Write you are…

Some employers have funny ideas about freelancers. Some freelancers worry about this, especially those who’ve gone freelance due to circumstance not choice (job losses, etc). I’ve also come across recruiters and employers who believe freelancers are a flaky, fickle bunch.

I’ve found ways around this and thought I’d share. Partly for anyone concerned about selling themselves to future employers, and partly because I always like busting myths about freelancing.

Personally, I think the best way to deal with misconceptions about freelancing is to tackle them head on. If you’re writing a covering letter, or going to a job interview, tell them why being freelance makes you more employable. Don’t leave potential employers to fill in these blanks themselves. You can and should paint freelancing in a very positive light. Here’s how.

Misconception #1: Freelancers are fickle.

The myth… A recruitment consultant once told me an editor was wary of freelancers. The editor believed hiring someone who’d been freelancing was a risk. They’d be off the second something better came up. A lot of people seem to hold this view – they think freelancing means you can’t stick at anything.

The reality… First off, it takes a hell of a lot more staying power to stick with freelancing. Unlike staffers, we have no job security and no guaranteed income. Some of us have regular clients, but we’re still very easy to get rid of. We have to keep at it during the highs and the lows. And we do keep at it, because freelancing is a business, not some airy-fairy hobby, and running a business requires commitment and dedication – or you won’t be able to pay the bills.

The important thing is to realise freelance journalism is a job like any other. You work for multiple clients but it is still a job – ONE job. You would be flaky if you worked as a freelance journalist and editor one week and a circus entertainer the next, then opened a sweet shop before training as a piano teacher and starting your own homeware business. It is not flaky to do one job and keep doing it.

Misconception #2: Freelancers can’t take orders.

The myth… Being self-employed means you are using to doing what you like, when you like, how you like. You are used to being your own boss and are incapable of taking orders or direction. You are not a team player. You may have become freelance to avoid having to listen to other people or do what they tell you.

The reality… Anyone fitting the above description wouldn’t get much repeat business. Freelancers do follow instructions and take direction – from our clients, that is, e.g. writing to briefs, amending/adding to copy, following style/tone guidelines and working in particular ways or using specific software. There simply isn’t room for screw-ups – while a staffer probably won’t get sacked for one not-great piece of work, freelancers can and do get dropped very easily. An unhappy customer probably won’t come back.

Staffers can grumble to line managers or HR if they’re feeling hard done by. Freelancers can’t. So we also learn to discuss things diplomatically and bite our tongues when needed. Some of us do shifts, e.g. subbing/production, and have to fit into new teams and offices very quickly without any hand-holding. We don’t get sent on induction days or given staff handbooks, so we just have to get on with it. And if we don’t do what we’re told, well, we won’t be invited back, will we?

Misconception #3: Freelancers have no motivation or self-discipline.

The myth… Freelancers do nothing all day. We’re not at all self-motivated, which is why we can’t cope with working for other people, and we just sit around all day in our pants watching daytime telly.

The reality… If we did that, we would starve. We have to be self-motivated – not only do we have to do the work, we have to generate it in the first place through pitching, relationship-building and so on. Contrary to what some books and TV shows may have you believe, freelance commissions don’t just come flooding in, and you also have to do all the admin, marketing and accounts yourself, or (earn the money to) pay someone else to do it.

Sometimes, people tell me they’d get nothing done if they worked from home, perhaps based on their own experiences of full-time work (or university). During the snow days in 2009 (I think), the Guardian put up a section for people working at home due to the snow. The header on the website landing page said: “To-duvet list,” which pretty much summed things up. Real home-workers looked on in a mixture of bemusement, irritation and fury as what we do all the time – working, at home, and actually getting work done – was treated as being synonymous with “skiving off”.

During those snow days, I was doing some freelance production shifts at a magazine company. Being freelance, I wasn’t going to get paid if I didn’t turn up. Loads and loads of staff were apparently snowed in, or unable to get to work due to the weather, yet along with several other freelancers, I managed to catch a bus and walk through town just fine. Funny, that.

Misconception #4: Freelancing doesn’t teach you useful skills.

The myth… Freelancing won’t help you learn new skills or improve on existing ones. Should you get a full-time job, you will take nothing of value into your new workplace. You’re not on the career ladder. You’re not learning anything. You’re probably just a flaky Jeremy Kyle addict.

