As a freelancer, I often come up against other people’s ideas of what freelancing is like. Most of the time it’s ‘the freedom to have a lie in’ or ‘but it’s not a proper job’ or ‘you can take time off whenever you want’. And though I will admit to getting up later than I would if I wasn’t freelancing (let’s think of it as my commuting time), this style of working isn’t all about freedom and flexibility.

Freelancing definitely has its upsides, but it comes with all sorts of downsides and responsibilities to balance them out. In reality, making the decision between employment and self-employment is a matter of swapping one kind of freedoms for another kind.

Employed Freedoms

The freedom to be paid the same amount on a regular day

Freelancers don’t tend to have set paydays. I certainly don’t! Invoice payments can vary from same day to two or three weeks later. (And in some cases, much much longer!)

The freedom from having to make all the decisions yourself

Being able to make decisions yourself is a mixed blessing. Sometimes it’s overwhelming not to be able to leave those decisions to a colleague or manager.

The freedom to fluctuate workload without affecting your salary

It’s natural for our motivation and workload to fluctuate over time. Some weeks we feel majorly productive, and some weeks we feel a bit run down and don’t get as much done. When you’re employed, this fluctuation doesn’t affect your pay cheque at the end of the month. When you’re freelance, and only get paid for the work you do, it does.

The freedom to take a proper day off when you’re ill

When you’re too ill to work and you’re employed, you phone your employer and tell them that you can’t come in. Any work that can wait is left until you return, and any work that can’t will be picked up by one of your colleagues. When I’m too ill to work, there are always a few deadlines that need to be met… and there’s only me to do it. At these times (when I’m sniffing over my laptop on the sofa) the idea of colleagues on hand to help out seems like a luxury.

The freedom to step away from work

There’s a perception that those of us who are freelance can take time off whenever we feel like it. Although there is more flexibility when you’re freelance, it’s actually much harder to step away from work completely. Even when I’m on holiday, I still monitor emails and client work. Why? Because there’s no one else left in the office to do it for me, and not checking emails could mean lost clients.

Freelance Freedoms

The freedom to set your own schedule

All of us have different daily rhythms, routines and responsibilities, and it makes sense to work to a schedule that fits us best. Working as a freelancer means that I can choose which hours I am more productive in in.

The freedom to increase your salary

Simply put, the harder I work the more I get paid! This is a pretty good motivator.

The freedom to make all the decisions

Remember that thing I said about having to make all the decisions sometimes being overwhelming? Well, here’s the thing: it can be wonderful too.

The freedom to take breaks when you need them

Sometimes things just won’t come together. Maybe I’ve got a lot of other things on my mind, maybe I’m a bit under the weather, or maybe I’m seriously unmotivated. Whatever the problem, the freedom to take a break at these times is blissful.

The freedom to work from wherever you want

The freedom to work from wherever means that I have the flexibility to get away from my desk… or to move my desk altogether. I’m currently planning a move to a new city for the second time in two years, so this is a vital freedom for me!

Conclusion

I find that a freelance working style suits my strengths and my weaknesses, and helps me to live the lifestyle that suits me most. However, what works for me (self-motivated, highly organised, happy to be alone for long periods of time) won’t necessarily work for everyone.

If you’re thinking about moving from employed work to freelance work, or vice versa, my advice is to consider which type of freedoms are most important to you.

Katie M Anderson is a freelance writer based in the North of England. She blogs about freelancing, productivity and fiction at www.katiemanderson.com. 

Welcome to The Freelance Lifestyle’s A-Z of Freelancing. Each week, I’ll be looking at a new topic linked to freelancing – from Admin to dealing with having Zero clients.

This week’s topic, as I’ve just mentioned, is the dreaded admin.

Admin is one of the inevitable but uninteresting parts of freelancing. For every successful meeting, interesting social media interaction and happy pay day, there’s a pile of paperwork, expenses to file, emails to send and clients to chase.

Somehow, it’s easy to find time for all the fun and interesting stuff – but we’re ‘too busy’ to do the boring admin.

So if you’re struggling to find time for admin, try this four step strategy.

The Admin Attack Strategy

Schedule time

Friday mornings are my serious admin time. I block it out to catch up on expenses, filing, clearing the remaining backlog of emails and catching up with clients. Then I either treat myself to a Friday afternoon off, or a really tasty lunch. Once a week might work for you, or half an hour each morning might work better. Try both, and see what works best for you.

