There\u2019s been some interesting discussions lately amongst freelance colleagues about whether some organisations understand the value of work they\u2019re after and by extension what goes into people\u2019s rates. It got me thinking about the costs of being self-employed, and how little I understood before I went freelance myself. I was definitely one of those people who saw a rate and thought \u201chow much?!\u201d and it\u2019s interesting to reflect on how much I\u2019ve learnt nearly a year in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So to capture some of this learning, here\u2019s a quick brainstorm of just some of things that go on behind the scenes of almost every freelancer, all of which have a cost attached that that day rate needs to account for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And there\u2019s a whole host of things I couldn\u2019t squeeze in \u2013 invoicing, cashflow, discovery calls, job hunting, filing, blogging, travel, CV-updating, wifi, printer, template contracts, keeping up-to-date with industry standards and new ideas to name just a few. In fact, what a client sees as delivery outputs is only a slice of what you get up to in order to run your own business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The biggest lesson for me has been the uncertainty. As a freelancer your day rate isn\u2019t just about the value of your time on that day, and the costs that go on behind the scenes. It\u2019s also about trying to create some financial continuity against a backdrop of risk. What if I\u2019m ill and suddenly can\u2019t work? What if I need to factor in some downtime? What if a contract suddenly falls through, or there\u2019s an unexpected gap with no work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Right now feels like a particularly expensive period of life with a mortgage (so long low-rate fixed term!) and childcare for two small people, let alone a house that needs doing up, a cat that can\u2019t stay out of the vets, and attempting to pay for some fun every now and then. And so the stakes feel high. I knew freelancing wasn\u2019t for the feint-hearted and the costs are arguably a lot higher than I initially appreciated. It really puts into perspective the need to love what you do and I\u2019m grateful that with a specialism of non-profits the returns have been worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photo by Sven Brandsma<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There\u2019s been some interesting discussions lately amongst freelance colleagues about whether some organisations understand the value of work they\u2019re after and by extension what goes into people\u2019s rates. It got me thinking about the costs of being self-employed, and how little I understood before I went freelance myself. I was definitely one of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[31],"tags":[13,11,12,21,25,10],"class_list":["post-366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pricing","tag-charity","tag-consultant","tag-freelance","tag-non-profit","tag-self-employment","tag-start-up-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t