Honest answers to your questions about freelance life

I can’t believe it’s already been six months since I launched my freelance business full-time.

I can’t believe it’s only been six months, either.

It’s gone so quickly and yet I feel like I’ve been at it my entire career, too. The really satisfying takeaway so far is: I GET to create great writing for clients to support their great ideas that, in some shape or form, end up improving processes, outcomes and even lives. What an honor it is!

Since starting lonnaco, I’ve fielded a lot of similar questions about what life has been like for me the past half-year. Before I deconstruct this, let me clarify: It’s not that glamorous.

I love that people are curious about the freelance lifestyle, as though I’m writing from a luxury resort in Fiji.

In reality, I sit at a tiny square desk in a bedroom of our house that we use as a place to store clothes, books, bedding, cat stuff, an actual cat, and a little space I’ve carved out for my yin yoga practice.

Just imagine your office also being your bedroom, storage closet, personal library, meditation space and elderly cat sanctuary.

This is #freelancelife, friends. I guess I do get to wear yoga pants a lot. There are some positive trade-offs.

Freelance FAQs

I realize I’m early in my freelance journey and some of these insights could outright embarrass me later down the road, but many have told me they, too, would like to try entrepreneurship in whatever field they’ve chosen. I am certainly happy to impart my own experiences as a solo artist, but they are simply anecdotal evidence that may help someone out there make the right decision for themselves. 

So before you book meeting time with your boss to put in your two weeks, please realize these are my honest answers about my experience as a freelance writer. Ask another freelancer the same set of questions and you might get completely different perspectives. 

Has going freelance been everything you thought it would be?

Yes. I don’t know if I would have said the same three, five or ten years ago. I think I knew what to expect because I’ve been in the writing and editing industry long enough to understand the sacrifices you have to be willing to take, like not having health insurance for a little while, or having to be your own bookkeeper, accountant, HR person, project manager, in addition to creative director, writer, editor, client advocate, and many other roles, too.

I also knew that money wasn’t going to come flying in the door, and that some weeks and months would be better than others. As someone who is terrible at money, I guess this has been the most unnerving part. But I’m the kind of person who is totally OK with making just enough to pay the bills, afford health insurance and maybe get one vacation a year (and someday be able to tackle those student loans).

Was it scary cutting the corporate cord?

No. I’m sorry to tell you that going freelance has actually been kind of anticlimactic (but let’s face it, I’m not terribly normal).

I wish I could say, “Yes, I had night sweats for weeks, couldn’t sleep, and got the flu from all the stress.” In reality, I had a refreshed sense of purpose and a level of confidence I hadn’t felt in a very long time. 

There’s something exhilarating about being in charge of yourself and all the typical work “perks” afforded to you when you work for someone else. I actually like that I have to pay my own way. I have to be really smart about my investments, what I am willing to pay for and how much insurance I can afford, for example. These are the details that become dealbreakers for a lot of people, especially those who don’t want to have to worry about “paying their own way.” However, for me, I feel like I have real control over where my money comes in and where it goes. 

On the flip side, going freelance has also meant that I have paused on contributing to my retirement savings (for now), and I have to sock a lot away for tax time. Because my earnings are almost always tax-free, I have to be sure I’m withholding my own taxes as I go. 

Are you working all the time?

I think part of what we expect when we hear someone is a freelancer or entrepreneur or startup founder is they work all the time, never take a break, never slow down, never sleep. And a fair number of them are like this. I know a few myself who think sleeping is a waste of time, that if you’re not working 80 hours a week, you’re not doing something right.

Of course, this mentality exists and is recognized in the “regular” workforce, too. It’s just that “entrepreneur” is synonymous with stressed, harried, exhausted and unhealthy. 

But I get to choose my hours. Yes, sometimes I am putting in 16 hours a day (sometimes more), but I always take time to go to the gym, take care of Mom stuff, cook a healthy meal. These are all activities I sidelined the minute a hard deadline or late request came in at any “regular” job I ever had because I was worried I’d disappoint a boss. Looking back, I don’t see that as a healthy way of life.

Now, I always get eight hours of sleep. It’s a lonnaco rule.

Now that I manage my time, work is just another part of life, not something I have to “balance” or “juggle” with other responsibilities. Writing time, client meetings, admin work is just built right into the rest of my schedule of fitness, meditation, cooking. The best part is it’s not restricted to an 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule. If I want to workout at 9 a.m. and schedule my writing time from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m., fine by me! The work still gets done for my clients. (top priority!)

Are you making any money?

Yes, are you? :)

Will you go back to work?

This is maybe one of my favorite questions, because who ever said what I’m doing isn’t work? 

Aside from that point, I left the corporate cubicle for many reasons, and each one of those reasons comes from my personality: My best work is done when I enforce new challenges on myself because I know myself. I know where I want to go, who I want to be and how I want to get there. I know who I want to work with, what kinds of companies I want to help and how I can help them. 

One question I’ve yet to get is, “Is life better now?”

I wish more people would ask me this. Here is how I’d answer that.

Doing right by your career and the people you love takes work. Fortunately, it doesn’t take a lot of money (if any) to improve your relationships if you’re willing and able. I’ve done what I had to in order to improve my life, and in turn, I get to improve the lives of others.

I can say being a full-time freelancer has allowed me my own kind of freedom on terms I get to decide. I’ve been able to structure and manage my time around caring for my mom, rather than the opposite, which was always having to structure and manage my caregiving around company time.

Learn first. Leap second.

Very rarely has my gut instinct steered me in the wrong direction, and I think it’s the same for most other people as well. But I didn’t go freelance until age 40 (I started my career at age 25).

I would never take back my experiences in the past 15 years at the awesome companies I worked for. I met so many amazing people and learned so much - all the stuff I needed to learn before I could do what I’m doing. 

Another bit of advice: Learn your stuff before you take the leap. 

So stop. Look. Listen to your insides next time you have a big life decision to make. No matter how detailed you map out the pros and cons on a piece of paper, deep down, what are your insides telling you? 

Follow that voice. It’s your heart telling your head where to go.