I’ve accidentally become a freelance… now what?

No-one gets into journalism or the media for the money. Well, unless you’re a newspaper proprietor, of course.

Most of us have grand aspirations of being award-winning investigative journalists, reporting at World Cup finals, or editing groundbreaking magazines. But we accept that the industry isn’t a lucrative one and that’s the balance we accept for doing something we love. Sadly, over the past two decades social media and smartphones have introduced the world to ‘free media’ – a medium that has opened up a glut of low-end journalism jobs for new graduates with little opportunity for career progression and poor financial security.

You can go through school, college and university working towards being a journalist at a high-end magazine or national newspaper, only to find when you’re ready to start work that jobs in these fields are limited. Apprenticeships and trainee schemes are impossibly competitive and rare to get, while full-time job ads usually require years of experience that fresh-out-of-uni candidates just don’t have. You’re left with taking on non-paid work experience gigs in the hope this morphs into a job – and if you don’t have parents’ wealth to support you through that, that’s where the dream ends.

But what is available to many new journalists is ad-hoc shift work. That might be writing social content on a website once a week, or uploading newspaper copy to an iPad publication (which I did) at unsociable hours.

These types of employment cover your rent and perhaps give you some extra income. They get you on the ladder. But it’s not regular and can often be very autonomous. You can easily get sucked into the day-to-day of working effectively unofficially for two or three clients, invoicing at the end of each month and sorting out tax returns yourself.

Without even realising it you’ve become a freelance! You may be working for numerous publications but you’re not tied to any of them. Although actually, you are. You’re tied to loose work because it pays the bills and you take up more and more job offers to paste over the insecurity that comes with this form of employment. So long as you’re earning enough, who cares if you’re not on a contract, right?

I've always been a freelance in some capacity. My first job out of university was a writing gig that paid by the article, with no contract or written agreement in place. I invoiced every month and got paid gross, which meant I soon enjoyed a first foray into self assessment and tax returns. I had no idea what I was doing and relied on good will from clients (indeed, I still do in many cases!) and had no financial advice.

This suited me because that’s the sort of personality I have: set me a task, I’ll do it, you pay me. I also like looking at financial spreadsheets and feeling good when it all adds up. But loose freelancing is really not for everyone and many people endure a less-than-comfortable experience in this employment, which they may have not chosen in the first place.

The thing is, we forget how crucial we are. Journalism, editing and writing in general survives off freelancers. Few publications these days have the budgets to sustain large numbers of employees, while union representation has all-bit died out. Over the past 20 years an estimated 40% of jobs have been cut in the journalism industry. What's more, in an era where every company needs an outward-facing online presence and endless free media litters the social timelines, the requirement for savvy, energetic 'content' has never been greater. This gives someone working in the media wide scope to effectively odd-job their way through a career. Writing for one publication one day, editing for another the next, pitching a feature for a third by the end of the week, and organising social posts over the weekend.

This sort of work is great when its in plentiful supply and if, like me, you don't have a stop valve for when to work or have other major commitments (children, relatives in care, etc). But with it comes intense insecurities, a never-ending wait for commissions and a very real lack of control.

If you’ve found yourself in this situation – of freelancing with various clients but finding it all a bit messy – then you may consider yourself an accidental freelance. In this instance, my advice is to sit down, project forward and ask yourself questions. Where do you want to be in one, two, five or 10 years time? What’s more important to you: interesting work, a steady income, perhaps both? Are you getting what you want currently and will your current working life deliver your goals? What would happen if you quit?

These questions should give you an indication of whether or not your current working practices are right for you. I didn’t ask myself any of this until I’d effectively burned out by trying to balance a freelance life with a contracted editorial job. I decided to quit Fleet Street and start afresh as a full-time freelance, which after a year resulted in me setting up Short Story Ltd as a means of professionalising my work.

It isn’t easy but it’s also a choice I made – and that is important when you reflect on your career and your goals. Have you made a choice to be freelance or has it enveloped you without you realising it? Is it restricting you or liberating you? If it’s the former then do something about it. If it’s the latter then all power to you!