To Quit or Not to Quit: Leaving Your Day Job to Freelance

CREDIT: Alamy Stock Photo, Office Space 1999

Whilst working in the construction industry as an architect, I always had an additional side-income as a freelance artist. This meant that I had the comfort of a full-time income whilst gaining experience in applying for freelance commissions, winning them, carrying out the work independently and doing my own billing and accounts. My freelance work meant that there was no cap on my overall salary as I could earn extra income freelancing.


But how do you know whether it is a good idea to quite the 9-to-5 and go fully freelance? My main reasons were:

• Needing flexibility to take care of a young child
• Wanting flexibility to pursue hobbies like my guitar which I now do everyday
• Being an introvert and struggling daily with open-plan office life
• Suffering from chronic health issues day-to-day including migraines, indigestion, back pain and sleeping issues
• Disliking the office hierarchy, with little to no interest in promotions
• Generally being non-compliant and not enjoying a set routine including eating lunch at a certain time

But when do you know that you are ready to go freelance full-time? For me it was when:

• I had built up ongoing relationships with people who were regularly commissioning me to do work
• I had at least one year of expenses saved
• Overall personal outgoings were fairly low
• I wasn’t worried about losing the prestige of working for a well-known employer

And some of the steps I took were:

• Making a spreadsheet to work out all of my bottom-line expenses including mortgage, energy, food and yearly vehicle/insurance expenses
• Saving a year of expenses
• Setting up a self-assessment account some years prior in order to deal with my taxes
• Getting my website and CV up to date so that I could refer to it to potential clients
• Letting people who I was freelancing for know that I was interested in doing more with them
• Purchasing any software I would need to carry out the work

Since working freelance the benefits have outweighed any negatives. For many people, (those inputting information into a computer whether it be words, numbers or 3D information), work can be done flexibly and from home or a small office/studio. I’ve experienced a range of lifestyle changes since working from home:

• Routine, I have no routine. This is good although I now start the day early doing some music practice before my kid wakes up so that each day starts with some element of sameness.
• I have more time for myself/hobbies and can decide to do something I want to do on a Monday and get the work done on a Sunday
• I am more entrepreneurial, looking out for new opportunities
• Holiday, pension and sickness all need to be covered by me and reflected in my day-rate
• It’s harder to maintain friendships with ex-coworkers when you don’t see them day-to-day
• I’ve found that my values have changed in relation to friends’ values as I am completely outside of the regular work routine and hierarchy

Overall I would say that if you want more flexibility in life or other improved conditions, you may want to chat to your employer first. However, if there is no movement or compromise, you may want to try freelance work - as long as you’ve built up a safety net. I never want to go back...