It’s Monday once more; so let’s start the freelance week off in the best way possible by looking at a précis of the last 7-days’ best freelance articles, news and advice with The Freelance Bulletin. The original articles can all be accessed from the hyperlink attached to the respective author’s name.
4 things I wish I’d been told at the beginning of my freelance career
Reflecting on his first five years a freelancer, Jacob McMillen offers some sound advice – based on what he now knows:
- Pricing Has Nothing to Do with Service Quality;
- Your Long-term Success Will Depend Entirely on Quality;
- One-Time-Only Free Work is the Easiest Way to Open Doors;
- There’s a Mix Somewhere That Will Give You Both Passion & Profit.
We’d add some sage advice in relation to the financial aspects of freelancing; along with:
- Make it clear what the bounds of the work is with your client at the offset;
- Don’t shy away from asking for contract amendments from any ‘scope creep’;
- Communicate well – recognising that it is (at least) a two-way process.
World’s longest invoice draws attention to the plight of unpaid freelancers
Bemoaning and highlighting the financial struggles of freelancers who have carried out work in good faith and been ‘stiffed’ for payment, Mary Frost writes on a fabulous initiative from the Freelancers Union. Using an online counter, the Union has invited those unpaid freelancers to add to the (regrettably) growing figure.
Although it is a great pictorial initiative that at once highlights the unfairness of the situation; one wonders whether clients will be sufficiently shamed into ‘coughing up’.
In search of job security, millions are turning to freelancing
Reflecting on the experiences of Tony Faustino – when moving to a freelance career from a ‘six figure’ corporate role – Elaine Pofeldt. This short case study analyses the fear in permeating in corporate America (though mirrored worldwide) of the ‘corporate scrapheap’ that is calling for anyone in their 50s.
Whilst acknowledging that work itself is not declining, the study accepts that the way in which it is packaged is changing – with an increasing number of companies choosing to hire contractors for bespoke and time-bound work packages.
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