Do it in bite size chunks

Recently, I’ve been using the 30/30 app to schedule in all my work for the day (thanks for the recommendation Michelle Jackson Rowe!) I’ve been scheduling in email time several times a day – then I ignore it the rest of the time. This has really improved my productivity, because I’m focusing on reading and replying rather than juggling it with other work. Breaking big jobs into bite size tasks make them less intimidating, and easier to slot into your daily schedule.

Make an admin sandwich

When I really don’t want to do a task, I make an admin sandwich. Find two tasks you love to do, then slot the admin task in-between. For example, I hate making phone calls, so I slot them in after social media and before blogging.

Outsource it!

Really hate dealing with your accounts? Can’t keep on top of your emails? If you’re constantly fighting an uphill battle, and you have the budget, consider hiring a virtual assistant. It might be an added expense, but the time it could free up means you can concentrate on other areas of your business – potentially leading to a higher income.

How do you deal with your admin? What’s your biggest admin bugbear?

Late payments from clients.

Chasing clients for payments is one of the most frustrating parts of being freelance. Chances are, you’ve heard a dozen different excuses as to why a client doesn’t pay on time.

But there are two steps you can take to either improve the speed of their payment, or discourage late payers. When I put these two steps into place, 60% of my clients started paying my invoices within one week of receiving the invoice. These were clients that previously avoided paying my invoices within 30 days – so this made a big difference to my business.

Want to know what those two steps are? Check out this week’s three-minute, Freelance Lifestyle Tea Break Challenge

Do  you use these two steps? What results have you seen?

When it comes to apps, I have a LOT on my phone.  There are a few in particular that are great for maintaining a great freelance lifestyle.

In no particular order…

Pomodoro

Pomodoro - Struggling to concentrate? Pomodoro is an app based on the popular Pomodoro productivity method. Set the timer for 20 minutes, then focus entirely on the task in hand. In fact, I’m using it right now to write this!

Mailbox – The latest mail app on the block, this is an amazing app if you use Gmail. With a couple of swipes, you can delete, archive, file or schedule a reminder for later. A vital tool for hitting Inbox Zero.

Bloglovin’ - Now Feedburner has announced its closure, a lot of people have jumped over to BlogLovin’. I’m still mainly using Flipboard, but I really like Bloglovin’ for finding new and interesting blogs.

Podcasts – I listen to a lot of podcasts while I work, and Podcasts is my go-to app for subscribing and listening to them. They’ve recently added a function to create playlists of subscriptions – so I can have my meditation podcasts in one list, comedy in another and lifestyle ones in another.

Dropbox – I really couldn’t function without cloud-storage app Dropbox. It desperately needs tidying up though…

Hootsuite – For tweeting on the go, Hootsuite is a must-have. I look after several different accounts at one time, so Hootsuite is brilliant for this. Plus the scheduling comes in handy.

Wunderlist - I make dozens of To Do lists, which is why I love Wunderlist. Freelancers tend to spin several plates at once, so Wunderlist is great for keeping track of several projects and what needs to be done.

People Per Hour

PeoplePerHour - The People Per Hour app works with the site to enable you to bid on jobs or tasks on the site. I often use this to browse late at night, so I can bid before others.

Journey Pro – Freelancing and travelling goes hand in hand. While I prefer to stick close to home, when I do need to go out I like to use Journey Pro, to plan my journey from start to finish. Particularly handy in London, where I always get lost.

GridDiary - This simple, but rather gorgeous-looking, app asks you a few questions at the end of each day. Questions cover who you’ve met, what you’ve achieved, what you’ve done for family and how you felt the day went. It’s basically a mini journal. When life passes so quickly, it’s handy to have an app that lets you take note of the little, important things.

Flipboard – Ah, the app iPads were made for. This is usually one of the first apps I open in the morning, to catch up on my social networks, RSS feeds, Instagram and YouTube. It turns all of these into a magazine style format, so you can flip through it while having your breakfast. You can also now create your own Flipboard magazines of content that others can subscribe to.

PayPal - Some of my clients prefer to use PayPal to pay me, so I often use the app to transfer into my bank account (or leave it there for my next eBay spending mission)

Flipboard

SatNav2/Skobbler - I’ve tried many sat navs on the iPhone and iPad. Google and Apple’s map apps have both failed me since the latest update, but SatNav 2 is consistently brilliant. I also really like Waze, which is user-driven – like a sat nav social network.

Spotify - Every freelancer needs a soundtrack to their day. Spotify lets me stream music quickly and easily – but it’s the collaborative element I love. I have a couple of shared playlists with other freelancers, filled with music to cheer us up, get us knuckling down or chilling out on a Friday afternoon.

