Six Months In

November 1, 2017

It’s been six months since I wrote the blog post announcing I was leaving my full-time role and stepping out in to the scary world of being a freelancer and it’s absolutely flown by.

Technically, I’ve only been doing day-to-day freelance for three of those six months due to a lengthy notice period at my last job, but that period did generate contacts and freelance work for me, gave me time to setup my accounting, put this new website (and showreel) live and allowed me to set up my limited company – so it all counts.

My biggest worry (still is, and probably always will be) is paying my mortgage and bills, but thankfully so far, so good. I’ve managed to put away each month what I was earning before plus I’ve had enough left over to start building the buffer I never had before. I’ve even managed to fund a new tattoo with the words ‘Live Without Regrets’ emblazoned across the top of my arm, a nod to my current stance on where I am in my life and career.

I started writing notes based on my experiences so far and plan on continuing to do this for my first year of freelancing with the idea to put it all down on paper and make a bit of a book out it. The book will hopefully describe how I got into the industry, the experiences I went through up to eventually going freelance with the idea to describe the challenges I’ll come across in my first year; hopefully others will find some helpful information in it.

Soon I’ll also be appearing on a Podcast setup by my friend Mark Dolby called Freelance Friends where I’ll talk about going freelance as well as how Pressures & Perspectives came about so look out for that soon.

A final thought; before leaving my last full-time role I told myself: “Whether this works out or not, I’m going to go for it, give it three months and if it fails, I’ll just go and get another job – at least I can say I gave it my best shot and have no regrets.”

Thankfully giving it three months hasn’t been much of a problem so far, though I’ve learnt a lot about me and how I like/don’t like to work. I’ve also come to accept that the worry about money is real and will probably never not be a worry. The worry does however drive me to keep going; it keeps me on my toes.

Here’s hoping the next six months will just be as fun, different, crazy, exciting and challenging as the last.