Freelancing and the Pursuit

Posted on August 24, 2008
Filed Under Job Seeking

The pursuit of happiness is a fact of life - but how well do we do as freelance professionals? The encouraging news is we’re doing pretty well. A few niggles here and there that you’d expect, but nothing too drastic.

Flexibility seems to be the single best element you love about being independent, with 40% of you rating this as your number one smile creator. Nearly a quarter of you thought that independence was another big bonus. Freedom also ranked highly, with 17% of freelancers rating this as the best bit of the job.

In a clear demonstration that the money side of financial upside of freelancing didn’t buy you happiness a lowly 3% of you told us that this was the element in freelancing you thought was best. The ability to be your own manager was also well thought of, as was the challenge of the job itself, but these were much less popular reasons to be happy with this line of work.

But what about those irritants? No job is perfect, but what were the things you liked least about going it alone? Thankfully you told us what the problems were, which gives Network Freelance a fighting chance of helping you address them.

Isolation is a big problem. We thought it was when we first conceived the site following advice from friends suffering the same problem. Nearly a fifth of you told us that being lonely in the job was a real negative aspect and was the single biggest downside of the work. In a way we’re pleased that this was the number one problem, as the whole driver behind the design of the site was to allow freelance professionals to network with each other and get the support and advice they need, from people in the field already.

The next biggest problem identified was that of winning business itself. It’s a time consuming challenge and one which doesn’t put a smile on your face. 15% of respondents thought that this was the worse aspect. Again, we’d be lying if we said that we weren’t a bit pleased with the fact that we also thought this was a big issue. We’ve tried to design a service where, in time, professionals will be able to offer assistance and win genuine business from the comfort of their own home. We’re close to having a site which can facilitate this, so just watch this space.

Running your lives as a business also came across as a real challenge to overcome. Sorting out the Tax and Legal aspects of contracts, and chasing the payment side of work wasn’t to everyone’s satisfaction, with 15% and 12% of you respectively citing these as troublesome areas. What was interesting was what you said about balancing the peaks and troughs of work, and the work life balance you’re subjected to. It would be interesting to hear whether these frustrations are felt just by the inexperienced freelancers out there, or it’s an affliction of the masses? Either way, get in touch - please let us know more.

Rick Bisset Director Network Freelance - For PR & Marketing Freelance Professionals

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