You don't get taught at school or university about how to get into freelance work.
And, even if you were, there is no one path you can follow to do so. Many of us probably have this idea of freelancing as all lie-ins and leisurely working from home or in a local coffee shop, travelling the UK with a Macbook needing nothing but Wi-Fi and phone signal.
In reality, freelancing is perfect for some and allows you to do work you love, with some degree of flexibility in planning out your days. But it's also really tough: managing your own time, making sure you get paid, and answering to multiple bosses, because every client is your boss for the time you work for them.
Noah Gittell (@noahgittell), a freelancer, film critic and essayist - who has been featured in The Economist, The Guardian, Wired, Elle, GQ and many more - recently took to Twitter to discuss this topic. Noah reached out to the writing community, tweeting: "Hey writers, quote this tweet and give one piece of advice to freelancers".
He got some great responses and was overwhelmed by the amount of people coming forward to help people just starting out freelancing. He later tweeted: "So many writers and editors chimed in today that it warmed my bitter, freelancing heart".
Here are 10 pieces of advice from Twitter for freelancers.
You can read the thread in full here.
1. The basics: show you're reliable and companies will be more likely to want to work with you again.
2. Welcome constructive criticism.
3. And work on your own 'editing eye'.
4. Don't be afraid to ask for help.
5. Protect your rights and your work.
6. And always remember to look after your physical and mental health.
No set working hours means it's on you to set aside breaks and downtime.
7. Look out for opportunities to diversify what you can offer to clients.
Only you can limit yourself.
8. And be proactive.
9. Because the work you're doing is important.
10. And it's worth doing.
