Before freelancing: things I did that didn’t work
I got an email recently from a young journalist who wanted advice on freelancing. This made me feel tremendously wise and sage for a moment, and then I remembered I am a rookie too and referred the writer to Catherine Quinn’s excellent book: ‘No Contacts? No Problem’. But the email exchange reminded me there is value in being honest about what something is really like, because freelancing is not for everyone. And I think it has to be written down while in the midst of it too, before the hard slog mercifully fades from memory. When I left my full time job I was inspired by Ev Bogue’s now-defunct blog, Far Beyond the Stars - it offered me one particularly excellent piece of advice for leaving the office: expect nothing from yourself for several weeks at least, because you will be burnt out. Bogue writes about different subjects now and has deleted his old blog, which is his prerogative but also a shame because it was refreshingly practical. Telling someone keen to make a career change to follow their bliss is not nearly as useful as reminding them to save up six months’ worth of living money.
My piece on the things I did that worked when I went freelance lists some points about money, cutting back and, eh, following said bliss. But the email from the young journalist made me think maybe I should list some of the things I did that came before all that – although be warned, many of these things didn’t work at all.
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- I worked for free. I got work experience at the local newspaper while living with my parents. I managed this because I was 19 and it was my year out before university, but generally the culture of making aspiring hacks work for free is profoundly unfair as most people can’t afford it. This doesn’t change the fact that it’s extremely beneficial though; I learned more about reporting in my year at the paper than during three whole years at uni.
- I went to journalism school. This route is usually not recommended and I don’t know anyone else who studied journalism who actually became a reporter. I don’t regret doing this course, but maybe I was lucky because I always knew what I wanted to do.
- I floundered. This is where it gets a bit murky. Lots of people fall into an abyss of varying size after leaving uni, and I have all kinds of sympathy for that. It’s dark down there. It’s crushing to keep failing at something you want badly, which is why it’s easy to give up. I spent too long working in a shitty media job before getting back on track, because the lack of success drained my confidence.
- I got back on the horse. Eventually I got so sick of myself that I got over the fear and started pushing forward again. I got a better media job. I wrote some articles on the side. I looked up how to write a proper CV and then I applied for lots and lots of reporter positions.
- I paid my dues. As a freelancer, one of my speciality subjects is technology, because that was my beat at my last in-house job. This pays my rent while I work on the next step. I know some freelancers manage to skip this part and go straight to the lifestyle stuff, but I struggle to see how that’s possible unless they have other money coming in, or they get extremely lucky. If anyone works it out, call me.
- I learned to hustle. Or should I say, I found my confidence and got over my fear of rejection. Knowing I have the skills helps, so I don’t cringe quite so much when I have to be pushy. I always knew confidence was key, but it still took me ages to work up the guts to go it alone.
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As I’ve said, there are good and bad things about freelancing and you need to work out which issues are important to you. Most likely this will mean choosing autonomy over the ability to pay for a cable TV subscription. But for me it was the dream, like when the wonderful author John Irving said: “Anything I did except writing was going to be vaguely unsatisfying.” … I remember walking down the street after an interview for a non-writing job once (while in the abyss), and the confusion I felt: “If there isn’t anything written at the end of the day, what’s it all about?” I’m still not entirely sure.
