Do You Freelance on the Side?
I had a mentoring client ask me how people who work full time make freelancing work, and I promised I would pose her question on the blog. Last year I did a survey of our readers, and many of you say that freelancing is a side job for you on top of your regular job. How do you find time to write? Do you get up early, stay up late, write during your lunch hour? How about scheduling interviews when you work 9-5? And how do you keep from being exhausted? Please post your experiences and advice in the Comments section below. I’d love to hear how you do it. Thanks so much!
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Sep 2, 2010 Help us!, Motivation, productivity
I built my freelancing career while working a full-time job, and I was essentially working two full-time jobs. I conducted phone interviews on breaks, wrote before work and on weekends, and even managed to squeeze NaNoWriMo in one year. It was exhausting, but I’m glad I built up my freelancing career before I quit my full-time job so I wasn’t starting from scratch.
I wrote an article about how to make the 8-5 work for a writing career last year that is relevant to your questions and also offers insight into how I did it: http://www.fundsforwriters.com/8to5.htm
I usually write over the weekends when I feel all refresh and after a good night sleep on Friday! Exhausted? never will be as I just love what I am doing on the side
Yes! Freelancing is just an “on the side” gig for me. I work 730-4, so am home early enough that I can do some weekday work, but much of it I do on weekends. I often do interviews via e-mail, and I do take every chance to work that I can by staying up early or late. It’s still not easy though and sometimes I wonder if I’m rushing through pieces or what I could do if I really committed to freelancing as a career. Someday, I’d absolutely like to try it out.
Great topic! I freelanced on the side for several years, and the toughest part was scheduling interviews. In fact, I gave up several juicy projects because I didn’t want them interfering (or jeopardizing) my day job.
Here’s a blog post I wrote on the topic: http://freelanceswitch.com/start/balancing-part-time-freelancing-with-a-full-time-job/ If you check out the comments, you’ll see more tips and insights on this topic.
I currently freelance on the side. It is hard, but I am doing my best to just suck it up and deal right now, with the longterm goal of leaving the fulltime job to write fulltime within the next year. How do I keep from being exhausted? Really, I don’t, but mainlining caffeine and vitamin B helps.
I am so glad someone asked this. I am trying to do the same thing – freelance on the side until I can quit my day job. I’ll be reading these answers carefully!
Definitely a side profession that tides me over in between contracts. Occasionally, I’ll have to work weekends but not too often – mostly, it’s just weeknights. However, my freelancing revolves around market research and M&A acquisition sales books so there’s not much of a problem with interview scheduling. The plus side of doing this on the side is that I have my contract agency take out extra $$ to help cover the estimated taxes.
I just reduced my full-time job hours substantially so that I would have more time to pursue freelance writing. I tried to juggle both for about a year, but between all my other commitments I never had enough time to write. Here’s hoping it all works out!!
Thanks for all your helpful comments. And thanks for the links, JoAnna and Susan!
I’ve been juggling a FT job and freelance work for years now. My job has slightly irregular hours and I usually have the daytime on Mondays/Tuesdays free for interviews and writing. If I have to do it, I’ll conduct interviews on my lunch break (not ideal, but it happens). Sometimes I write after dinner or on the weekends. For me, the key is not to take on TOO much freelance work so that it becomes another FT job. But the networking is great in case I decide to take the plunge into FT freelance.
I freelance part-time. I’m a stay-at-home mom who was looking to build skills, keep my resume active, and earn some income. It’s been a great way to challenge myself and to control my schedule and workload. It also makes me confident that I’ll be able to transition back to a more traditional work situation, should I wish to, once my kids are older. For now I do most of my work in the evening after the kids go to bed and, when I can carve out the time, on weekends. I schedule interviews in the evening when I can or during the kids’ quiet time/naptime.
Like the other folks who commented, I’ve been freelancing on the side for a number of years. My articles are done in the evenings and on weekends, or during downtime at the day job (shh). Also, scheduling interviews is the biggest challenge. Whenever possible, I try to schedule interviews with folks in different time zones so I can call them in the evenings on my own time. I’ll also use email when possible, but I’d much rather speak to someone on the phone. It’s definitely been a challenge, but one I’m only too happy to accept
Like many freelancers I started out moonlighting while working a FT job. As a freelancer I sometimes work full-time shifts (e.g. for newspapers, magazines, a digital copywriting agency) and squeeze other work in during the evenings which isn’t ideal, but I can do it. Interestingly, in the UK it’s in the code of conduct for the National Union of Journalists that if you have a full-time job, you won’t moonlight as a freelancer as you will be taking work away from actual freelancers. I am not sure how many people keep to this (and it’s not like you have to be in the NUJ, lots of people aren’t) but while I see their point, I am not the only person who needed to moonlight to get started.
Hospice social worker by day, freelance writer by night–that’s me. I’ve considered doing full-time freelance, but what holds me back is health insurance. I’m diabetic and no private insurance company would touch me. I need my employer’s group insurance, and anyway, I enjoy being a social worker, too.
About my schedule. I usually get up at 6:00 AM, dress, etc. and then do mindless things like catch up on email or send out invoices until it’s time to leave for work at 7:30. I get home around 6:00 PM, take a half hour break for lunch, and then sit down and get right to work on my “To Do” list. I work until about midnight, then fall into bed, and when my alarm goes off at 6:00, it’s time to do the whole thing again. I usually write the majority of the day Saturday, but now that the football season has started, I do take time off to watch the Chiefs play on Sundays.
Wow, if I lived in the US I could never have gone freelance as I wouldn’t be able to get insurance (I have an ongoing condition). Blimey. So much for the American dream…