Going Freelance With Children

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Thinking about going freelance but have a family?

Making the plunge to go freelance is a big decision. Doing that with a baby or a young child takes the decision process to the next level.

This is precisely what I did. I’m certainly not one to do things by half. Step into freelance, new house and a little dependable on the way.

There’s a common misconception that becoming a freelancer automatically means you are fragile financially. Sure trying to get a mortgage when freelancing is still far more difficult than it should be. But that’s for another piece. Financially it can be a far more secure path than full time employment.

Tell anyone you know that you’re planning on going freelance whether having a baby or with children and you’ll get the standard rhetorics.

‘But what about stability?’

‘Are you sure it’s the right thing to do?’

You will be talked out of it before you have even considered the thought.

Going freelance is awesome. There’s no other way to put it. Deciding to go freelance with a baby was also the wisest decision I ever made. The flexibility, the availability for key moments (12 month jabs anyone?) and having lunch with my daughter most days made the decision worthwhile. There are challenges and considerations like any big decision, however if you are focused and have a plan, freelancing can be far more stable than any job working your classic 9-5.

I’m now over a year into freelancing and I think I’m well positioned to offer some handy advice for anyone with (or without) children considering freelance.

Considerations:

Part time?:

For the first 6-8 months I held a part time position and was able to slowly reduce my hours as my freelancing income picked up. Granted I was with a company who understood and were happy to accommodate this. It is however totally possible for you too.

Going part time allows you to dip your toe into freelancing and ‘test the water’. It’s very different from holding a permanent position where if you have a bad day it’s kind of OK as you are working on the same business day after day. Freelancing is a little different. You are accountable for everything. Clients pay by the day/hour so they want to see value.

Part time gives you the ‘try before you buy’ approach to freelancing. You can pick up a few clients and see if it feels right. It’s a step into the unknown so it makes sense to trial it; especially with a dependable in the house.

Even if you don’t have clients currently, get some savings, build your freelance website and approach your current workplace and ask the question. Companies are more open to part time arrangements than you think.

Build online assets now:

I don’t believe in 3-5 year plans or any of that thought leader bullshit. Things change for me every week let alone in three years time!

I do however feel it’s healthy to have a very rough plan of where you want to be and what you want to achieve. I was always entrepreneurial; as a teenager I would build wrestling websites and at 15 I was paid £15 an hour by a local web design agency to build holiday cottage websites for their clients. This was when tables were cool!

Since I was being employed I was always building online assets. Some good, some not so good. I finally found a couple which stuck and had a nice side income from some educational websites. The plan was always to use the earnings from my online assets to supplement my freelance income. I can work on these from anywhere and at anytime meaning I have more flexibility with my daughter. Ironically in the past 12 months since leaving my full time role and allocating time to the business it has grown incredibly.

My advice to you would be to try and build up some assets now. Even if they bring in £200 a month, that’s £200 less you need to earn from a part time role or freelancing.

They become even more important when deciding to go freelance; especially as a new parent. Those assets which are making you £1000 a month mean you don’t have to take on shitty clients. My plan was always to build my online entities which could facilitate a lifestyle I want to lead. They also provided a springboard to leave my role and push on and build a freelance business too. Start building.

Savings:

Anything you read on ‘going freelance’ will tell you to have a level of savings behind you. This is partially true but is more to keep your anxiety levels in check as opposed to actually needing the money. This is especially true when taking the plunge with young children in the household.

I had a two month spring board of savings which I never touched but knowing I had enough savings to pay our mortgage for a specific period of time made me less anxious. Being a parent adds another level of expectation. You have a dependable now so it’s more than just ‘covering your bills’.

Fortunately I have never had to touch the savings. I’ve been booked up for a few months now (at time of writing) and thankfully most of my clients are good at paying on time. That security blanket is always there though and there is always room for a bigger blanket.

Reducing outgoings:

I’ve always been pretty frugal but even the most frugal get drawn in by commercialism and make shitty arsed decisions.

When having a full time employed income I fell into the ‘nice pay packet >> long commute = ‘brand new car’ group of stupidness.

