A lot of people ask me how I managed to
make the 'plunge' from being full-time employed in a cushy government
number (as I was, and I can't pretend I don't think about the
pension), to actually giving up my salaried income and landing in the
world of unknown.
I have to say, it was a nerve-racking
experience, but thrilling at the same time, though you shouldn't just
wave goodbye to your ass of a boss without being prepared to leave.
The less you have to do to establish yourself once you go freelance,
the sooner you will be earning money.
If I can offer five top tips from my
own experience about making the leap from full-time employment to becoming a self-employed freelance journalist, then here they
are:
1. Plan ahead and save a nest egg.
Whatever work you're actually doing at the moment, start squirrelling
away your funds into a separate savings account and live frugally
until you have at least enough money stashed away to get by for 6
months without an income. Of course, it depends on what you're
comfortable with, but there is no doubt freelancing can be a 'feast or
famine' way of working and you'll feel far more comfortable if you
can survive the famines without having to get (ahem) a PAID job.
2. Be doing lots of writing work already.
Before going solo, aim to be at the stage where it's feeling almost
impossible to do both your freelance work and your day job, where
you're having to do telephone interviews with case studies on your lunch-break and so on. I was
working around the clock and realised one of these work areas had to give, and it
certainly wasn't going to be the writing. It's much better to leave
your job knowing you have several commissions to complete over the
next couple of months.
3. Build contacts and networks.
Know as many
people as possible in the journalist and media world before you leave
your employment. This means making contact with other freelance
journalists (they are great support) via forums such as JournoBiz, sussing out editors and arranging coffee meetings
(hopefully you should already be writing for some) and asking PR
companies to keep you updated in the areas you're interested in (use
resources such as Gorkana and Response Source).
4. Seek business advice.
If you're already
earning from writing, then you should be declaring this to
the tax office, but you do have to become self-employed upon leaving
your job, and there is a penalty to pay if you don't register as
self-employed within 3 months of beginning. There is excellent
business support out there, but start with Business Link in the first
instance.
5. Think like a business, not a lofty writer.
You need to create the mind-set that you
will be providing a service to editorial departments. You cannot
afford to be precious about the words you write when you are being paid
to provide them for someone else. Give editors what they want, not
what you want to write (imagine if a decorator you were paying
painted your house in blue when you specifically wanted lemon, just
because they didn't like lemon?). When editors want changes, don't argue, just do it. You need to be service-orientated as much as any other work.
So, my top five tips, and hope these have been helpful to you. If so, please let me know. Good luck with your freelance ventures.
Andrea Wren
