Freelancers are in the categories of independent writer; independent consultant; independent contractor; independent trainer; the self-employed.

Freelancers leave the relatively stable confines of organizational life - sometimes by choice, sometimes not - to work independently.

Knowledge-intensive occupations, creative occupations are the largest segments of the freelance economy.

Most Freelancers do acknowledge that they feel a host of personal, social and economic anxieties without the cover and support of a traditional employer. The void felt between assignments. The exhilaration of landing the next engagement. The discipline, concentration and grace that mastering their profession requires. However, for a good proportion of them, once they take their independence as a choice, they will not give up the benefits that come with it.

Produce or Perish

The stakes of independent work are enormously high - not just financially but also existentially.

Unshackled from corporate norms, Freelancers can choose assignments that make the most of their talents and reflect their true interests. They can feel ownership over what they produce and over their entire professional lives.

However, the price of such freedom is a precariousness that seems not to subside over time. Even the most successful, well-established Freelancers still worry about money and reputation. In freelancing, there is really no "I have arrived." For this reason, productivity is an intense preoccupation. They care very much about having the discipline to regularly generate products or services that find a market.

Many freelancers want to preserve their independence and, paradoxically, even their unsettledness - the key to their continued learning.

Place

Disconnected from a corporate office, freelancers find places to work that protect them from distractions. Freelancers who don't create a space and time to do whatever it is they need to do usually fail.

Routine

Freelancers must be regular and orderly in their lives so that they may be productive and also be original in their work.

Purpose

Striking out on their own initially involves doing whatever work would allow a Freelancer to find a footing in the market. A big distinction between Freelancers who are successful and the ones who aren't or go back to corporate jobs is getting to that stage of knowing what you are meant to do.

Redefining Success

In popular management tales, career success usually comes with security. For freelance workers such is ultimately elusive and they must pursue a different kind of success - one that comes from finding a balance between predictability and possibility.

Of course, there is a sense of confidence that comes from a career as a self-employed person. You can feel that no matter how bad it gets, you can overcome. You can operate more from a place of choice as opposed to a place of need.

Many freelancers believe they wouldn't be able to find the same mental space or strength in a traditional workplace.

                        Read the full piece in HAVARD BUSINESS REVIEW March-April 2018, pages140-143.

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