Being Freelance is easy when you are busy,honest you just start work and go. Running round all day on a little rat run between the computer the kettle and the loo ! There are lots of people to talk to on the phone, meetings and court hearings to go to, no problem.
Quiet patches (with the benefit of 18 months experience) are MUCH MUCH harder. You have to be "out there" chasing the work, but out where? Marketing is an art not a science and if you are too much in someone's face then you may lose work that you would otherwise have got down the line.
Do you go out? What if the phone rings and it's a job? Do you take on time expensive but relatively lower paying stuff to fill in the time? I've taken on four days teaching for March which is great but I know I will be busy in March, I can just tell!!
I am crummy - I tend to stretch little bits of work to fill in stupid amounts of time because I hate the feeling of being "finished" and having nothing at all to do.
So today I am not going to spend 4 hours playing "Free Tetris" and waiting for the phone to ring - today I shall bake bread, finish the ironing, read the pile of legal journals on my desk and do my nails - all before the telephone hearing I have at half past three!
*update it's now five past two and I've done the bread, the ironing, read the journals and walked the dog. Going to do hearing then go for a swim. Still waiting for all the people who need to send me stuff so I can get on with the next stage of my work to send it though!
Followers
Listening to/reading/watching
- Spooks, Heroes and Little Dorrit
- The Ascent of Money
- Fountains of Wayne, Dusty Springfield, Nickleback, Talking Heads
Cluster Map
Thursday, January 15, 2009
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5 comments:
I am with ya hun I am freelance, do you wait for work near where you live or travel .... ???
I am still having difficulty convncing my barristor that I will only be working 125 days a year, as you know she is in the same boat and reckons that they work all hours far more than 125, she even suggested that they work weekends, and that the judges are freelance .....
Didn't say that the court only opnes between 10 and 4 and god forbid if it runs into their lunchtime .......
Laters
Nicey
The very model of productivity!
I think you are the very model of a modern major-general...sorry, DB's comment inspired me this blustery morning.
I suppose I'm a freelancer, too. Although, I sign my tax returns with 'consultant.' It raises less eyebrows than dominatrix. Keeps "the man" out of my business, too.
Nicey - I travel to London a lot, which is where much of the work is. But I don't need to be in the employers office to do it, so mostly I work from my home office. Have to say 125 days a year doesn't sound that much - and yes most lawyers work at least one weekend a month and probably two or three 12 hours days if the work is there to do. Be kind to the judge, the reason he starts at ten is that he is dealing with the cases that turn on "the papers " only - ie without a hearing, so he has been in for a couple of hours before you see him.
DB - hardly, the "free tetris" habit is shocking! I will go to the gym this afternoon.
LaCoq - It's hurling the rain down here too. I think "dominatrix" is a very cool job title! But keeping "the man" out always a good plan!
Since I started making, 'to do' lists, I've never been so busy.
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