My So-Called Freelance Life - Michelle Goodman [68]
One more word to the wise: Being the proud owner of a pile of pricey computer and home office equipment also makes you a good candidate for business owner’s insurance. Your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance won’t adequately cover your business loot in the event of loss or damage. As always, tap your fellow freelancers for recommendations for commercial insurance agents, and make sure any agents you talk to understand that you’re a business of one (as opposed to a fifty-employee firm with two hundred clients) so they price your policy accordingly.
When the 9-to-5 Devil Comes Calling
I thought of calling this section “Screw the Freelance Life” because frankly, all freelancers have weeks from hell when we fantasize about throwing in the towel. “If I had a day job, I wouldn’t have to deal with these jokers and their ridiculous check-in-the-mail story,” we tell ourselves. “If I had a day job, I could call in sick instead of working through a bad flu to make this deadline. If I had a day job, I wouldn’t have to shell out thousands a year in health insurance. . . .”
And if, during a really bad week when every client is working your every last nerve, someone offers you $85,000 a year to do what you do as a freelancer, only on staff, with full benefits, a swanky office, some telecommuting privileges, and all the free office supplies you could want, you might find yourself sorely tempted. Especially if you just lost a big client, your last project nearly sent you to the ER, and you have $7,000 in credit card debt that you haven’t been able to pay off since you don’t know when.
I wouldn’t blame you. I’ve been there many times, teetering on the edge, wondering if I should just jump. A couple times I even made it all the way to the job interview. And that yearlong full-time permalance gig I mentioned earlier? The only thing that made it not a regular day job was that it had an end date. It also made me crazy-miserable, just as I suspected it would, but it helped me pay off my debts in record time, which was priority number one for me that year.
So if the 9-to-5 (or 7-to-7) world makes you an offer you’re not sure you can refuse, treat the decision just as you would a freelance job prospect:
• Get all the information you can about the position, company, your prospective teammates, the schedule, the perks, and anything else you can think of.
• Revisit the mini business plan you made in Chapter 1 to remind yourself of your freelance goals for the year.
• Be real about why you’re considering the gig: Wanting to boost your skill set or needing the better health insurance plan because your kid is chronically sick is one thing. Being dazzled by the fancy title or corner office despite the job description boring you to tears isn’t quite so compelling an argument.
• Make a pros-and-cons list for staying freelance, and one for taking the day job. Do you have a winner? If not, pretend you’ve decided to accept the gig. Is your gut screaming “No, no, for the love of God, N-frigging-O!”? If so, heed it.
• If your prevailing thought is “This job would be great if only I could telecommute a couple days a week, do it part-time, or do it on a temporary contract basis,” negotiate for what you want. You already have a freelance business, so it’s not like you have anything to lose.
Know this: Taking a temporary trip back to the cube doesn’t mean you’re a freelance failure. Instead, it can mean you’re taking care of yourself. With any luck, you’ll come away with a portfolio