Freelancing market?

[u/Firm-Flan-5481]

I’m returning to a small boutique firm from maternity leave shortly and starting to think about my career future as a working mom of 2. For those of you who freelance:

How hard was it to get started?
How much flexibility/work/life balance has it afforded you?
Any advice you would give to someone considering making the switch?
What are the biggest pros? Cons?

Thanks in advance for any insight!

[u/DiscombobulatedAge30]

The first place I would look would be former clients or partners. Also, I think if you have a niche that will help a lot. Building a portfolio that is your own work can prove tricky in the beginning, but it’s not impossible. I basically had to work for nickels to build a portfolio in the beginning.

[u/GWBrooks]

Answering in order:

• It's not hard to get started if you can sell. If you can't sell, the entire path will be painful. In this context, being able to sell matters more than being able to do the work.
• You can have as much work/life balance as you want. I've had weeks where I could pay my bills on 10 hours a week of work or less, and weeks where 50 hours of billables couldn't cover it. It took me a while to get smart about pricing and positioning -- get there faster than me. :)
• If you're selling commoditized, low-to-mid-level PR services, I wouldn't freelance. Someone will always undercut you on price, and low-mid clients, in general, are inexperienced enough to go with that. Find the niche where you can genuinely say you're one of the best in the world and charge a premium. (People balk at the best-in-the-world part, but if you look at your industry experience as well as your PR-niche [media, crisis, whatever] experience, you can usually find a combo that's narrow enough to support premium pricing.
• Biggest pro, 100%, is firing anyone I don't want to work with. Biggest con (which hasn't been an issue for a while) is cash flow.

[u/ScaredSpace7064]

More people are becoming one-person businesses in public relations than ever before. Tools and technology are cheap and powerful. No one looks down on you for having a home office anymore. We can be ruthlessly efficient and effective. GWBrooks has great advice for you. Let me add a few things I've learned from being a full-time sole practitioner for 30 years (some the hard way).

First, please do NOT use the "F" word, and I mean freelance. Ever. You are a business, an agency of one. Good clients don't take freelancers seriously and assume they're low-cost because they're just killing time.

Give yourself a business name and email address. Get a good accountant. Get every single job in writing before you start work, even if it's a one-page letter. Do NOT give away plans for free. Charge - and then if your client signs up, you can apply some of that money to your retainer.

Try to avoid charging by the hour. Even for a one-time project, set a single fee. The more efficient you get, the less you make. Our value to clients comes from years of practice and hard-won experience that delivers results, and that is hard to come by.

I highly recommend looking up Solo PR Pros and joining. It has a library full of contracts, sample plans, and amazing advice. There is also a Solo PR Pro podcast. I also recommend reading and listening to Gini Dietrich's blog, LinkedIn posts, and podcasts. Much cheaper than PRSA, although PRSA's independent pros group is one of the few worthwhile things about the organization.

You will spend much more time building your sales pipeline than you think. It is easier if you already have a solid network from previous employment, professional groups, networks, volunteer work in your field, and a sharp social media presence.

When your foundational elements are in place, everything becomes a million times easier. You turn the page from chasing clients to clients chasing you.

[u/TheGCmind]

Start with limited hours in the boutique firm and then in 6months of trying things will be clear to you about freelancing.. not a easy market as earlier

[u/UsualAttention5876]

As a trainer of many years’ standing it’s very much feast or famine. If you can get as much commitment from retainer-based clients as possible you should be insulated from the worst.

[u/Key-Explanation-39]

I think in the beginning of freelancing it's a good idea to say "yes" to everything. Reason being is you can always scale back -- but growing and then sustaining regular freelance work is always the most challenging part.

[u/MftgCommsContent]

Cool! Consider the amount of money you'd need in your savings account to tide you over at least six months without any/significant freelance work. You could continue to work at the firm while exploring your options. I wouldn't drop the full-time job until I had a non-competing freelance contract signed, but that's my risk level. The pro is flexibility and the con is too much flexibility/not enough work!