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The choice I made between a steady gig and going full freelance
About 5 years ago, I had a solid offer for a staff writer job in Chicago, but I chose to keep my three freelance clients instead. It was scary turning down that regular paycheck, but one of those clients, a tech blog, gave me a big project that paid $8k over six months. That project basically kept me afloat while I found more work. Anyone else face a similar choice between a safe job and sticking it out on your own?
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ivan16528d agoMost Upvoted
Yeah, that kind of jump is always a gut check. I get what perry.evan is saying about different levels of risk, but a steady paycheck is a steady paycheck, no matter the field. My cousin left a decent office job to fix up and flip old vans, which sounds cool until you're living off savings for eight months. He says the fear of failing was way worse than any bad day at the old job.
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You call that a serious choice? A writing gig is about as risky as it gets for freelancing, you were never in real danger. Try turning down a union job with benefits to go install floors by yourself, then we can talk about scary.
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jamesm4827d ago
But what happens when that big project ends? You said it kept you afloat for six months, but freelancing is full of those gaps. How do you plan for the dry spells when you don't have a safety net like that tech blog?
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