Comments on: One Question All Freelancers MUST Answer

By: blue2x

blue2x — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:37:18 +0000

I love to freelance since I can do things the way i want to do it, work anytime, no hassle , plus freelancing ( logo / web design ) will lead me into another opportunity, and that is saving up enough money and staring some kind of business. This will be my next direction, I used a portion of my savings enrolling in 2 networking businesses , and in the future will be starting my own.

By: Michael D

Michael D — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 23:21:41 +0000

Because I love it, and I don’t love lack of freedom in corporate settings.

By: Jason Lengstorf

Jason Lengstorf — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 17:55:54 +0000

I’m lucky enough to really enjoy back-end programming, which means my desire to be filthy freakin’ rich can take a comfortable back seat to my love of coding. I make better-than-decent money freelancing, but I don’t know if I could switch over and do something different for more money, even if all other working conditions were the same.

I’d rather make a little less and keep my love of the work.

That being said, I would probably take the holiday project. I ended up working through Christmas anyways, just because I didn’t really have anything better to do after the two hour Christmas morning tradition.

-Jason

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Sun, 28 Dec 2008 01:37:37 +0000

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By: Laura Spencer

Laura Spencer — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 14:49:37 +0000

Great feedback here!

Tom, frankly I’m surprised that more people haven’t stepped forward to admit that they freelance for the money. Perhaps there is a stigma attached to being too mercenary. . .

Anyway, keep the comments coming.

By: Tom @ wagefreedom.com

Tom @ wagefreedom.com — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:58:59 +0000

I’ll flat-out admit it. I was a freelancer for the money. A hired gun on good days, and a prostitute on bad days, depending on how I was feeling. Big company or small, anywhere in the US, as long as there was heavy overtime. Funded plenty of backpacking trips around the world, and ironically that ensured that I’d have to return to the thing I hated doing. Even the best view in the world (Santorini ; ) ) can look like hell knowing you’re heading back to prison…

I finally got ‘the big one’, a contract with unlimited overtime for a long time and a good rate, and I saw that I could work toward a new goal: getting out.
I escaped to my place near a beach in the ‘developing world’. Every day I thank the tired guy that was me on that gig, that he/I had the strength and resolve to do it.

My advice would be to find something to do for money that you love to do. But I didn’t find that thing, and so for me freelancing was a means to get away from doing things that I didn’t like for money, to start living again.

By: Jacob Cass

Jacob Cass — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 11:21:49 +0000

Passion and to help the world get less ugly.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 02:56:42 +0000

Perhaps I overstated it. There are, of course, never absolutes.

Maybe I’ve just been lucky as well, but, in my experience as a freelancer, I tend to be treated as an equal by my clients, while my employers in full-time or on-site contract positions have generally treated me as a subordinate. That, to me, is an extremely significant difference, even if the work done and the working conditions were to end up being identical in both scenarios.

By: Clinton Begin

Clinton Begin — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 02:40:47 +0000

The suggestion that you have complete or absolute control over anything when you’re a freelancer or a contractor is an oversimplification in my opinion.

In a sense, your customer becomes your employer. They too will demand that you work under certain conditions, and if you routinely turn down tasks at will, then you will quickly be seen as unreliable in their eyes. Your reputation depends on your being flexible and easy to work with. More often than not, that means working their way, not yours.

I’ve gotten pretty lucky as a freelancer, working with great people and doing interesting work — a dream for any freelancer. But I choose the employment route to work more closely with people. I’ve found an equal amount of freedom regardless.

Clinton

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 02:27:56 +0000

I’d have to disagree with you there, Clinton. I’ve never heard of an employer who routinely lets their full-time employees or on-site contractors operate autonomously with full control over their working conditions or the freedom to accept or reject tasks at will. Unless you are at the absolute top of your profession, any employer will expect you to work for them – even just by telling you to be on-site, they’re asserting authority over you rather than interacting with you as an equal. Being merely “good at what you do” (as opposed to a superstar of the field) is not sufficient for an employer to grant you the autonomy as an employee that you almost-automatically have as a freelancer.

Power over your career, yeah, sure, you can definitely have that as an FTE (although it seems likely to require a willingness to change jobs frequently). Power over the day-to-day details of how, where, and when you work, though? Not so much.

So, no, my reason for freelancing (“I freelance so that I can make a living by working with clients rather than by working for anyone.”) cannot be achieved as an FTE.