In some respects, freelancing sounds like a great idea. The biggest selling point is that you get to choose whom you work for, what sort of projects and when you’d like to work. If you’re looking for a way out of the 9-5 office grind, freelancing is an exciting prospect.

The reality can be exactly that – but reality also has a nice way of crushing hopes and souls. Working as a freelancer can mean working long hours, by yourself. It can mean sporadic pay. It can feel like a race to the bottom as you compete with people looking to undercut their competitors on the market.

However, despite the pitfalls and travails, there’s nothing better than working for yourself.

The Good

photo by Vladimir Agafonkin

What I love about freelancing is the possibilities. I can go onto job boards and sometimes strange and wonderful opportunities pop up. Someone wants someone to take photos of their dog. I love dogs, I love taking photos and you want to pay me to do this? Sure thing. Someone else wants a series of photos featuring a “handsome, slightly overweight male”. Well, that’s not really my thing but an opportunity that specific perks my interest.

The strangest opportunity I’ve seen so far was for a paranormal research team. They wanted a photographer to join them in taking photos of paranormal activity while investigating haunted houses and sites. I passed only because I had other commitments at the time, but if it ever came up again, I’d grab it in a heartbeat.

You also have a certain flexibility with schedules. There’s the opportunity to fix your work around your life. If you want to do all your work in the morning and leave the afternoon free, you can do so. Or if you are a night owl, no-one is going to stop you from starting work at 2am (except your neighbours, if you are too loud). All clients care about is you get the work done by the agreed date.

Some clients are great and will credit you. This is great for you because you can use it for your portfolio, to demonstrate you have been published. If you can say you are a “published photographer”, you’ll find more interest in you from other potential clients. Plus it’s a nice ego stroke to know your photo was judged good enough to be shown publicly.

The Bad

photo by Bjoern Schwarz

The absolute worst thing about freelancing is the lack of security. Where is your next pay going to come from? That gets better as you develop a client base who can contact you for jobs, but when you are first branching out, it’s daunting.

Working as a freelancer depends on the all-important portfolio. You are chosen largely on whether a potential client likes what they see. Making that portfolio can be a hard task at first. You may have to work for free initially to get a body of work. Which means your savings can take a hit when you’re starting out – so make sure you either have some sort of alternative income stream while you establish yourself, or you have comfortable savings.

The majority of jobs you’ll do are not interesting. Many people are not looking for artistic photos. They are looking for photos showing a certain scene, or a certain product. For instance, if someone wants a photo of an apple, they want a photo of an apple. They don’t care how well you can use photoshop, or how great you are technically with a camera. They want an apple, and you better give them a bland photo of an apple they can use for their content or they’ll find someone else.

Competition is intense. The advent of the DSLR camera has give the ability to take quality photography to the masses. Therefore, lots of people are walking around calling themselves a “photographer” because they know how to press a shutter on a DSLR. The competition is not just from talented photographers who know how to convey narrative and take stunning shots, because there are many astounding photographers around. It’s also from modestly-talented people who are willing to work for cheap, and are more than happy to provide clients with lots of bland photos of apples at rock-bottom prices.

This can be difficult when you are starting out, because you will find yourself competing in a race to the bottom. It’s amazing what people will offer to do because they want the job – some people offer such ridiculous rates that they might as well be paying the client instead. The market is a ruthless place.

When you work as a freelancer, you are not always guaranteed payment. You’re guaranteed payment when a client accepts your work, but you can always do a bunch of photos and have the client turn them all down. This is because freelance work is usually paid by the piece.

Being paid by the piece leads to another issue. The amount of time and effort you put into your work may not reflect the amount of hours you’ve worked. You can slave away at an assignment and find yourself being paid below minimum wage.

Is it worth it?

By now, working as a freelancer might have lost its shine for you. However, don’t lose heart. It’s really not that bad.

As long as you understand that freelance work is not easy – and to me, it’s harder than working as a employee of a business – then you will be fine. Working as a freelancer doesn’t mean you get to lounge around the house all day in your PJs. That’s the mistake a lot of people make when they first go into freelancing, until they realise how much work that’s required.

You need to be persistent. You need to have good time management, because no-one will be sending you reminders about work needing to be done. If you don’t get your work done on time, then you just won’t get paid unless your client is feeling generous. For the most part, you can’t get too selective with your assignments. There’s pesky things called “bills” and they need to be fed with a substance called “money”.

One of the ways of attracting clients is to have a good online presence. An online portfolio is great because potential clients can access it 24/7.

Don’t get caught in the race to the bottom. I’ve found a lot of clients are more interested in people who seem committed, are quick with communications and understand a brief more than those who can offer the cheapest prices. Always be polite, and always follow the brief. Always, always be on time.

I’ve been working freelance this year and I have to say that despite everything, I wouldn’t go any other way. So, is it worth it? To me, a resounding yes. There’s nothing better than suddenly feeling the impulse to go to the beach on a hot Wednesday afternoon, and being able to simply head out the door because I could. Gone are the days where I was giving wistful sighs at the clock, waiting for the end of the work day.