A better lifestyle including more time spent at home with the family is the number one reason Brits choose to ‘go it alone’ as a freelance business owner.
A focus group of freelance professionals specialising in the creative industries told Freelance UK that the biggest appeal of self-employment is the flexibility it offers.
Supporting their view, a study by insurers More Than recently found that eight out of ten entrepreneurs ‘made the jump’ to freelancing to free up their time and enjoy life more.
The study, obtained by the Mail on Sunday, added that contrary to popular belief, just 16 per cent went into business alone because they wanted to make money and enjoy a richer lifestyle.
The attitude mirrors disclosures obtained by Freelance UK, which suggest that while money is important to the self-employed, its irregularity in the start-up stage makes it less of a pull factor when compared against lifestyle incentives.
Mark Hillman, founder and director of Hypermedia, a graphical design agency, said, “The freedom to set your own ideas, ethos, working environment and style is what I most enjoy about being self-employed.
“Above all, I think it's the satisfaction of knowing I'm happy in what I do, when I do it and who I do it for.”
Asked whether the money involved in ‘going it alone’ was appealing, Debbie Staveley – another freelance business owner – responded, “I absolutely love being my own boss, making my own decisions and not being answerable to anyone else.
“You choose what you do, when you do it, who you do it for and best of all, how much you get paid for it,” she said, referring to clients of her Bristol-based PR company, bClear Communications.
“You are in charge of how much work you do and your pay rises – so you don’t have to wait until the end of the year in the hope you’ll receive 2.5 per cent!”
Richard Willis, a freelance historian and budding journalist, agreed that working independently offers the scope for potential money-making.
“But more important for me is the choices working freelance offers; I like being my own boss and enjoy setting myself creative challenges within a task or assignment,” he said.
Carole Vincer, a freelance illustrator, failed to cite money among the top reasons people should consider self-employment.
She told Freelance UK, “The best reward [of being self-employed] must be having the freedom to work hours which suit, you can choose to have time off during the week and work at the weekend, or visa versa depending on the type of work commissioned. Time is your own. Also the variety of work is another bonus of working as an independent.”
However Ray Christodoulou, a freelance copywriter, says the potential for higher earnings was the number one incentive that convinced him to freelance.
‘Going it alone’ with his expertise in marketing and advertising is simply “more lucrative,” he said, before adding that more “freedom” of choice was the second pull factor inspiring him to freelance.
He sees working as an independent professional as “politics-free,” while it also guarantees you “always [feel] valued and [are] never seen as a part of the furniture.”
Mark Hillman agreed, saying there is considerably less conflict when individuals choose to start-up alone.
“Not arguing with anyone other than yourself is a definite plus of running your own small business," he said.
"I chose to go freelance because I kept saying to people, ’I can do that’ to projects or work I had seen others produce.
“So I stopped working for a boss that didn't respect me or my work, and set up my own freelance studio. Plus I wanted to get out of a very male ego-driven environment and concentrate on work that I enjoyed.”
Hillman addded that in his experience, “the real high” of freelancing “comes when you see the client’s face.”
“When they are happy with a job it makes me personally feel much more joy than any amount of patting on the back from an employer,” he said. “You really start to feel that all the hard work has paid off.”
Meanwhile, Gill Taylor, founder and director of Contract Marketing, a marketing agency for small firms which specialises in IT marketing, said the financial and lifestyle treats of self-employment were interrelated.
“The money can be very good on a good month, with no extra financial outlay as all I am charging for is my time,” Ms Taylor said in an interview with Freelance UK.
“The flexibility is also very good. This means that I can probably take more long weekends than most people, as well as being able to collect my son from school, and get to appointments I would have otherwise missed.”
Jun 5, 2006
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