Freelance Writing Questions: When Should You Go Freelance?

In my last post in this series I answered Rachel’s question about why I decided to freelance. However, wanting to go freelance doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good idea to just jump ship and do it. Rachel also asked: ‘Should a young freelancer like myself try to get a stable job so I can stop paying for my own health insurance?’ Only you will know when stability outweighs the other benefits of freelancing, but here’s my story.

Paving The Way

When I decided to go freelance, I planned it carefully. Since I was teaching, I had to leave at the start of the summer, but I was still officially employed until the end of the summer, which meant that although I was freelancing, I was still getting paid. That gave me a useful financial cushion.

Since I knew that I couldn’t guarantee my earnings for the first few months, I arranged with my former employers to do some part time teaching. That worked well, because I did it all in one day a week and got enough to make some contribution to the household income.

In addition, my DH was working, which meant the household was not dependent on my income alone (the balance shifted later, but by then I was making a decent living).

The Part Time Route

Not everyone can manage to achieve all these things. That’s why a sensible route for some people is to write part time until it’s clear that they are successful enough to leave their jobs. That can work, but if you have a full time job and young children, then making the switch can prove a challenge. Some mums that I know have used their maternity leave to manage a career change. Since they are not at work anyway, they don’t feel the financial pinch as much as they might when giving up a full time job.

Planning Is Key

To my mind, planning for the transition is one of the most important things you can do before freelancing full time. You need to be aware of the minimum income you need to keep things ticking over and any time constraints that might keep you from being fully productive. Having some money saved up will help to tide you over the slow period at the start. Check out my other thoughts on this issue in Is It Time To Quit The Day Job?

Now, over to you, writing buddies. What did you think you needed to put in place before you started freelancing full time?

Got more freelance writing questions? Ask them here.