Here’s a couple of steps I have taken since going freelance:

Car: sold the car and bought a smaller car outright. This cut 10% off my overall outgoings a month instantly.
Stopped commuting: this saved me £130 a month on money just to get to work. When self employed any petrol costs for work reasons can be deducted from your tax bill. Actually turns out freelancers don’t need cars much.
Smartphone: bought the best budget smartphone available (based on reviews) for my price range outright.
Phone Contract: picked up a phone contract costing me £6 a month.
Bills: switched energy suppliers, car insurance, home insurance, broadband provider.
Eating: eat out less and cook fresh, home produced meals. Let’s be real how often do you eat out and think ‘That was so much better than anything I could ever do?’.
Stupid Shit: stopped buying stupid shit I didn’t need.

Freelancing and having a daughter made me more self aware of our outgoings. My wife and I were never ridiculous with our spending nor were any of these reductions completely necessary, however freelancing makes you more focused with your finances as there’s no guaranteed paycheck at the end of every month. We saved easily over £1000 a month with the smallest changes and actually improved our quality of life.

Everyone is obsessed with earning more when in reality life can be improved by spending less on frivolous shit. John Doherty wrote a nice piece here on lifestyle creep.

The Freelancing stuff:

Ok so now to the important stuff; the work. I work as a Digital marketing consultant and right now there is plenty of work around. People are starting online businesses, companies are still within a transition and many agencies are outsourcing to digital specialists.

Irrespective of the industry you work in, here are some of the basics when starting out in the freelance world.

Initial Contacts:

Ex work colleagues are super important when initially going freelance. You know them, how they work and more importantly they know you too. They tend to be an excellent starting point. Two of my initial contracts were ex colleagues who had seen my Linkedin profile update. One of these is still a client today. Without leaning on existing support networks the initial few months may be tough (unless you already have something in place).

Ex colleagues gave me the initial boost of work so I didn’t have to eat into my savings. Update your social profiles, drop old colleagues text messages, send emails, create a video announcing you are going freelance. Get your name on a billboard. Jokes aside just let people know.

Build a website yesterday:

One of the first things I did was to create my website. I sat down, grabbed a nice template and finished it in a day. It wasn’t great but it was completed. I continue to refine my website to this day as there are aspects of it which are not ideal but it’s served me well.

A year on and I am now ranking for some really nice competitive terms. Freelance PPC consultant is one of my most solid rankings as well as a number of location specific rankings. I haven’t done anything mind blowing other than getting my website live and continue to add new content.

Three of my current client list are via my website. The vast majority of my leads still go cold or drop off however the website serves as an important component of my business and in time will drive enquiries.

Suitable Workspace:

I gave coworking a go but it didn’t work for me. Whether you have a dedicated desk in a co-working space or a dedicated room in your house it’s important you have that disparity between work and home life. There’s no denying they will blur from time to time especially with young children at home but that’s totally cool right? The whole ideology behind this lifestyle choice is that you get to spend more time with them?

Create a dedicated room for your work away from the main ‘activity zone’ of the house.

Get Your Contracts Watertight:

As the main earner of the household I always make sure I have watertight contracts for any client engagements. Contracts make sure you are covered in case shit goes down and if shit goes down a contract is your friend.

I have a really standard contract but I make sure all my clients sign this before anything gets started and I won’t start work until it’s signed, sealed and delivered. How you operate is completely up to you. I personally operate for a set time period (3-6 months) with a 30 day notice period which can be exercised by myself or the client.

The 30 day notice period is great because if you are not enjoying an engagement with a client you can serve notice in the same way you can in employment. Sure this can work the other way too but again that’s very much similar to being fully employed.

Always highlight value:

Freelance is a constant battle in your own head to add value. For me it becomes a psychological aspect of the profession where I feel I need to justify myself to my client.

I tend to send clients little nuggets via email of improvements, areas we have grown or have had a significant impact. It’s all personal PR too.

Say no a lot:

I currently average at least 1-2 enquiries a week via my website and I very rarely end up taking on a new client. Why? A bunch of reasons. A lot of enquiries are obsessed with a phone call without providing any level of context or background to the project.

I had one enquiry who refused to tell me anything about the project (not even the website url) without a phone call.

Others have expected marketing for their high value product for a less than minimum wage marketing investment. I also reject clients on geographical location and requests for time in their offices. I have a really specific criteria in terms of what I would call the right type of client.

