I was at the bank the other day, paying bills. As the lady took my payment, she asked, “Sir, may insurance na po ba kayo?”
Unlike most people, I don’t fend off these questions right away. As a rule, I check if the person is willing to go all out on their presentation - see if they will own it - because I love a good effort.
I admit though, I was a bit interested too. Since quitting my regular job earlier this year, I don’t have medical or insurance coverage of some sort. Yikes. I’ve written stuff too about these products, so it was kinda ironic not actually having one. This was a good chance to hear an actual pitch that I might actually go for, I thought.
“Ok sige, pero mabilis lang ha, bibili pa kasi ako lunch”, I said with a grin. It was true, I had to buy food for the wife and the kiddo after my visit with the bank.
“Yes sir, 5 mins lang, promise”, she said with a chuckle. “Jen, halika, pakita mo kay sir yung sa insurance”
She asked for some info, and one of those questions was about my job. “Full time home based work ako”, I said.
“Business po ba sir?”
“Uhm…Yes”, I said.
This was the first time I got asked this question and frankly, I don’t know why I hesitated.
I know I should have answered No, since I wasn’t running some sort of enterprise with my room as my base camp. For some reason though I answered “Yes”, and it made me wonder what triggered that answer.
How do you manage your freelance work?
I consider myself as a pure freelancer. In the strictest sense of the word, it refers to someone who is not bound to one exclusive client only. Some clients pay me by the hour. Some pay monthly. But what I am not is an employee working fixed hours with a remote team. Well, at least for now that is.
Story time. Two days ago, I just dropped my biggest-paying client. It was the first client I took that required me to log in 4 hours each day and report to a team. While the promise of a great and steady pay was awesome (it was 80% of what I made as a full-time employee last year), my strict availability made it very difficult to put in the hours (I do a lot of stuff during the day). More importantly, I didn’t like the work too much.
Two weeks since I signed the contract, I emailed my boss and said I need to drop from the team. I didn’t ask for any compensation for the two weeks that I rendered. I thought I was not able to provide the output they were expecting due to the inconsistency caused by my varying schedule.
Also Read: The 5 Questions You Should Ask Yourself Before Freelancing
It’s not always about the money
Most people will probably think I’m crazy for dropping such a great-paying job. Truth of the matter is, they’re probably right - but only if they’re someone who has the hours and availability for that kind of job.
But to be honest, the minute I dropped the job, I felt free again. Like a true freelancer. I can go back to working with clients who simply tell me: “Here, work on this for this week”. It didn’t matter what time I had to work on them. Nor how many hours I should work on it everyday. As long as I provide them with the output before the deadline, they’re cool.
All my 4 remaining clients right now (2 local, 2 abroad) are cool enough to offer this kind of flexibility. It feels good knowing “makakabawi na ko” to those clients who got little output from me in the last two weeks.
As I’m typing this, one client pm’d me via Slack to provide my new email address (for their website). Apparently the project (tech news website) will be picking up speed and we need to put in more work to keep up with the demand. Awesome!
Related: How to Double Your Freelancing Income
Here’s what I learned while Freelancing in the last 2 weeks:
- I don’t like an employee-like setting where I need to log in and put in hours on a fixed schedule
- I hate it when I can’t manage other projects that I’m pursuing (like this website)
- I feel anxious when I’m not able to hit the required hours for a time-based type of job. The worry is not worth the money.
- Sleep is important.
- My current clients are the best.
- I shouldn’t take in more clients simply because I have the extra time.
- It’s important to have some downtime to relax and recharge.
I learned that when one window closes, another one opens. Looks like I made the right decision after all.
Related: Are You Ready to Work from Home?
When you’re freelancing, it’s easy to get into the trap of working for the client who pays the most. There’s nothing wrong with that, mind you. Just make sure you’re not sacrificing too much in exchange for all that cash. In the end, you’ll realize you only need so much money to live comfortably. It’s not alright to be too imbalanced that you’re waking hours are spent worrying about work.
Keep things in perspective. Work with intent and enthusiasm. How to do this? By dropping stuff that doesn’t interest you and feel like too much work. What’s the use of being a freelancer if you can’t choose the projects you like? Never forget that you have the power to mold your work around your lifestyle, not the other way around. Freelancing is a business, not a job.