T his post has been a long time coming, I think it’s important that I document both for myself and for anyone reading my blog that starting a web design business isn’t all bunny rabbits and dollar signs. Just like anything else in life, there are highs, and there are lows. This isn’t meant to come across as moaning, complaining, or trying to scare you about any aspect of working for yourself – they’re just my experiences so far.
The Day From Hell
The worst road.
Sometimes you just have one of those days – where it really seems like “nothing else could possibly go wrong” – and then of course it does. The most memorable one of those for me so far was about 6 months into my first year of business; I had a client site due to launch the next day, and there was still a lot of work to be done. I had planned on working a long 12 hour day to make sure everything was ready to go, but that didn’t quite work out.
I woke up, and went into my office to find that my broadband service was completely down for my entire area. In order to make sure I met my deadline for a client who was a real pain, I got in my car and drove 45 mins to the nearest cafe with wifi outside my broadband-crippled neighbourhood. When I got there I discovered that they didn’t take cards unless you spent more than £10, so I had to buy 3 coffees, a sandwich, and bag of crisps – just to be able to use the internet. I sat down, started working, and almost immediately my server went down for no apparent reason. After an hour or so of frantic phonecalls: I got it back up again, at which point my mouse died. I swapped to my trackpad, got about 10 mins of work done and then the cafe wifi died.
It Gets Worse…
Not a great start so far – but at least to brighten up my day the client gave me a call and started shouting at me cause the site wasn’t done yet, even though it was a day before the deadline. After that Twitter went down, which isn’t really a big deal, but it was just one more nail in the coffin, and when Twitter had come back I discovered that Tweetdeck had been repeatedly trying to login with some SSL error for 30 mins and had disabled my whole account. After that my iPhone died.
Finally everything started working again and I went back to my coding, which was followed pretty quickly by me accidentally sending a system email to every single one of the client’s 8,000 customers, and then overwriting the file I’d been working on all morning so I lost absolutely everything I’d done so far. Then I got another call from the client asking why we’d written page-copy for all the wrong products. When I pointed out that those were the exact products that they asked us to write copy for, they were still angry that we “hadn’t double checked with them to make sure it was right”.
At the end of the day I left the cafe and got back to my car to find a parking ticket. I’d paid up to 5:34pm and I got there at 5:38pm. Great.
When Money Flies Out The Window
or burns…
Another pitfall of working for yourself is that every now and then you just suddenly get nailed by a whole load of things that cost a lot of money, and this is where not having a “stable” income really kicks you in the face.
- I got a call from my landlord a couple of weeks ago to say he’s decided to sell the house that we rent – I now have 5 weeks to pack up and move somewhere else, and moving house is not cheap.
- On top of that, a couple of months ago I made the genuine (but stupid) mistake of driving to the post office to renew my car tax. In the 5 minutes that I was parked, whilst inside getting a new tax disc, a parking attendant spotted my out-of-date disc and reported me for it. So this month I’m also paying a £500 fine for that little error in judgement.
- A couple of days ago my dog (Herbie) started throwing up, a lot. He kept throwing up yesterday, and then again today. This evening I had to take him to the emergency vets. They don’t even know what’s wrong with him yet, but so far his overnight stay is costing me £250. Update: He now needs an £800 surgery to remove what is most probably a sock that he ate. Update2: It was a sock. Update3: Sock removed, total bill just under £1,200
All these massive outgoings – and for the first time in over 12 months I have no client work! I’ve been booked up 1 to 2 months in advance ever since I started working for myself, but this month I simply have nothing coming in.
Getting Fat
This could be you.
I’m really not proud of this one – in fact I’m genuinely hesitant to even include it. By the time I’ve finished typing this paragraph I might’ve even decided not to include it at all, so if by some miracle I don’t delete it, take this as a sign of my shame.
When I was 16 I lived in the Philippines, I was captain of the school swimming team, competed internationally, and I periodically trained with the country’s junior olympic team. After moving back to the UK I didn’t do nearly as much regular excercise, but I still maintained a fairly athletic build.
Since working for myself in a home office, my fitness has totally, totally disappeared. I’ve gained about 10KG’s (22lbs), and most of that is unfortunately in the form of a beer-belly, rather than huge biceps or something cool. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not even close to being obese or anything, but the difference between now and just 1 year ago is slightly depressing.
In Conclusion
Well, some of these things can be fixed, some of them can’t, and some of them are circumstantial – but all of them are just “realities” of working for yourself. Sometimes, stuff sucks. I’m not going to let myself get down about it or dwell on the subject, if anything it’ll just drive me to work even harder. But let me be clear, working for yourself sometimes creates huge amounts of stress, anxiety, and guilt. Not every day is a good day.
