I used to be one of those people that thought of freelancers as somewhat lazy people that were able to make their own small windows of hours and fool around at most other times. After being such a freelancer for six months now, I have to say holy crap I have absolutely little to no time to do anything else. A little under half of my job is to be continually networking and looking for clients, which takes up the little remaining “free time” that I actually have.
In order to keep up an average of 3 contractual clients, I have to constantly be talking to a myriad of different people in the audio field, and not only that, I have to figure out which specific jobs will cater to my own talents and strengths - a process of many detailed questions. It’s half a social game and half a working game of time management, interpersonal skills, and meeting strict deadlines with heavy emphasis on catering to client’s needs. It keeps me working an average of 45-50 hours a week, including working on weekends. It has also taught me that time is precious and unequivocally linear; it’s not something you can “take back” and save for later. Still, it’s quite nice to fuel my creativity into the wee hours of the morning and not have to worry about waking up at 7am sharp.
So I say to other freelancers and self-employed people out there, KEEP ON KEEPING ON! I have such a new and profound level of respect for you because now I can fully empathize.
Over and out
~MJ