Mailchimp – When it comes to newsletter tools, Mailchimp is an easy favourite. While the Mailchimp app doesn’t let me create newsletters (yet…?), I can view reports for opening rates, click rates etc.

Audible - Regular readers will know I’m a huge fan of the audiobook marketplace Audible. Until recently, the app has been a little disappointing, but a recent update has made it easier to listen to audiobooks and track how long you’ve spent listening to them. My only complaint is that you still can’t browse and download audiobooks from the app.

IM+ Pro – Skype and Google Chat are my versions of the office water cooler. I don’t tend to use Skype that often for video, but it’s great for text chat – plus it’s easy to look back on previous conversations.

Happier

Lift - An app to help create and stick to habits, whether it be hitting Inbox Zero by the end of the night or necking a green smoothie in the morning.

Calm.com – I’ve got a bunch of meditation podcasts and app on my iPhone, but Calm.com is my current favourite. It’s super simple – choose a background scene and sound, then relax as the app talks you through a meditation session. It’s great if, like me, you’re not really into the spiritual “ommmmmmm” side of things.

Happier - Well, this is a little slice of joy. In my ongoing quest to be more mindful and appreciative, I was recommended this app for sharing daily happy moments. It challenges you to share three happy things each day, with an optional photo. It’s social (what isn’t these days?), so you can view and like other people’s happy moments too. Sometimes, us freelancers are a modest bunch, so it’s nice to have a place to share what things have made us happy.

What apps do you use all the time for freelancing?

I wanted to find out what else is out there. Turns out, some of the big cities have pretty amazing co-working spaces…

Sheffield Co-Working

@Pixlz on Twitter suggested I have a look at Electric Works. This is a co-working space with a helter skelter.

A HELTER SKELTER PEOPLE!

They’ve also got some pretty amazing facilities for freelancers too. Check out the Electric Works website for more details.

Leeds Co-Working

Next up, @Tiger_tea sent me in the direction of Duke Studios in Leeds. This is one of those co-working spaces that understands that facilities are as important as inspiring surroundings. It has cool little touches like indoor picnic benches, cardboard studios and art from the residents of Duke Studios.

Liverpool Co-Working

The Leaf Tea Shop gave me a shout, and caught my interest with their website introduction “Over the years we’ve worked hard to deliver our ethos, which is to provide a space that can accommodate creativity and good times.” I’ve had a little nosy at their events too – they’ve got a lot to offer for freelancers and bloggers.

Brighton Co-Working

Several people in the Brighton area raved about Super Super HQ. I’m not surprised – it’s got that quirky, cool look that works perfectly in one of the UK’s hippest cities. They list their perks as biscuits, tea, being close to the sea and free entry to monthly S+S Sunday night film club for you and your family. More co-working venues like this in the UK please.

London, Bristol and Manchester Co-Working

If you tend to travel quite a bit, the B-Hive co-working spaces are worth a look. For £25 a month, you have access to the B-Hive locations in London, Bristol and Manchester, which includes refreshments, free wi-fi and discounts on various other business service. They’re aimed at women – and the beautiful surroundings reflect this.

I need YOU!

So, that’s just a few of them. There are plenty of other co-working spaces though. I’ve started to create a Google map pinpointing all the co-working spaces in the UK, so you can find your nearest one with just a few clicks.

The Freelance Lifestyle Co-Working Venue Map

View Freelance-Friendly places in a larger map

Want to add your favourite co-working space? Just fill in the form below, and I’ll add it!

Where are your favourite co-working spaces?

Want to earn a little money? I’m not talking thousands here, but potentially a couple of hundred pounds a month if done well. It’s not as hard as you might think. Here are five fairly simple ways to earn a little extra money in your spare time…

Park some money in your account

Rent out a parking space – If you’re out for most of the working day, and you live in a town centre or near a train station, this is for you. You can rent out your parking space easily, using sites like Parkatmyhouse.com. Depending on your location, you can earn up to several hundred pounds a month, for very little effort.

Snap up some cash

Love taking photos? Have a skill for getting a great shot? You can earn money from your photos. There’s a great guide over on The Next Web about selling your photos online.

Money in the hand for handmade products

Online marketplaces like Etsy (USA) and Folksy (UK) let you set up a little online shop to sell your products. It’s a great way to get your handmade products seen, without having to invest in a website. You can sell almost anything on there, from greetings cards and posters to jewellery and gadget cases.

