You hear this all the time, and believe me, it's the last thing you want to hear. Most people don't think working and living as a full-time freelance writer is possible. For most of us, it isn't. For those of us who can make it as a full-time freelancer, it's far from easy. Ok, the dress code is "Perma-casual" and the hours are up to you, but in order to maintain your status as full-time freelancer, make no mistake: you WILL work your ass off.
There is something to be said for a guaranteed paycheck every two or even every four weeks. As a full-time freelancer, you can forget about that. You'll be lucky to get paid once a month. Damn lucky. If you're like most of the freelancers, you'll spend a good deal of time sending invoices, doing your taxes (that's right, remember how nice and easy taxes were when you went in to work? Well guess what: next to nobody withholds for you in the freelancing world. You need to budget for taxes yourself,) and trying to get paid for services rendered.
Having a regular day job, even a part-time one ensures that A) you'll get a paycheck every 2-4 weeks, B) you won't starve, C) you might get health benefits if you work for a good company (freelancers typically do not receive benefits of any kind), and D) if freelancing work slows down (and it's bound to sooner or later) you have something else to fall back on.
True Story: About seven months after I started working my first freelance gig, there was a restructuring. Previous to the reorg, I was writing about 60 articles/month at $50/article. That works out to around 2,250/month after taxes. Not bad, beats the hell out of retail. I was working hard, but I was having fun, building my portfolio. But then the reorg comes. My editor leaves and a new company comes in. They offer us a monthly stipend and some ad revenues that amount to a fraction of what I was earning. They expected less of me (12 articles instead of 60) but it paid a hell of a lot less. Because I was doing so well for so long, I ditched my day job and did this full-time. Didn't even bother to look for another client. Big mistake.
By the time it was all over, I was making around $750 a month. Not hardly enough to get by on. I looked around for other freelancing gigs, but if you work in a specialized field, finding a new gig can be tough if not nigh impossible. I was eventually forced to go back to retail for a while until things picked up. It was a rough few months, shoot, it still is rough. But I learned my lesson. I now write for no less than three clients, and am still looking for more.
Bottom line: you never know when your "sweet gig" will go sour, and a shitty day job is better than no day job. Despite what you may be thinking, you CAN work a "regular" job and freelance at the same time. It will be a challenge at first, but you'll get used to it. Besides, co-workers in the humdrum "regular" world love to hear about other people's lives.
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