Think about why you are choosing to go freelance in the first place and stick to the script. I very nearly took on a client recently who wanted me to work from their office at least once a month. It was well over 80 minutes commuting time. My whole premise when going freelance was to slash any type of regular commuting so even though the client was great this just didn’t work for me.

Try not to be scared of of saying no. You will do it a lot so don’t feel bad about it.

Save your taxes:

Everything you earn, put at least 40% aside. Why? In case shit happens.

We live in a world where we have to pay taxes. The difficulty of freelancing is that you need to save your own and it can be really easy to dip into your tax savings. You must be strong willed and treat that 40% as somebody else’s money. 40% is a good chunk of cash but I always over save on tax rather than under save. The excess money can be put into a pension plan or used for something fun. It’s certainly better to have the money than not.

Get Insurance:

I know absolutely nothing about insurance. Fortunately my good friend Ashley built ‘Insurance by Jack’ which is business insurance for freelancers. Insurance basically safeguards you from getting sued and a bunch of other important business stuff. I now know that insurance as a freelancer is really important and I now feel safe knowing that I am covered if anything negative was to transpire.

I suggest you use Ashley’s What insurance? Tool to identify what level of insurance you need.

Keep building your brand:

Becoming a freelancer is really building a personal brand. Even when fully booked; update, refine, and improve your offering constantly. Whether that’s improving your services pages or writing new blog content. Keep things fresh and continue to build. You can always turn work down but that’s difficult if the work isn’t coming to you.

But Stability?

From the outside looking in, the move to freelancing with young children most likely looks like a worrying venture. A job offers a level of stability which freelancing may not be able to offer. But if you have your ducks in order is this really about stability or about belief in your own ability?

Jobs offer certain perks, sick pay, pension schemes which freelancing cannot compete with. But what it does not offer you is stability. That’s a fallacy; a mere fabrication.

Most employed individuals are on a 30 day notice period which works BOTH WAYS. You can be out the door in 30 days with nothing to show but a final pay day. With freelancing sure there’s uncertainty from time to time, however most freelancers have eggs in multiple baskets, meaning if an egg cracks it may not be ideal but there’s always others putting food on the table.

Awful analogies aside, if you build your freelancing in the right way with a number of key paying clients, then there’s a level of stability from a financial perspective which a job cannot offer.

Timing:

Going freelance with young children may seem like bad timing. I would argue the opposite. It’s a great time to go freelance; especially when your child is between 0-12 months.

New parents tend to stay in more. You’re raising a little person who is completely reliant on you. People stay in more so therefore have more time and money to make a leap into freelancing. Before we had a child we used to eat our regularly, whereas now it’s more sporadic. You get used to waking early so even when your child begins to sleep more like normal humans you still tend to wake early. This is perfect when building a business.

You have more duties and a lot of your free time revolves around the child’s schedule but you spend less, meaning you have to earn less, which allows you to free up time elsewhere.

What you will gain?

Freelancing is not easy but there are certain joys which come with it. Those joys have been amplified by having a young daughter whose initial development I have been able to see by being around far more than I would have been having stayed employed.

Those moments:

Having lunch with your family daily, taking a break and playing with your child are just some of the ‘moments’ you gain when freelancing. I schedule my weeks that if clients want me in the office this tends to only be once a week. Once a week I can deal with.

I wake up many days and think ‘what if’ I’d stayed employed. I think about those moments I would have missed. These feel far more important than 37 hours a week + commute. Angus Woodman summarises this perfectly with his post ‘It takes 60 hours to work 40 hours per week’.

Commuting:

I believe commuting to be the biggest drain on happiness in society today. Have you ever seen a happy commuter? Commuting kills enthusiasm for work and the role. Commuting and schedule dictation are two huge flaws in the way we work. I’m super productive at around 5:30am but a full time role would make me ‘wait’ until 9am having commuted an hour to go to the office. Logic much?

That’s just it, there isn’t any logic. With freelancing I can get meaningful work done when I’m bringing my ‘a game’ and take a break when my mind is wandering elsewhere.

