Freelancer in Focus for April 2007 - Julia Wilde

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Description How have you found working freelance? What are the highs and lows, the frustrations and the bonuses? I really enjoy being freelance – there are so many bonuses. Flexible hours has got to be the best. Although I have to say that flexible hours increasingly seems to mean working day and night and weekends, too! Still at least I don’t face a long commute at the beginning or end of the day. And I like the fact that I’m not adding to pollution by having to drive to work. Naturally there are no office politics - I can have that new office chair if I really want it - though I always have to make my own drinks. But then I have a really good boss and am great fun to work with. Only sometimes I want to share a laugh with a colleague over something that’s just happened but when I turn round, there’s no-one there. However, emails are great for keeping in touch with friends who are working elsewhere. And one of my regular clients is based in Amsterdam and we use Skype to talk for free. It really makes me feel connected, especially with webcam. You can even see what the weather’s like – which is usually the same as the stuff we get here. Occasionally it can be frustrating not to have more control over the finished product, but more often than not I’m delighted with the end results. I usually don’t see the visual treatment until whatever it is has been produced and when I do it’s better than I ever imagined myself. Getting samples of work is a big problem. With pdfs it’s getting easier to at least have an electronic copy, but hard copies are few and far between. Although I know agencies themselves can suffer the same problem. So it’s not just a freelance thing. Overall there are definitely more bonuses to being freelance than not. And the beauty of the internet means you can work from anywhere. Which makes being freelance even more flexible than ever. Has being a member of Freelancers In The UK helped you? We’d like to think so but how? Freelancers has helped put me in touch with several new clients over the last couple of years – who then recommend me to others, so my client base is definitely growing as a result. I’ve had quite a few enquiries this year already and recently had to turn down some work for the first time ever! What are the biggest challenges for you throughout 2007? Managing client deadlines when everyone seems to want everything at exactly the same time is an increasing challenge. I’m a firm believer in doing whatever it takes to get the job done, so will work into the night to make things happen. You just have to accept it’s a deadline driven environment, yet more often than not those deadlines have been pushed to the wire by clients who don’t understand the tight production timescales involved. As a result it’s the creative team who has to take up the slack. So managing the work/life balance can be difficult at times. What is your favourite piece of music? The Great Gig in the Sky by Pink Floyd.