I decided to go freelance in the fall of 2006, and took the leap in January of 2007. It was certainly not an easy decision and one that took months to plan. I had a staff job at a production company in Concord, MA as the lead cameraman and editor. I had been there for five years; I was actually the first employee they ever hired! Working there give me some great experience. I learned a ton during my time there, watching the company grow from three employees to about a dozen when I left. But five years seemed to be about the right amount of time for my first job after college, and I was pretty certain I had the skill-set to go at it on my own, instead of looking for another staff job (which were pretty hard to come by at that point, anyway).
So the first day of 2007 came, and I was on my own. It was pretty scary. I had made the leap with a few months of work already lined up (which I think is the ONLY way to do it), both from some freelance clients I already had, and from being hired for contract work by my recent employer. But the first quarter (in general, I have found) can be pretty slow, as companies and individuals are figuring out their budgets for the year, so it was, at times, quite daunting. But as the spring rolled around, I started to fill up my schedule; I was getting new client and reconnecting with some old ones. Certainly there are spurts of slower times (which is great time to rest and work on personal projects), but I have found at least the past eighteen months to be filled close to capacity.
For me, the biggest upside of being freelance is the new opportunities. Most production companies will specialize in certain markets, but I get to diversify on an almost daily basis. I have had weeks where I can be shooting a music video one day, then product videos for a robotics company the next, and a national reality show the next day.
As soon as you hit “go” to work for yourself, though, a lot of learning takes place quickly. I had to learn how to sell myself and be an accountant (two of my least favorite responsibilities of being a business owner), and while the schedule can be very flexible, I find that I am really ALWAYS working (or at least thinking about work). But the positives outweigh the negatives, and you also learn very quickly how to improve the quality of your work. When you are solely standing behind your work, you HAVE to make it good, and I can definitely see a marked improvement starting when I went out on my own.
I am lucky to have a job I love, and to be my own boss, and I certainly wouldn’t trade it in any time soon.
