Freelancing isn’t something I was familiar with until I arrived in London. It’s only there I really was able to understand it and become one myself. While it isn’t for everyone, it is definitely a way to land a full-time job or leave it, to enrich your portfolio and make new contacts. Before coming to England, I imagined freelancers were cool creatives sitting by the window of nice cafés with their laptop but it was also a status that made me afraid. Growing up in France, freelancing has never been something someone would aspire to do because it meant no stable income and always looking or waiting for the next job. Just the idea gave me the chills. But when I arrived in the UK, despite the taxes not being its most glamourous aspect, Londoners made it sound it was a dream. When I tried myself at it, I found it pretty cool. I met fantastic people online and offline, worked for companies outside of fashion and for the first time of my career I wrote pieces in my mother tongue rather than translating/transcreating in French. So it gave me the opportunity to do something I’ve always dreamed of.
But while I was developing my skills, I started feeling lonely as I worked remotely. I missed the office environment, and quite frankly the fickle nature of the job market in the field I was freelancing for didn’t make me feel comfortable. So soon I went back to a regular 9 to 5 but still with the will to freelance. I am now a sub-editor, which is a job I enjoy (as well as having a salary coming in each month), but I also enjoy doing what I am doing now, writing for GO.
I have found freelancing while working more fulfilling than ‘just’ working full-time. And even if it can be difficult at times, it opens doors you would have never imagined, hence why this article is all about the perks of freelancing while working full-time.
It helps balancing the monotony of a full-time job
Working in a creative industry doesn’t always guarantee you to be creative. Depending what you do and the type of company you are working for, using your creativity won’t always be encouraged. And let’s be honest, the bigger a business is, the less you get involved directly with cool projects. Everything becomes more fragmented and again, depending which department you are in, your contribution might not even be needed. And it can become frustrating seeing great projects taking life and not being part of them.
That’s when freelancing becomes a great creative outlet. Sub-editing is really interesting because it makes you a better writer, but there is also a monotonous side of it. You are creative but it’s limited. Since the beginning of my career, I have witnessed people freelance on the side to do something a little bit different from what they were doing at their 9 to 5. So someone might be sub-editing full-time and offering consulting services on a freelance basis or, some retouchers can also be great graphic designers or, photographers outside of the office.
Not every job in the creative industry are versatile, so freelancing is the occasion to flex a skill you have but don’t use in the office. You could do the same with a passion project but the advantage of freelancing is you get paid, make a name for yourself in the industry and above all, you don’t get bored! Since I have been working and freelancing, my full-time job has been feeding my writing – and this article is proof of it. I see things with a different perspective and it also works the other way round. Like I said, sub-editing is limited creatively but because I am writing mostly about career I end up seeing my full-time job under an aspect I wouldn’t have noticed before if not for writing about career.
Your freelance gig is always an extension of what you studied and ultimately your working field. For example, one of my friend is a graphic designer for an agency by day but she also freelances as an art director for a model agency every other weekends. She enjoys graphic design but, only feels complete when she mixes static and moving images. And art direction enables her to work on video projects, so this balance is perfect for her.
It makes you meet people from different backgrounds
Everyone knows that working in an office is the occasion to meet people. In a company, employees come and go so you will always meet new people. Nonetheless, rightly because you are working full-time there, you won’t have the occasion to meet people whose profile isn’t similar to yours. Freelancing is the occasion for it.
Unless you work in a very specific field, I have found freelancing being a very opened space. I never wrote about travels and hotels but I had the occasion to give it a try through freelancing. It has enabled me to discover an industry I didn’t know as well as getting to know people with different backgrounds thanks to that. With them, there was no discussion about fashion but about places to visit, travel hacks and above all discussions about the luxury hospitality industry – a world I wasn’t aware of. And guess what? Discussing with them has helped me for other jobs in fashion when I needed to write columns about fashionable and stylish holiday destinations, not everyone knew.
You never know what your next step will be so keep every contact you make while freelancing. It is as precious as the network you have in the office. Even if you only talk online. Some people freelancers keep contact with their employers through emails and end up meeting around a coffee for some other projects and a great discussion.
It can make you discover skills you didn’t know you had
Rightly because freelancing enables you to meet people from all walks of life, it also makes you discover a variety of companies. Of course, when working full-time, you might stick to one or two gigs but still it is enough to make you discover new things.
The beautiful thing about freelancing is that if your client notices you have a particular talent that even you weren’t aware about, they can take you on board to lead one project instead of just being part of one. Let’s say a client saw, when working with you on a styling project, you were the one suggesting photographers, make up artists and always finding clothing samples, then they might decide to let you lead the next shooting instead of ‘just’ being a stylist. I don’t know for you but putting a photo shooting together is a work of art for you never know when someone is going to drop out unexpectedly, so if you are great at coordinating, bringing in new talents AND styling, then you’re a keeper
It can help you build your future business
Styling, photography and consulting are great freelance opportunities to see more about a business and see beyond your full-time position. All these jobs involve working with a variety of people which will help you see how businesses operate. If you are entrepreneurial, this could give you ideas for a future venture. It’s only experiencing different working styles and systems that you will notice loops and gaps in the industry. Most businesses start off that way, and the advantage in freelancing and being full-time is that you have two points of view. So when launching your business, you will know how to work and deal with freelancers as well as how to create the company culture you want. I would like to stress on this point because when you start a business, Â you are often alone, but with the network created through your permanent job and freelance gigs, you already have a pool of people ready to help you on ad hoc basis.
This article went a little bit beyond the advantage of freelancing and working full-time because GO is also a community for burgeoning entrepreneurs. Freelancing and having a 9 to 5 are great experiences which combined together will give you some of the tools necessary to create and shape the business you want so value well this option for your future!
