Making the leap from salaried to freelance
Is there ever a good time?
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One of the questions we have been pondering over at FFJ HQ this week is how do you make a smooth transition from salaried job to freelance. Is is best to do both for a while until you're confident you will have enough income from self-employment or do you need the fear to make a success of it?
There is of course no right answer and it will depend very much on your personal circumstances but hearing other people's stories of how they went about turning freelance is always helpful when trying to plot your own course.
Emma is the longest self-employed person at FFJ having taken that leap in 2006 and being a very happy one woman-band ever since. But at the time she did not have children or a mortgage or any of the other grown up responsible things that can get in the way of making a decision based on a whim. What she did have was the offer of five weeks of freelance shifts at the BBC. Knowing she wanted to ultimately go freelance so she could move away from London and being frustrated in her job, it became a case of now or never.
Those freelance shifts eventually moved into a part-time job and for three years she was both salaried (two days a week travelling from Sheffield to London) and freelance. Having that regular income was definitely a help but in 2010 after her first child the travel was no longer an option and she became fully freelance. There was always plenty of work but, she notes, she had spent years building up contacts in her niche of health reporting.
Lily similarly made the decision to go freelance after being unhappy in her university role but built up slowly before going part-time once she felt confident it would work. A few years later she makes most of her income from freelance work and would never go back to working for one organisation. The variety is what keeps them both sane.
To learn more about how others had approached this, we turned to our lovely Facebook community. As a fair number of you pointed out, you don't always get the choice, having been forced into freelance working as a result of redundancy or after maternity leave. What was clear from your comments is that no one has regretted this so while this could be a terrifying prospect in the long run, keep in mind it could be the making of you.
Others, like Lily and I, had the opportunity to transition more slowly from one to the other. Tayla Blaire, a journalist based in South Africa who will be coming on to the next series of the podcast said: “I've been freelancing part-time for five years while working full time. My aim was to switch once my freelancing earned more than my day job and that's now happened. As of 2023, I'll be part-time with both.”
Copywriter Nammie Matthews said she has dabbled with freelance work for the past seven years right from when she was at university but had also supplemented her income with either part-time or temporary work when needed. “It's only this year that I've been able to go freelance full-time, and I'm now earning more than I ever have.”
If you’re unhappy in your current job, that of course has to factor into the equation. Whichever way you opt (or are forced out of necessity) to move to freelance working, we do have some tips to make that transition as smooth as possible:
Work out how much you need to earn as a minimum to cover the bills and use that to set a monthly target.
Regularly review your progress so you don’t get stuck doing both salaried and freelance forever.
Look out for more regular freelance gigs (sign up to job sites and newsletters) which may give you more security in taking that leap.
Consider if there’s an option to cut your hours or go part-time in your salaried role.
Make sure you have the basics in place - professional looking (and up to date) website or portfolio, clear social media presence, and LinkedIn profile set to ‘open to work’.
Network in freelance groups (including the FFJ Facebook Community) so you can get advice and make key contacts as you go.
Set a target of how many pitches you can realistically send out a week and stick to it. Consistency and resilience are the skills you most need.
If you are doing self-employed work, even just here and there, don’t forget to keep all your records of income and expenses for tax purposes.
Upgrade for bonus content
Last week we sent out our first set of examples of successful pitches for our premium members. For anyone who wants more support with their freelancing and access to extra resources including resource lists and bonus podcast episodes, the premium version of this newsletter is just £40 a year or £3.33 a month. Honestly its a bit of a bargain and obviously is a completely tax deductible business expense. Any questions just shout at freelancingforjournalists@gmail.com
New podcast series coming soon!
We’ve almost finished recording series 9 of the podcast which will be out next month. We decided to go back to basics so we will be talking to our wonderful guests about finding ideas, supercharging your pitches, negotiating rates and much more. Watch this space!
Triumph of the week
Actually getting some useful information out of a notoriously useless press office, not once but on three different stories.
That feeling when
You get to meet your freelance colleagues in real life!
We love to hear your feedback on everything we do, so feel free to drop us an email anytime at freelancingforjournalists@gmail.com
Bye for now!
