How...Freelance Can Be a Full-Time Career

I know this is your biggest concern. Me too! If there's a will there's a way, no more excuses.

0:44 I Know, Bills.

1:35 Life's What You Make It

1:55 My Transition Timeline

3:22 Ask Yourself This

4:45 Safety Nets Are Okay

5:59 Passive Income

7:35 Your Current Job Isn't As Stable As You Think

Other Episodes Mentioned:
How To Transition to Freelance
How To Design Your Life

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Chapters

• 0:44 I Know, Bills.
• 1:35 Life's What You Make It
• 1:55 My Transition Timeline
• 3:22 Ask Yourself This
• 4:45 Safety Nets Are Okay
• 5:59 Passive Income
• 7:35 Your Current Job Isn't As Stable As You Think

Transcript

00:08
Catherine
Hello there. My name is Catherine and I am 23 years old, working as a full time freelancer in the media and entertainment industry. And welcome to the How I Diaries podcast. I'm here to debunk all your fears and doubts surrounding the topic of freelancing and more importantly, get you on your way to a happy and stress free lifestyle doing whatever that creative passion you love.

00:24
So if you find yourself stuck at a job that you hate, wondering how to get your dream started. Heard of freelancing before? May be, but you're skeptical about what it entails. I'm sharing everything I wish I knew earlier and the tips and tricks I gain every day for my own freelance work. I get this so much when I'm reaching out to people and, you know, talking.

00:45
It is one, if not the biggest reason people steer clear of freelance, which I totally get, but I'm constantly telling people it is possible. You just have to work a little harder at first for it to pay off in the long run. Now I tend to use my own life and jobs as an example, but just know that what I do isn't the only way.

01:06
That's the great thing about freelance is that you have the freedom to design your own life. So go check out my other episode on how to design your life from scratch, which is if you're having trouble picking what you want to do, that's a good episode to start with are some exercises based on a book that I'm reading right now, and then also how to transition to freelance.

01:28
Those are kind of little baby steps to this episode. But anyway, I just want to keep reminding you, in the wise words of Hannah Montana, life's what you make it. Oh, by now you've all your homework and started your transition over to freelance, and now you're ready to make the leap of faith and leave the training wheels. The hard work isn't over yet, but don't worry, it's the same idea put in the effort and it will pay off.

01:50
I started transitioning over to freelance in April of 2021. I was able to fully quit my traditional jobs almost exactly a year later in March 2022. And by this I mean that by March 2022, all of my income was 1099 or W-2 income. I worked my butt off searching for jobs, like I explained in my other episode of how I find jobs as a freelancer.

02:15
And by July 20, 22, this month that I'm releasing this batch of episodes, I had actually just made it to a point where I was starting to have to decline work and was actually getting in this weird position where I thought I was spreading myself too thin. Now, of course. So I came around and I started to notice some declining work, yada, yada, yada.

02:35
And like any other worker, be personality type, I already had my next goal in mind. Now, currently, and we seem to be in a bit of a recession, which just coincidentally is another good reason to have my next plan in the works. And that next plan involves passive income. Like I said, freelance is different for everyone. Some people actually start out with the passive income route and then work their way into freelance work.

03:58
There is no perfect recipe. Just take a look at your current financial and life situation and map out a few different options and see what works best for you and makes you feel the most confident. For instance, I am young, not married, I have no kids, so I was able to just go into freelance without having many obligations except for myself and my own financial responsibilities, which was achievable through regular gig work and freelance.

04:22
But I'm always asking myself, how can I create stability? I ask this for my own sanity, and to be honest, my parents too. Part of me knows they still don't fully understand what I do. And if they really believe it's a long term thing. So mom and Dad, if you're listening, just wait. I'm getting there. I'm sure you're not too worried about me, but don't worry.

04:43
But yeah, I analyze my current situation. I find out I'm always doing that and finding out anything that is bringing me insecurity. Back in March 2022, it was paying bills, right? That was an easy fix, though. Like I explained in my transition episode, I had landed my piano teaching gig, which offered stability if I needed to rely on if things were slow.

05:03
So I had that as my safety net, always knowing that if I ever was in that danger zone, I could just up my availability there. Some of you may be asking why I just didn't do that in the first place. It's just because of specifically how teaching works and my own ethics. It's a yearlong commitment to take on music students.