Photos by Juliana Coutinho – purpleslog – danperry.com – and fireflythegreat
Hey there, 10kgs is only about 22 lbs not 45… so it’s not that bad. :)
Wohoo! Corrected :)
Haha, nice and personal insight there. Good read. Luckily these days are too frequent in my experience, and this bad coincidences are kind enough to spread themselves out over a week or two. I guess the underlying point that your experiences would highlight is the fact that as a freelancer you’re never totally in control of anything. At any given moment and number of the things we do/rely on could take a turn through no fault of your own.
Haha, glad you included the getting fat part. I’ve not actually weighed myself, but I’m sure doing what I do isn’t doing my body any favors. But then there are plenty of freelancers who because of the freedom incorporate exercise into their daily routine, perhaps we’re just lazy :)
Well said! :) Here’s to being less lazy – though actually I don’t think I’d call either of us lazy at all, we’re both right here at 4am, working our arses off!
Yeah physical laziness isn’t something I’m proud of either. I think I’ve put on 5 lbs over the course of 2 years, which isn’t to bad considering my wifes amazing food came into the picture about the same time. I pretend I burn calories with my mind because mentally I’m a ninja slicing through foe mortal kombat style. However, at the end of the day we have no one else to blame but ourselves because we are the only employee, the only boss, the only one with this unique perspective of why things are so bad. It’s all relative to how low and how high you’ve gotten in life.
Wow, sounds a lot like my life a past few years. But it’s hard giving up on being your own boss, and talking directly to all your clients… personally I never felt better, with all the occasional downsides considered. Btw an Orbitrek in my living room made a huge difference… :)
Hey John,
I can totally relate and have been going through a nightmare myself since last September. My main client dropped me for 3 months, we had a baby, moved house (landlord has been a c*!k) and decided to tie the knot this May. This coming week is the first time I’ve paid myself in 3 months.
I am financially winded to say the least and finding a replacement contract is a tricky task in these troubling times.
This really is the low point of working for ones self.
Let’s hope it picks up for both of us, chin up :)
Absolutely, and the tricky times make the good-times all that much better! :)
Well I’m glad that you’re able to look back now and feel like;
“gee, how did I get through all that stuff”,
that’s the lot of a freelance, it’s not all smooth sailing
and you wish half the day that you had a secretary, or so..
well goodluck, glad that you sound hopeful too
Brilliant post, John! Working for yourself is certainly not all kittens and fairy dust, and it’s great to see a post like this that gives a bit of a reality check. It’s also nice to be able to identify with you on the majority of points here too! Some days, you just wish you could skip altogether.
I’m also rather unhappy with my physical condition over the last couple of years vs the years before. I should be working right near a gym shortly though… so maybe that’ll help me turn that around? ;)
I don’t know if you know this, but I think there might actually be a Snooker club and bar right beside that Gym. I’m just saying…
cheers for the personal insight,
Its been 4 years since I went freelance for me and have had some bad days too.
It is really amazing how far you end up going for clients (sometimes for little or no thanks, sometimes more grief than if you hadn’t have bothered), whereas if you were working 9-5 for a big corp it would just end up in the ‘too hard’ pile and no one would even care about it.
Working for yourself just means you take the work you are doing more personally, at the end of the day if I don’t hit deadlines my clients don’t make money, go out of business etc, it’s a big responsibility.
But the best bit has to be when it all goes live/gets published and you get to say ‘I did that!’
A few extra kilos as well……. keep meaning to join a Gym, but where am I supposed to find time?
cheers,
craig
Great post John. Freelancing is stressful, difficult, as well as rewarding! I’m sure this is just a blip in the road for you. You work hard and hard work always pays off. Still everyone needs a little savings to ride out the times when the money isn’t exactly flowing in.
As for weight gain, I hear you! We need a support group for Freelancers attempting to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Unlucky… I go through bad luck phases, I recently brought down around a thousand sites with a bad patch. Usually this would have been met with a ‘whoops’ and a few minutes to revert the changes. As it turns out the only guy with revert permissions decided to fall of the face of the earth for a full day. Spent my whole day explaining ‘I have fixed it! Where is your guy to apply the fix?’
It was all very uncomfortable. Of course they kept me on, i’m awesome :). However, this very stressful day was followed up a few days later with some lost door keys, an £80 fine for some nonsense and the week after that I lost my wallet. :/
I understand what you are saying about fitness, fortunately I suffer from either bad-diet or stress and no matter what I eat I never edge past 12 stone. (12.1 is my optimal BMI according to Wii Fit :D) Recently I signed up to a Gym, has wifi, a posh cafe everything. The plan is 2 fold, up my fitness and get out a bit more. I like working away from home :)
Oh, for your broadband issue. I have a Nokia E71 which comes with a software package that lets you use it as a portable modem. On the odd occasion when I lost connection I just hook up my mobile. I assume you have an iPhone, you seem like the type. Surely there is an app for that.
