At least I’m sensitive to the anxiety of my waitperson. Having been a waitperson myself, a thousand years ago, I do understand. I used to work in a terribly cool café in Glebe, one of the ritzier and more up-itself suburbs of Sydney. Local celebs and the wealthy beautiful crowd used to stop in regularly for their foccacias and macchiatos. Writers would come in and take up multiple tables with their notebooks and big ideas (this is the pre-laptop days), wannabe filmmakers would come in a take up even more room with their big dreams. I was constantly juggling tables and people and armloads of food, trying to squeeze as many fabulous bodies in as I could. It was complicated and annoying, and I often had a hangover while doing it, so many a less-than-savoury word would escape my lips on a busy Saturday morning.

If this café gets any busier, I will move to a smaller table. Or move to another café. I live near Newtown, which prides itself on being one of the hippest café strips of Sydney. If I leave here there will another café within spitting distance and yet another short black and large table awaiting me. I am also not alone. Living in a suburb full of students, freelancers and ne’er-do-well creatives, there are inevitably a large number of our kind taking up lots of room and spending small amounts of money.

I do have a perfectly nice office to do my work in. And, most of the time, I’m in there working. But I’ve incorporated the café culture into my day anyway. I usually drop the kids off at school early, to accommodate their various swatty activities, and then have an hour or so to wait before I can go to the gym. I fill that hour with a bit of work in a café on the way. I have a couple of favourite haunts, although I do tend to be a bit slutty in my café commitments. After gym I head back to my office and my day begins proper, but that little bit of work in between (and the super-strong coffee that goes with it) helps to kick start the process.

I will probably always exploit the café-as-office though, for sentimental reasons. I started freelancing while I was still a student, and shared a house with large numbers of scruffy friends. My tiny bedroom was dedicated to study and other exploratory activities, and there was no way I could do anything serious in the rest of the house. I’d seen the writers and filmmakers coming into my workplace, and I envied them so. I hadn’t yet decided to take myself seriously as either, so I didn’t want my flatmates to see me doing anything as poncy in case they made fun of me.

So, I would take my writing to a café, where nobody knew me and I could spend my days trying to make my words behave themselves. Later, after uni, when I was trying to find work (and myself) I would spend whole days in cafés, making my pitiful dole money last for as long as humanly possible, writing and writing and writing. Most of those words were crap, but after a while the good ones started to pay, as did my other long-held dreams.

I feel a certain pride sitting here now. It’s twenty years since those days, and even though it was hard and sometimes I was very frightened, I have made this freelance life work. I have a creative job that I love, and that I invented for myself. It doesn’t get much better than that.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I might have another coffee. After all, I can afford it these days.

Until next time, happy freelancing.

x Monica

Freelancing for Australian (for Dummies) is available in bookstores and via the Freelance Success website right now – visit http://www.freelancesuccess.com.au/books for more information.

This is how predictable I am. By mid December every year I am quite exhausted. Running a freelance business is of course a job unto itself, as is having three children, and doing both at once can be a little wearying. My exhaustion is justified though because I need to accumulate extra money. This extra money means I can take a long holiday, hopefully as much of the Christmas period and January as possible. Overwork at the end of the year means time off, hanging with my kids for the long hot summer.

So, even though this is a deliberate break and I have work booked for February onwards, I’m now having a panic. Sure there’s work, but not very much at this stage. Not enough to pay the bills. Will I get more?  Should I throw myself into some frenzied marketing? Should I write that next book, just on the off chance, or go back to that unfinished script? I’m thoroughly enjoying my Mum time, and money is not an issue, but still I worry.

The really sad thing about this whole process is that I’ve been doing it now for twenty years. After all this time, surely you would think I’d be brave enough to rest on my laurels, my extensive freelance experience, my super client base, my reputation and my standing in the arts community? Crap. That way, poverty lies. And I’m not that big a wanker.

The truth is that work will come, because work will always come. I know that, but I still freak out. Sadly, if I took that prospect of work for granted, and assumed that gigs and clients were only moments away, I would probably end up very poor indeed. Murphy’s Law for freelancers, perhaps, but after all these years I still don’t think it’s smart or safe to assume.

I just have to stop myself from sending panicky emails to my regular clients, begging them to secure my time for the year. I know they’ll get to me eventually, the bookings will come, and all will be well. I just have to stave off the panic. The last thing I want is to become the freelance equivalent of the desperate girlfriend, sitting and waiting by the phone – or even worse, calling my boyfriend every five minutes just to make sure he still loves me. Pathetic!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to check my email for the fiftieth time today.

Until next time, happy freelancing.

x Monica

Freelancing for Australians (for Dummies) is available in bookstores and via the Freelance Success website right now – visit http://www.freelancesuccess.com.au/books for more information.

