Monday, April 03, 2006

Freelancing, Part-Time, Full-Time

Do you really have be unemployed to freelance? This is one of the question some of the freelancers who are the same time doing their own stuff ask themselves. Their reasons differ but most will agree that freelancing gives them the satisfaction they don't get from their job. In fact, it's great doing your own stuff. Another reason is that, they will have something to fall back into in case they decide to leave the corporate world or they are laying out the groundwork for their own business.

Part-time or Full-time
So is doing your own stuff while employed be considered freelancing? I think so. In that part of your world, you are free. You are your boss. And unless your company clearly prohibits you from doing so, which they usually doesn't care unless you're trying to undermine their clients, you can do all you can in your own time.

So let's say you work in a technology company, Search Engine Optimization to be specific. Of course it will be a conflict of interest if you are doing the same thing for money in your free time. But you can always go into web design where you can integrate your SEO expertise anyhow or go into affiliate marketing for yourself which also leverages your SEO mastery. This is called part-time freelancing.

So when do you go full-time freelancing? Full-time freelancing is in essence you are already building your own business. The time for one to become a full-time freelancer is ripe when his/her earnings from freelancing is more than double than what he/she is earning from his day job. It only mean one thing. If you will just exert a little more effort on that freelancing thing, you are better off doing it all the way. But then there are other things to consider, like securities of offered by an employed person or the discipline one has to sustain his/her work habit. Mileage varies. In the end, it's case to case basis.