Freelancer in Focus for March 2007 - Richard Willsher

Click for more images

Description How have you found working freelance? What are the highs and lows, the frustrations and the bonuses? This is a question I don’t think about anymore. I can’t imagine working any other way. The notion of putting all of my income into the hands of a single employer now strikes me as unthinkable – too risky and probably not well enough paid. The highs for me are selling ideas and working with people I like. As a specialist financial writer I see my business as selling ideas and helping the teams I work with as a contributor to magazines or newspapers or websites. The lows are when you trust a customer who turns out to be dishonest but this happens very rarely. I must say I have been amazed at how trustworthy and pleasant the people I work with are, 99.9% of the time. The big bonus for me is having saved all the time that I previously wasted on the frustrations of corporate life. The way I see it is that you live only once. To squander my time on meaningless corporate office behaviour, commuting and putting up with management incompetence are things that I am not interested in doing. What do I do with the time I save? Since I became a freelance I have travelled all over the world both on business and for pleasure – and these are often the same for me. I have walked and climbed in wonderful places from the English Lakes and Scottish hills to the Alps to Cape Town’s Table Mountain to Tasmania’s Overland Track and snowboarded in the Rockies. I have visited marvellous cities, such as New York, Sydney, Hong Kong, Beijing, Santiago, Rome, Jerusalem, and lots of others. I have met a lot of great people. At home I have spent times with my family and my friends and walking in the woods with my dogs. These are the things that are worthwhile for me. This stuff matters. Has being a member of Freelancers In The UK helped you? We’d like to think so but how? Freelancers in the UK provides a source of potential work on an ongoing basis. It is always there and something may come from that direction at any time. My sense is that this is a site that is still young and has a lot more to offer as it gets better known. That’s why I stay with it and wish it well. What are the biggest challenges for you throughout 2007? 2007? May be the downturn, when it comes. Once corporates get cold feet and stop investing in advertising and publicity then it hits all publications – including digital media. This may come in the second half of this year or perhaps it won’t, I don’t know. But these are good times and they can’t last forever; we’ll see. What is your favourite book and why? Gee, this is a difficult one. I’ll say Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass because, among other things, it’s an anthem to freedom. Richard Willsher is a specialist financial writer and business journalist based in London. Take a look at his entry on the site at http://www.projectsandpeople.co.uk/richard-willsher-i96.html He also has websites at www.richardwillsher.com, www.englishwords.biz and www.londontrade.co.uk.