Any donwsides of going freelance?

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I'm a freelancer in the movie/tv industry.
A few things:

1) It doesn't mean you always work on your own. I am hired by studios, I go there to work. The only thing different from being a staffer is you're not there as long. And many places pay you bi-weekly, just like any other job.

2) Networking is intense. Of course this is my worst area. Its very hard to make friends with people easily and quickly. So if I only work at a place a few days, I never really leave there with connections. And since its hard in general to make and keep friendships, you can be very isolated which can lose you work. The only friends I've made in around 7 years of freelancing has been because I've worked at the same place, very steadily, for over a year. A friend is throwing a big party at a fancy hotel this weekend, where there will be lots of people from the big name studio he's been working out. I know I should go, but I am completely nervous about it and really don't want to. I also don't drink, makes it very hard when people want to hang out after work and get drinks. There can be a LOT of struggle with this side of work. It really is more about who you know, than your skills. And this is the opposite way AS/SA tends to be.

3) Freelancers can, and are expected to, charge more money than you'd make as salary. Thats how you cover the other costs. Where as a staffer might make $35-40/hr (estimating)., I can charge $60. (though I personally work on day rates). You do need to find your own insurance, and its up to you to make sure you get paid. I am currently in the middle of a year long lawsuit suing a client who didn't pay me.

4) You can often do extra hours. Staff jobs in the industry are 8-10hr days. Freelancers sometimes do more than that since they are used for shorter time periods. You might need to pull 12+hr days, plus weekends. So be ready for that. (industries vary greatly in that sense though) But you also make up for it with downtime. That can be a blessing or a curse depending on your lifestyle. It means you can take vacations while everyone else is stuck at work. Or you can be on your couch, worrying by the phone for 6 months. Depends on how you feel about it.

Thats most of the big concerns.

I've done freelance IT work off and on for 25 years, and I know a number of people who have done freelance graphics work such as yourself.

Unless you're already financially set or unless you already have enough customers lined up to make a living income, you'd do better to get a job first and begin your freelance career from there, eventually giving up the job when you've got enough work on your own. Otherwise, the pressures of paying bills when you're trying to scrape up paying work will drive you nuts.

There are other things to consider, as well. The insurance, tax, and liability implications are different, as others have noted. Nothing you can't handle, but just make sure you get good advice on them from people who know what they're doing.

Also, make sure you can handle the isolation of working by yourself all day long. Some people can, some can't.

And finally, take a good hard look in the mirror and make sure you're motivated enough and self-starting enough to do this, and that your time-management skills are up to the task. I've known people who loved the idea of being self-employed, but they just couldn't manage their days well enough to pull it off. Remember that your days won't consist of pure graphics work ... you'll have to do all the little nitpicky things that managers do. You'll constantly be pulled away from your main work to attend to details.

I'm not trying to scare you off. I just want to make sure you don't go into this with unrealistic expectations.

I think that's key. Kind of ease into it. Let it come on it's own schedule.

Have a good CPA who can talk and is not an over-complicator. And maybe hire an energetic part-time employee for some of the nitpicky details.

Absolutely. It took a few kicks in the butt from reality before I clued in to the secret to independent work.

The secret is that there's no such thing as independent work. You always need a team behind you. They may not work for you and you may not even be paying them. But you need people to back you up. (luckily, if they already know you, you don't even have to socialize with them

Identify your own weaknesses and find others that are willing to cover for you. I suck at sales and marketing (duh. Big shock and surprise there.), so I found someone who was a major schmooze and just told him that I'd pay him a percentage for any clients that he helped me secure (not just a referral, but actually coming to the initial meeting for introductions and to help break the ice). I have an accountant that I'd give a kidney to. I have a supportive wife that I can always talk through any issues with. I also know a bunch of smart freelancers that gladly hop on to do stuff that I either don't have the time for or things that I'm just not as good at as they are.

Just remember to be humble and surround yourself with good people. You don't have to do it all and you don't have to do it alone. The advantage of being "independent" or freelance is that you get to set the rules of engagement. (and that makes a huge difference!! !)

That part sounds very interesing! Whatever details you feel comfortable revealing, I would find it interesting knowing a little more about how that part worked out.

It's pretty simple actually. He's a consultant that I worked with on a project many years ago. We'd tossed around business ideas, but the whole independent consulting thing was too good to step away from and we both had our own companies. His pitch is along the lines of "I don't do that kind of work, but I know someone who eats and breathes this stuff. Let me set up a meeting/lunch/whatever and I'll introduce you." Occasionally the requirement will flesh out into something that generates work for him as well, but even if it doesn't, he essentially gets free money off the top and he comes across as a really stand-up guy with his client. It's a win-win. If it's a client that he has a long standing relationship with, he'll generally just do it as a freebie. If it's more of a cold-call with no real benefit for him, I'll toss him a percentage of the initial contract (depending on how much profit is in it). I generally don't sign the contract until he and I work out a fair deal for the referral. Luckily we're both very reasonable and not greedy or it wouldn't work. We both know what the market is like, how much profit is in a contract, etc. so there's no real disagreement over what's fair. (knock wood) He's also been really good at getting a feel for how much money the client will pay before we walk in, so I generally end up with a better rate than I might have negotiated on my own. So it's only fair to toss some of that back to him.

Thank you.

And what do you think of the idea that many independent consultants actually end up undercharging for the custom-tailored work they produce? (And I still want my math tutoring clients to feel good and to feel they are getting a good service for their money.)

I can tell you from personal experience that I've undercharged and I'd actually *rather* undercharge than overcharge. I've actually gone as far as refusing a higher rate because I know that it was way above the market and if the customer found out, they'd feel royally screwed. Don't get me wrong, I don't act like a charity, but I'm almost stupidly ethical that way.

I think that the question that you need to ask is if you're getting what you expect to get out of the deal. You'll make yourself crazy if you're always thinking about how much you *could* have made.

What I generally recommend is that when you go into a negotiation, set a bottom limit for yourself (how low will I go and still be happy doing this work?), set an ideal goal (what you'd need to make to consider this a really good deal) and then take the difference and add it to the "ideal" number to set your starting point for negotiation.

Starting point = Ideal goal + (Ideal goal - bottom limit)

I have a "magic number" (how low will I go) for different types of work and if I can get more than that, I don't mind splitting the extra with the people that help me.

One key thing to remember is that if the money that you're making made you happy yesterday, finding out that someone down the street is making more shouldn't change that. It's a hard idea to accept, but it's not about skill, worth or what you deserve to get paid. It's just an indicator that they negotiated a higher rate. Nothing more and nothing less. For all you know, their client may be royally pissed and feeling screwed that they have to pay the higher rate and they're actively looking for someone else to do the work cheaper

Not necessarily. In my last job, other people kept asking for my assistance, and more than once I was reassigned to do some other things because they were too cheap to hire someone else to do them...

I like that. You kind of negotiate within a range.

When I worked for a retail mattress company close to ten years ago, we'd reduce the price of a mattress set sometimes 30%, sometimes 40%. It was too much. It was like we had kicked the bottom out of the bucket. And customers were left wondering how much it was "really" worth. (For mattresses, I kind of decided we should negotiate within 10%, but that figure might be different for different products and services.)

Sounds like the typical workplace, which can be either functional or dysfunctional, all depending on how people are treated. More recently I have experienced the later! I remain open to the former.