Make a bid for it

Offering a service? There are a bundle of sites you can go to, to bid on jobs that need doing. I’d recommend checking out Fiverr, People Per Hour and, occasionally, Guru. You won’t earn as much as if you got the job direct, but every little helps.

Pet Sit/walk

If you love animals, and have some spare time during the day, pet sitting or dog walking is a great option. Many people prefer to have a visiting pet sitter rather than a residential pet sitting job, so you may need to have a CRB check.

How do you make extra cash? Selling products and services? Jumping on eBay? Odd jobs? Let me know in the comments!

One of the things I’ve loved doing here on the Freelance Lifestyle is the weekly challenges. I’m a big fan of setting little personal challenges, and it’s great to see many readers enjoying them too.

One of my personal challenges this year is to do more public speaking. I’ll be speaking at Cybher in June, but I want to get a little more YouTubing under my belt too. So, I’ve turned the Weekly Freelance Lifestyle Challenges into the Freelance Lifestyle Tea Break Challenge on YouTube. They’re just three minutes long, so you can watch them during your tea break.

I’ve done a few YouTube things before, but this is my first proper move into it for The Freelance Lifestyle, so please be kind! Any constructive tips are more than welcome too.

This week, I’m talking about the old school SWOT analysis, and how it can help your business. Fancy taking part? Comment below with how you’ve got on with this challenge, let me know on Twitter using the hashtag #teabreakchallenge or send me a video response!

It’s been a fairly hectic few months, mainly thanks to planning a wedding (details will be over The High Tea Cast over the next couple of weeks). It was a truly wonderful day, but I’m excited to get back to spending more time on this site.

New Beginnings…

I’ve got a few ideas up my sleeve, some of which will start appearing on the site from next week. Keep an eye out for a whole new interactive format for the Weekly Freelance Challenge, some new features and some new tools to make your freelance life a little easier.

But I want this to be a real community for freelancers – whether you’re thinking of taking the leap or you’re a seasoned freelancer.

So, what would you like to see on the site?

p.s Are you using Bloglovin’ now? Click on the button on the right to follow The Freelance Lifestyle on there too!

In the current economy, freelancing can actually be a far more secure form of work. As Marrianne Cantwell says in Be a Free Range Human, “what’s your notice period? One month? Three months? That’s exactly how much security you have.”

Teenagers need to be inspired to do something themselves, so it seems apt that vinspired is behind a project to help young people find paid, short term jobs. Thanks to founder Samantha Sparrow (who some of you might know as co-founder and editor of The High Tea Cast, as well as Knowledge and Innovation manager at vinspired) Task Squad was launched today. Task Squad is a service “which introduces young people, eager to undertake paid work, to organisations who are looking to fulfil short-term staffing needs.”

One of the Task Squad tasks

On Task Squad, you’ll be able to find jobs that last from a couple of hours to days or even regular occasional work. Jobs range from helping out at events to working with start-ups. As a further bonus, For every hour of paid work a young person undertakes through the Task Squad site vInspired receive £2 from the task-posting organisation. Beyond supporting Task Squad, the money earned goes towards offering easy-to-access opportunities and support for young people to get involved with good causes in their communities.

Once you’ve completed a couple of jobs, you’ll start to earn a reputation on Task Squad, which helps when applying for other roles.

So, if you’re 18-25, you can join Task Squad and grab short-term, paid jobs. Pretty fantastic for students too, eh?

Are you 18-25? Would you use a service like Task Squad?

This week, I’ve been giving my desk area a bit of a spring clean. It’s been….under-used the last few months. Not because I haven’t been working, but because I’ve mainly been working from the comfort of my sofa where it’s warm and cosy.

Hearing whispers of actual sunshine this weekend, I found a little time to start working on clearing out all the stuff I’ve been dumping in my little garden office, and turning it back into a working environment. I’ve also been thinking about how I can add a little more life to the place, particularly after reading Penny Golightly’s new blog Golightly Gardens (an excellent thrifty gardening blog).

Green living

When this indoor allotment (£24.99 from MenKind) popped up in my inbox, I couldn’t resist. Small enough to keep on your desk, but big enough to grow three types of herbs – Coriander, Basil and Oregano.

If you prefer something a little more temporary, you might want to hop on over to Postcarden. They do a wide selection of mini gardens that arrive in the post, you guessed it, in postcard form. I’m a sucker for the village cottage version.

Are you giving your desk or office area a spring clean? What detail are you lusting after?