The Freelance Chronicles #11
Around this time last year I left my full-time job to enter the freelance world. Little did I know that in just a few months’ time a full global pandemic would change the way every client I was working with worked. I’ll save the reflection of my first year in the freelance world for next month, though, so watch this space.
This month it’s dawned on me that we’re racing towards summer, when most people tend to go on their Christmas holiday using annual leave, which is something I won’t experience this year. I may have a break, but annual leave is not a thing in the freelance world! Not to scare anyone who is considering going freelance, but you don’t get annual leave, sick leave, KiwiSaver, or any of those “work perks”. Thankfully, during my first year, this hasn’t impacted me too much (possibly due to our incredibly low rates of illness in New Zealand thanks to our lockdown and isolation, I haven’t actually been sick this year).
Because I don’t get these “perks” from businesses, I do have a slightly higher hourly rate, which does cover me for situations where I may be sick, or if there’s no work heading my way on any given week or month. However, in saying my hourly rate is higher, I’ve discovered that the way I work is something my clients really love, and it’s actually more cost-effective to hire me. In these uncertain times it can be really scary to hire someone as a full-timer or part-timer, but embracing freelancers is something I really think New Zealand businesses need to consider.
The beauty of hiring someone like me is that you can bring them in just for a single project or on an ongoing basis — whatever works for your business. I recently spoke with someone who freelanced in London and they mentioned that freelancing is so accepted over there that when a contract ends, something else is waiting in the wings to snap you up. It’s not quite like that here in New Zealand yet. But I hope while I’m on this journey, New Zealand businesses start to embrace the freelance way of working more.
What do you think? Are you a business owner who works with freelancers? Are you hesitant to hire freelancers? Let me know in the comments.