The reality… Freelancing requires skills and qualities that are essential in the workplace. You need to be productive, self-motivated and able to work with minimal guidance, manage your own workload and meet deadlines. You need good communication and client liaison skills. You need to be creative, diplomatic, focused and able to take criticism. Being a successful freelancer shows you have these skills and qualities, and many more besides, so point this out to potential employers.

Freelancing is also an opportunity to gain a really good mix of skills and experience because you can do different things concurrently. It’s not a case of applying for and getting a new job, working out your notice at the old one, then going through induction and a probation period and staying put for at least six months or whatever the CV-friendly minimum is now. You can work for lots of people at once – if you fancy branching out into a new kind of writing work, you don’t have to stop doing all the old ones, you can just add more. I for one have gained a wealth of experience and skills I’d never have got working full-time in just one job.

Misconception #5: You can’t sell freelance experience to employers.

After reading this post, you should know that actually, you really can.

The freelancer who advertised for an unpaid intern has attracted much in the way of ire. It’s fair to say that’s not really the legal definition of “work experience” (which requires you to be a student and not pass the workers test, as I’ve explained before). It’s fair to say that many people doing work experience either don’t know what is/isn’t legal in terms of the work they do, the experience they get, and what/if they get paid for it, or think it’s worth doing it anyway (which it sometimes is). But, as Sally from Getting Ink points out, you’ll probably learn more from a jobbing freelancer than if you’re on tea duty in a big office.

I think the real issue then, for me, is the kind of mentality all this perpetuates. Namely that it’s fine to slog away for free. Ask to get paid? How dare you. You should roll over and say thanks for the opportunity. Obviously you can’t just walk into a journalism career. It’s one of the most over-subscribed industries going with places on courses far outstripping actual opportunities. But that doesn’t mean you should be a complete doormat. And the thing that really, really annoys me is not the sight of an ad from a freelancer that probably is taking the proverbial. It’s the question that comes up again and again on freelance forums and mailing lists:

“Do you think I should write for free to get published?”

Here’s why it annoys me, and it’s not because of any views I may or may not hold on when/whether you should write for free. (Though in the interests of disclosure, I will only ever write for free if nobody is making any money, I do not believe it is OK to write gratis for markets that would otherwise pay, and I do not believe writing for free will make an outlet value your work or think that you value your work or want to pay you.)

The thing is, the people who ask these question never seem to grasp that they are asking it of people who do the same thing – writing – for money. Not for fun, but to make a living. It’s a business. Now, you wouldn’t email a list of, say, plumbers or mechanics or piano tuners or accountants and say: “Hey, how about I do a bit of work for some of your customers for free? Just to get noticed.”

These people aren’t just asking: “Should I write for free.” They’re asking: “Should I undercut you?” And it drives me round the bend, because they never seem to comprehend this. Freelancers have a weird relationship with each other. We’re colleagues and competitors. We’re in this together and against each other. There’s etiquette involved, e.g. it’s impolite to ask someone for all their contacts, or to ask someone for a contact at X publication seconds after they post their first cutting from it (though I will admit I’ve been guilty of this before now). And when people say: “Hey, should I approach markets that would otherwise pay, and work for them for free, thus potentially taking paid work away from other freelancers and/or making it harder for other freelancers to get paid work and/or helping to drive down rates and generally devalue the profession we all work in?” I just wish they’d recognise that it’s not all about them.

The problem with freelance journalism is it’s seen as so damn glamorous that grumbling about it inevitably requires lame analogies about plumbers or shops. But you wouldn’t ask a plumber if you should undercut them, would you? And you wouldn’t go into a market and say: “Hey, I noticed you’re selling this stuff on your stalls. How about I get the same stuff, but I give it away free? Would the customers like that?” Of course you wouldn’t. It would be rude. So why do people never seem to get that it’s rude to do this with writers, too?

Not only that, but so many people in this business do lack any sense of solidarity, or of the existence of a bigger picture. (Example: people who bitch about low rates, but think joining a union is a waste of money.) When I said I had politely parted ways with a new client who wanted me to sign something to say they would pay on publication and might never publish (ie I could potentially never get paid) with a total rights-grab, and who said they absolutely couldn’t modify the contract, most people told me I’d done the right thing. But a few people told me: “Well, not everyone can afford to be that fussy.” Oh yeah? The client said it had “never been a problem before”. So I guess some of those people who can’t afford to be “fussy” are probably still waiting for a fee that’s never actually going to arrive. Whereas if they’d grown a pair and been a bit “fussy”, the terms might just have got better for everyone. Being a doormat helps nobody – but too many people just can’t see that.