Hey John,
Really good post. I know I’m hardily a full time freelancer but everyone has ups and downs (My Google Adsense account had just tipped $200 before for no apparent reason they banned it. About 10 emails were sent to them but no response. To this day I have no idea why they closed it down. I was about 5 days away from getting that cash, which was much much needed).
It’s not what we do that makes us, it’s how we come through the other side and I’ve every confidence that you’ll come through absolutely fine.
As for the dog, well…gotta love your pets ;)
Jack.
indeed, there are good days and bad days. one extreme to the other but w/o the how would you know the good?
also being lazy is a killer in the freelance world.
Well done John for being brave enough to write this as a reminder for us all – including the weight. I blame having two kids but really it’s that odd choccy bar I have on rare occasions :-) Unfortunately if I was in a position to join a gym then I would be too busy to go. Roll on the nicer weather and brisk walks down the prom.
I have a client at the mo but the last couple of months have been tough – clients I know want a website doing but can’t get themselves together to give me content, ideas, direction etc. I have used my free time to work on a couple of other projects and learn new techniques so when those clients finally contact me I will have some stuff to make them go ‘wow’ lol.
From what I’ve seen of your work I am sure this is an inconvenient aberration and things will go up from now. Hope Herbie is recovering nicely.
Another post I can relate to and certainly important to heed your cautions regarding cashflow. Something that scares me too. As for the weight gain, I am sure in our case there is a direct relationship between number of hours work and weight gained – we need sugar rushes to help us through the wee small hours!
I think that’s a very good point! The main thing for me is that most days I walk 10 feet from the bedroom to my office, stay there for 12 hours, and then 10 feet back to the bedroom again – need to get up and about more often :)
“Update2: It was a sock. Update3: Sock removed, total bill just under £1,200″
> personally, I’d have just bought a new pair of socks…
I know how you feel on the llast one, I’ve never been thin or athletic, but leaving uni & starting work in an office gained me 11kgs. I’m thankful for the large proportion of that which has gone onto my front-lumps, but otherwise it TOTALLY sucks being sat still all day.
It is really hard to battle the mental exhaustion that makes you want to vegetate & realise that physically, you still have energy which needs to be burnt off. This week I’m trying to combat this by getting up 30 mins earlier & running before work because afterwards I have no motivation.
You’re stronger than me John, this is exactly why I stopped freelancing. The draw of being an employee, rather than freelancer, is that you don’t have to worry about these issues–you just get your head down and concentrate on the fun stuff. Saying that, the feeling of freedom and control you feel as your own boss is pretty damn awesome. I’m sure that helps make these hiccups worthwhile. I can’t see myself freelancing again full-time, but I have nothing but admiration for those who do.
Great Post John! It really shows the reality of the freelance life, I do freelancing part time and it can be really stressful.
These are the things that will make you stronger, get through these times and you will be a stronger person.
These are the post that helps new freelancers like me prepare for full time.
Thanks for the post.
Yup! I can relate … just last week our washing machine decided to crap itself, that was £300 down the drain! Then you have stuff like car servicing, car tax, MOT (and repairs!) …
Scary stuff when the account gets low, and it’s never made easier when your missus can’t have those shoes she wants this week until a cheque clears (somehow it’s your fault!?)
The fitness thing – I make sure I get my ass out the house. I do Kickboxing at least twice a week, and I play 5aside twice a week too. If I didn’t, I’d never see my mates for a start. Having said that, I eat waaaaay too much crap! Crisps, chocolate, coffee – all day, every day … I’m 30 years old, 6′ tall, 14stone 13lb which is heavy but I have quite a bit of upper body muscle now because of the kickboxing. When I was 23 I weighed 9stone soaking wet!
One thing freelancing ISN’T, is boring!
Could never go back to an agency though. Even when things are shit, at least I don’t have some muppet breathing down my neck for something pointless.
Nice to see a realistic portrait of another side to working for yourself – I think a lot of non-self-employed folks think that its the “easy life” with no stress or problems.
For me its been the fitness side of things – used to be very athletic pre business, iv now taken up gym which is great as its getting me out of the office and giving me time to think away from work.
Its amazing how much stuff you can process when your not in front of a screen of distractions.
Glad that you got Mr Herbie sorted out – be it a few quid later! do you now have a no sock policy at home now? ;-)
hi John, thanks for this post- I really enjoyed reading it :)
I can’t believe that day you had – talk about a bad day! It’s great to read about your experiences… very interesting.
This was entertaining. :-) I can’t believe how bad your day was! I know exactly what you mean though. I’ll be about to launch a client’s website and my Internet will die. Then I’ll head to a cafe only to realize my laptop wasn’t plugged in, so it dies. Then when I finally get the site launched with moments to spare, I realize that something doesn’t work properly in IE.
But later on, those moments make you chuckle, so they’re all part of the experience.