professions, but there’s also some reframing I could do to focus on the areas where I do/can call the shots.
Jessica Sizeland, founder of Mama Hive, a community for female freelancers and small business owners, says control was her main motivator, initially. Then that shifted along with her family’s needs:
“I initially went freelance because I wanted more control over my work life. My career in events was FULL ON. And now it’s shifted somewhat as I’ve got twins with [Autism Spectrum Disorder], so I need to be able to work around their needs. But I still feel like I get more choice than I ever would in a traditional office role.”
Liz Bell, an ecommerce consultant, admits that freelancing is not for everyone:
“I’m in control of my time and I don’t have to work within constraints that someone else has decided (a fixed salary, ‘normal' working hours etc). I also enjoy working on finite projects and never quite knowing what’s coming next. […] I know these reasons are as terrifying to other people as they are exciting to me though, so I think there must be something fundamental about how we’re wired!”
A few people even told me that freelancing is necessary to their well-being.
Graphic designer Frankie Tortora, founder of Doing It For The Kids, a community for freelance parents4:
“I am not designed for the 'traditional' workplace! Everything about it made me anxious. While freelancing is stressful, being in control of my own life has made a massive difference to my mental health.”
Audrey Mikaelian, a science journalist and film director in Paris, France:
“Having a permanent job makes me die inside.”
In part 2, I’ll keep digging into the motivations of freelancers, with the insights of a researcher who surveyed self-employed creatives in Norway.
Of course this is a small, non-representative sample. Next week, I’ll write about an academic study of the motivations of freelance jazz musicians and journalists.
Breeze, Sizeland, Bell and Tortora are all based in the UK