I'm sure many of you have noticed how neglected this blog has grown over the past few months. I regret that I couldn't give my regular readers a heads-up about my most recent departure. My dad went in for a consultation with his cardiac surgeon on a Friday and was admitted that same day for surgery the following Monday. That left me scrambling to make last-minute travel arrangements to Manhattan, where the surgery was performed. He's recovering now, but at a much slower pace than anyone anticipated.
Now to make this post freelance related. My extended--and expensive--absence has taught me a few lessons every freelancer can learn from.
1. No matter how good business is, there will come a day when you'll have to step away from the job. That means you'll have little money coming in and have to rely on savings.
2. Because #1 is inevitable, every freelancer should have a savings cushion to fall back on. I personally recommend no less than three months' worth of your usual income but ideally one year.
3. When you return from an extended leave, many of the clients who desperately needed you while you were away will no longer require said services when you return. For vacations, I always schedule work to be waiting upon my return, but unexpected emergencies don't afford the freelancer such a luxury.
4. You'll need to get creative in the marketing department to compensate for the combination of lost income, hefty expenditures and lack of impending workload, which is precisely where I am right now.
5. Securing a free Internet connection in one of the world's most wired cities will likely prove a lot more difficult than you could ever imagine.
6. And if you're me, a tempest of a
Screw You! story will be brewing upon your return.
Have any of you ever had an occasion that unexpectedly cut you off from your usual cash influx? If so, how did you handle it? What lessons did you take away from it?
Labels: advice, discussions
