Write you are…

How do you know if you’re ready to make the leap to being full-time freelance? The checklist over at The Renegade Writer is a pretty good start, but there are more questions you need to ask. Such as…

Can you handle the uncertainty?
Right now, I know I’m doing writing/subbing shifts until the 17th of October. I was supposed to be working on a website project but it’s been delayed. I may or may not be doing some copywriting for a local client in November and I’m covering for one of my editors for a couple of weeks in December. The rest of the time, who knows. I could crack five new markets. Alternatively all my pitches could fall straight into a void. Personally, I find a combination of confidence, hard graft, blind faith and blind panic serves me very well.

Can you juggle multiple commitments?
Such as writing and sending pitches, organising and conducting interviews for pieces you’re currently working on, finishing/filing others and chasing invoices, all while remembering to eat and get dressed? Can you plan ahead well enough to make sure you stay on top of multiple deadlines and are you organised enough to remember when they are?

Do you know how to say no?
I speak as someone who actually considered cancelling a trip away when one new client rang to offer me a commission soon after I went freelance. It is very difficult to say no when you have too much work on or you’re going on holiday, especially if it’s a new client – you worry they won’t ask again.

Do you have some basic accounting and tax knowledge?
This isn’t as scary as it sounds, although tax returns are an an unattractive prospect and I for one am happy to pay an accountant to do mine. But you’ll need some basic knowledge whether or not you get an accountant. Aside from telling HMRC you’re self-employed and arranging to pay Class 2 NI (unless you think you’ll qualify for small earnings exemption), it’s worth knowing what tax-deductible expenses you can claim, what the VAT threshold is, the pros and cons of gross pay vs. PAYE, and whether it’s worth becoming a limited company rather than a sole trader.

Do you have a spine?
People will ignore your pitches. They will reject your pitches. They will fail to pay you. These things happen to every freelancer, no matter how good. You will need to be able to cope with rejection and have the backbone to chase payments that don’t show up on time. Diplomacy will serve you well. Being a doormat will not.

Are you determined to do it no matter what anyone says?
If you’re still dying to work for yourself despite people pointing out that you won’t have any job security, there’s a credit crunch on and you’ll have to make the tea all the time, it’s worth giving it a go. I’m certainly glad I did.

Being freelance means fielding some seriously infuriating comments and questions. Cath Janes blogged about this a while ago and it’s a topic that frequently comes up on Journobiz. Any freelancer can spout tales of being asked if they still haven’t managed to find a job or of people assuming it’s fine to just drop round any time because they’re not, you know, working or anything.

So here’s one possible set of answers to those questions (some irritating, some just a bit dim), all of which I have recently been asked.

So, you’re unemployed.
No, I’m self-employed. I earn money for doing work, just like you.

You don’t actually have a job though, do you?
I have my own business. I have a trading name registered with HMRC and an accountant. But I don’t have to sit around trying to look busy if I finish all my work and nobody monitors how much time I spend on Facebook. Except when I’m doing shift work, when I get to drink the office tea but am not expected to donate money when people I don’t know get married or older. Do I win?

But you don’t live in London, so you’re never going to get any big stories, are you?
Nah, I’ve only written for five national newspapers (plus one international one). It’s not like we have telephones, internet access or train stations outside London. Or newsworthy events.

So who have you written for? Well, you have to start small, don’t you?
Yes. By talking to you. (Well, that’s what I wish I’d said. I was actually too gobsmacked to respond.)

So presumably you’re freelancing in the hope that someone will give you a job.
I have a job. If I want someone else to give me a job, I’ll apply for one.

We haven’t seen or spoken to each other in ten years but I’ve looked you up on Facebook so I can ask for all your contacts.
Tell you what, I’ll get back to you in ten years.

Maybe I should keep copies of your articles in case you make it big as a writer one day.
And by writer, you mean what exactly? What is it you think I’m doing now? Playing Scrabble?