The Daily Freelancer: Going Out to Hunt Everyday, or, Re-Understanding Income
One thing freelancing does for you is this: It radically alters your understanding of what income is, especially if you’re coming off of a paid position at a company, where I spent many years working both hourly and salaried. Most of us have; it’s just what we do. We apply for a job, we get a job, and we’re promised either to be paid according to the number of hours we work, or we’re paid a certain amount and we work a certain number of hours. But freelancing blew that whole notion up for me, and here’s how.
Clock In, Clock Out, Repeat
I worked for a place for a long time where I clocked in and clocked out — and you were monitored whether you were clocking in a few minutes early and clocking out a few minutes late. I’m a punctual person anyhow, but that on-the-dot-ness affected me long after I worked there. Still, I had my schedule, and my timesheet, and I got paid based on those hours that I worked. Really straightforward, and what we typically think of as the foundation of income.
When I was in my salaried position, I worked a prescribed daily schedule, but I could change it around. The salary worked out well because when I had down time — and sometimes I had weeks of down time — I’d still get paid for sitting at my desk and playing on my phone. But when events or projects came about that required putting in more than 40 hours a week, or coming in early/staying late/working on weekends, it was expect of me, but I was just…only still getting paid that same salary. For years, the down time offset the over time, and I never had any issue with it. But before I quit that position (and maybe part of the reason I quit that position), I was suddenly, unusually required to put in 70 hours of overtime over the course of two weeks, in addition to my regular 40 hours, and I did it because I had no choice — and never got a paid a dime for it.
But hourly or salaried isn’t the point here: The point is that I had a job, with a contract, that guaranteed hours and pay, regardless of how they were done.
But now…?
The Hunter Freelancer
I’m it, baby. There is no contract, there are no guaranteed hours, there’s no clocking in or salary that happens whether I do work or not.
Now, as a freelancer, I only get paid when I work, and I only work when I get work. Those bills that I once didn’t have to worry about when I was salaried now, funny enough, equate what kind of projects I need to do, and future purchases or expenses direct my frequency of pitches. ($100 electric bill? $100 project! Do I have a new $50 monthly expense coming up? Better make sure I tack on another $50 project a month.)
Income, money, expenses…it’s a heck of lot closer to me now than it was before. But the onus is also on me now as well. I will never be in a situation where I’m doing overtime work and not getting paid for it, nor am I in a position where my income stream is based on one entity outside of my control (for example, a lay-off). But there’s also the existential dread that there is no safety net.
The analogy I’ve been think of is hunting for your meal. It’s a strange new way to think about income. Like I said, it’s closer to me now, more tangible. I need to go out and hunt every day to make sure that I’m hitting my needs for that day, and if I don’t, if I sit on the couch and watch Netflix and play on my phone, then I won’t get my needs met for that day. Sometimes it’s hard — I gotta go out again? — but when I think of the alternatives, I can get up and go. When it comes to freelancing, some people are comfortable with that structure, and are even excited by it, and some aren’t.
I will say, it was nice to be able to sit around in that down time at the office and still get paid. But today, I’m very aware of how the work I do on a daily basis directly impacts my existence, and there’s a lot more pride in that.
Hi! I’m Jessica, and I can write your content. Head to my For Hire page, and work with me today!