The Sunday night dread:

Can you remember the Sunday evening dread when you were at school? The preparation the night before, sorting your school bag and being ready for the morning? I used to get that for work. I imagine the dread would be amplified if I’d had children while working full time. Couple that with an interrupted night’s sleep and we are talking unhappiness.

If you get the same dread then it’s perhaps time you changed roles. There are a multitude of reasons as to why you might get that feeling. I actually used to like my employment but the whole ‘process’ of getting ready for work and commuting to work made me anxious.

Since becoming established as a freelancer I have tried to make it so I either always work from home on a Monday or work with a client within 10-15 minutes of home. Psychologically this has changed that Sunday feeling and I no longer get that.

Office not required:

I’m really not a huge fan of the office when established within your role. I’m constantly met with resistance when I say this that the office breeds collaboration and knowledge sharing. There are moments when this is bang on the money however my long standing memory of the office is headphones in and having to tap someone on the shoulder if you wanted to speak to them or someone laughing incredibly loudly when you wanted to do some meaningful work. The list goes on.

Office time and collaboration with peers is great but constant face time is unnecessary.

Going freelance has allowed me to have less time in the office and when I am in the client’s office it’s knowledge sharing and collaboration. This is meaningful work. This is not the anxiety of an owner who cannot come to terms with the fact of people working off site and actually working hard.

Most freelance gigs will require face to face time however the majority of the work can be done in an environment which is conducive to your best work.

Schedule Dictation:

Work where you make shit happen and at the time you are most productive. I’m writing this at 6am on a Saturday with the family in bed. This is the perfect time for me to write as it’s quiet and I can get meaningful work done.

Clients comment when I sometimes email them before 6am. This isn’t an honour badge or ‘wake early to be super productive’ post. This is when I work at my best.

The schedule is flexible when freelancing. You will have to do meetings within working hours however if you have good clients they won’t care when you do the work as long as you do it. I tend to be available between 9-5 as that works well for our family however I regularly do an hour before my daughter wakes and take an extended lunch or some time off in the afternoon to mow the lawn.

This is all incredibly useful when you have young children as a regular 9-5 schedule + commute sometimes just doesn’t work. 12 month jabs, bad night’s sleep, just spending valuable time together, etc. Freelancing allows you to work around these pain points and still get things done.

Freelance in what you enjoy:

For the most part I freelance in what I enjoy. I like to help businesses grow online and I like to see people become successful. If a client doesn’t feel like the right fit I won’t accept the work. If I start working with a client and the work is not enjoyable then I will look to move on from the contract.

Freelancing is a step towards creating a lifestyle which you want to lead. This includes the work you do on a daily basis. I have a side income which also supports me so perhaps I can be more choosy but at the same time if money was my only desire then I could have taken on far more contracts.

You can mould your proposition around what you want to do. Once you have cut your teeth in freelancing you can niche down and focus on the areas of work which you best at. This doesn’t really happen when employed as you follow the path which is best for the business and more often than not end up doing things you don’t want to do. Freelancing is a choice.

Supportive partner:

If you are in a relationship then going freelance is a joint decision. You have a family to support and you need a partner who understands you and the impact this will have on the family.
When freelancing you’re on your own and you need someone to bounce off. Single parents I assume lean on family members/parents.

But for those making the decision in a relationship then your partner is the single, most important component in the success of your business. Having someone to talk the business over, decide when to finish a specific contract, what areas to target. A second voice of sorts is unrivalled.

Someone who knows there will be quiet spells and knows how difficult it is to run a business as well as doing meaningful work for your clients.

I would say my wife is the most important cog of my business. She’s the second opinion and validation I need for every decision I make and backs me knowing I’m making the best long term decisions for our family.

Your partner needs to ‘get it’ and look past the monetary impact and think about the end goal. A more balanced, happy and fruitful life as a family raising your children. You may earn less initially but what good is money if you barely see your children? Really think about your end goal in life.

Conclusion:

I’ve been freelancing for over a year now and on a whole I’ve had nothing but great experiences. Sure you have your less than ideal clients, work which is not too enjoyable and lean spells however on a whole it’s been a decision I just do not regret. If you follow my advice and stay true to why you want to freelance in the first place then I truly believe it will be one of the better life decisions you make.

Get your ducks in order and embrace freelance. What are you waiting for?