Freelancers come across a lot of myths about their profession. In the same way that non-tweeters say Twitter is “a bunch of people tweeting about their breakfasts”, people who don’t freelance have a lot of ideas about what we get up to.
Here are a few of my favourites:
“Freelancers? They’re just people that work at home in their pyjamas, right?”
Of course we don’t*. Just look at Poppy from What I Wore Today – glam and freelance. Plus a lot of freelancers work in coffee shops etc. Turns out, wearing your oldest Winnie the Pooh pjs to Starbucks is a no-no.
“Ooh, I’ve got a day off. Bob must have some free time, I’ll drop by unannounced for lunch.”
Please don’t. We’re either busy trying to hit a deadline, or rocking bed hair and no make up. Probably both. Either way, it’s gonna get awkward.
“Freelancers can take a holiday whenever they want, right?”
Sure. As long as we don’t mind going unpaid for a couple of weeks. Or, more likely, doing all the work in the weeks before (and therefore spending the holiday recovering). We are however, masters of the weekend away.
“Freelancing isn’t a stable job”
At the moment, I’m going through the process of mortgages and house hunting with the boyfriend. Despite the fact that:
a) I’ve worked with a number of my clients for a couple of years, and they’re happy to confirm that this will continue into the future.
B) I earn 50% more in my freelancing than I do in my part time job.
Our mortgage advisor will only take my part time job into account, as the rest isn’t stable enough.
Personally, if you have a wide variety of long-term clients, I don’t see why it’s any less stable than working in a company where redundancies are possible. In fact, some companies are turning to outsourcing to us freelancers, rather than taking on a full time staff.
“Freelancers are unsociable, preferring to work from home rather than in an office”
Bollocks. I’ve met more people, and made more friends, through freelancing than I ever did through working in an office. We work from home for a multitude of reasons, but personally I prefer working for myself, I’m more productive when I work from home and I have more freedom with my career direction.
* I’m lying. I’ve been known to slip down the slippery slope of slobville. You start off in smart jeans and a top, downgrade to a pair of more comfortable jogging bottoms….and before you know it you’re wearing a onesie, and the postman asks if you’re off sick today….
What myths have you come across about freelancing?