05:22
So, you know, at least so I really wanted to just use that as my last resort for the sake of the kids and their education. Anything along the lines of part time with little obligations and attachment is a good place to start. And that was also a great push to put myself outside of my comfort zone and to trust that I could make this work for real, which is another huge must believe in yourself and set yourself up for success.

05:45
Go find a safety net or multiple safety net. I bet you you won't need it, but it's just the responsible thing to do. So don't skip it. It's like that weird phenomena. Like whenever it's raining, you just never have the umbrella. And then when you do bring the umbrella, it never rains. I worked super hard every day job hunting and networking like I've talked about and boom, you know, five months later, here we are.

06:14
That fear had vanished, but I wouldn't say 100%. I'm not 100% stable. I'm baby stepping my way there. A couple of weeks ago, I reanalyzed my situation and found my next fear. And it just that's what I was saying about the recession. I'm like, oh, what if this recession is real? What if I get sick? What if the world shuts down again with another pandemic?

06:34
What can I rely on? Just a quick note about sick pay and benefits. There are freelance health care packages available I've mentioned before, but I'm still able to be covered under my parents, but I am still proactively preparing for the day. I turn 26 and can't be under them anymore future episodes to come on that. But for those of you who aren't able to be under a guardian anymore, and that is something you need to prepare for in your transition, which I talk about in my transition episode.

06:59
Back to my other fears. How can I say all these? The answer for me is to figure out a form of passive income, something that provides me income without me having to be out in the world and be physically working. So for me, that's looking like a couple of things, given what I do know in my interests. One is this podcast working on educating myself on how to grow this platform and monetize it too is offering services that I can work from home and do.

07:24
Though I'm in this works of organizing my podcast editing and podcast management services, I eventually down the line would love to spend more time educating myself on real estate and that whole wave of, you know, passive income. But one thing at a time, baby steps. But with one Google search, you can see all of the passive income options.

07:43
Now, it's kind of crazy. I always mention her. Alex Fasulo, she has a lot of tips over on her podcast that she does freelance fairy tales. I will link her in the show notes, but yeah, passive income nowadays sort of makes me feel like the universe is just trying to tell us something. Like I always say, go down a YouTube or Google wormhole, but this time instead of the conspiracy videos, you know that you so often go down the wormhole into try something that could benefit you and get you excited and feeling confident about freelancing.

08:05
Trust me, they're out there. I binge watch them constantly. So the big thing is I'm constantly analyzing my situation and troubleshooting the next thing, which to me is actually keeping me sharp and expanding my knowledge and preventing me from getting bored and keeping my life from being mundane again. Personal preference. For some it is appealing to just sacrifice your whole well-being to a 9 to 5 salary job for 25 years until you can retire, choosing that stability over happiness and fulfillment.

08:35
But you know, I could also play devil's advocate and argue that in a recession, all your 401k is at risk anyway. And are your health benefits really good at the job that you're at? And if the pandemic taught us anything, it was that just because you're on salary doesn't necessarily mean your company won't drop you when times get for them anyway.

08:57
Just food for thought, of course. And I could also already see ahead and know that after I get over this passive income hump, my next feat will be prioritizing savings and finances for quote unquote retirement. But I suppose I'll make a whole separate episode on that when I've reached that point. There are many levels of stability that maybe you're not even fully secure in your regular job.

09:19
Everyone, depending on their situation and age, prioritizes different things. But that's the beauty of freelance. You can make it work for you. Imagine having full control and knowledge about each decision you make in life and achievement. I bet you'd be happy to share it with others. Instead of looking at freelance and being scared of stability, you could flip the situation and see it as an opportunity.

09:41
Odds are, if that's what you're thinking about, you're probably an organized and responsible person anyway. So push yourself outside your comfort zone and challenge yourself to be organized and responsible in a whole different way. Put your mind to it, and I'm sure you will achieve it. I know you will achieve it. That's it for this episode. And if this reaches you and you have any burning questions or stories, I'd be happy to use this as an outlet to connect and build a community.

10:04
What does stability mean to you? How have you achieved that or how do you plan to achieve that? Yeah, me on Instagram we can talk about it. How I diary's in the meantime, you can go binge all my other episodes for various other topics relating to how to get started, doing what you love and please. Any episode recommendations I'd love to hear.

10:22
Let me know what your particular struggles are. You're probably not alone. And last but not least, please subscribe to this podcast so you stay up to date on when I post the next batch, give it a reading, share with a friend who needs to listen to. I post five new episodes at the end of each month, so stay tuned and thank you for listening.