For those unfamiliar with the Aussie ways, the Melbourne Cup is the country’s biggest horse race. It’s the equivalent of the Derby, or the Grand National. Almost every Australian business will be effectively closed from lunch time, so the staff can get silly, have a few drinks, and prepare themselves for the big race at 3pm. Bets would have been placed earlier in the day, and after the ponies have done their thing, the drinking will continue long past the point where it’s a good idea. Heads will then be very sore at work tomorrow.

At least in Victoria people get the day off. Here in New South Wales there is no holiday. Of course, for Victorian freelancers it’s a theoretical day off. I’m sure my colleagues there are doing what I would be doing if it was a public holiday here – sleeping in, certainly, but then working on anything where a deadline or a client expectation needed to be met.

There is no freelancer camaraderie on Melbourne Cup day. We do not gather from lunch time onwards in city pubs, sporting a lovely suit or a frilly fascinator. We do not imbibe the bubbles like they’re going out of fashion from the minute the boss cracks open the bottle. We do not get involved in ‘sweeps’ (I didn’t know what a sweep was until I started dating a suit in my early 20s. How would I know what a sweep was? Hello, solo freelancer here! Who am I going to sweep with?).

I have tried to get involved. In years past I would pop down to the TAB, put a flutter on a pony (I would choose based on the colours the jockey was wearing, very scientific). I would sit by myself at 3pm and watch the race. I would cheer for my pony. Alone. I would lose my $5. I would go back to work. Truly, the only thing sadder than not participating in the revelry of the Melbourne Cup is trying to participate on your own.

At least I have the children to fall back on now (not literally, of course). Fortunately I always have something important to do at 3pm on a Tuesday afternoon – pick kids up from school. Actually last year was probably the most fun I’ve ever had on Melbourne Cup day. I organised an impromptu viewing of the race in the kindergarten room, with a few of the kiddies and some willing teachers. We wore silly hats from the dress-ups box and shouted at the ponies. It was pretty good, but not as much fun as the real deal, I expect.

One of these days I’m going to wrangle myself an invite to an office on Melbourne Cup day so I can experience the pleasure that the employed must feel on this day. The joy of only working a half day, the naughty thrill of getting pissed on a Tuesday!  Or, even better, perhaps I’ll organise a gathering of freelancers, and we can take over a pub in our t-shirts and trackie dacks, beers in hand, united in our lack of any other form of unification.

Come on ponies!

Until next time, happy freelancing.

x Monica

Freelancing for Australian (for Dummies) is available in bookstores and via the Freelance Success website right now – visit http://www.freelancesuccess.com.au/books for more information.

Under no circumstances am I complaining about any of this. I am a hugely lucky woman and so excited that I have to currently suppress the urge to jump out of my seat and squeal (I’m writing in a café so any unanticipated leaping might frighten my fellow caffeine freaks too much. They’re already pretty jumpy). My only grumble, definitely minor, is the problem that comes with freelancing and taking holidays. It’s very hard to convince my clients that I’ll be unavailable for that time.

We’ve been planning this trip for a year so it’s hardly a surprise, and I’ve done my best to encourage my clients to understand that I’ll be unavailable for a month. I teach at various institutions around Australia and they were all told in February, when the educational year was being planned. All my video clients have been told, and our production schedules have been worked out months ago in order to allow for my absence. I’ve pushed writing deadlines around, deliberately submitting expected articles weeks in advance so I’m not letting my editors down.

And yet, the explaining continues. I have a long-term client that has experienced some staff shuffles in the past few months, and the new assistant contacted me to teach a workshop during the time I was away. I told her the situation, and gave her my alternative available dates before and after the trip. I was then CC’ed into an email (by accident, I hope) that she sent around to the powers that be, suggesting that perhaps someone be found to replace me since I wasn’t available.

I panicked. I know we’re all replaceable, but it’s best not to let the client realise. I was also quite upset – I’ve worked with this client for years, and I had hoped there was some love there. I mean, I know this is business but really, we want to believe that our long-term clients love us even just a little bit.

I was right in the middle of working up a very serious sulk when a flurry of emails arrived suggesting that replacing me was out of the question, and one from the big boss saying that I was to be accommodated at all costs. Fabulous. I calmed myself down, and waited. My dates were accepted. Thanks for the pat on the back, but it took a while for the panic to subside.

I have another client, for video production, who likes to ask for bits and pieces here and there. He contacts me every other month, asking for some small things, and then I don’t hear from him for ages. I told him a while ago when I would be unavailable, and suggested he get his bits and pieces to me beforehand, but I heard nothing. I’m now wondering if I’ll be getting a frantic phone call on the days before we leave. Seems if it’s not me having a panic, it’s them!

I sometimes send emails to people and get a chirpy automated reply – “I am on leave until the so-and-so of the month. Please get back to me then or contact my colleague Joe Blow on email@clientonholidays.com  to help you out”. If only. I would love to be able to do this, but we all know the reality of the situation. Despite the fact that this is my wedding trip, I will be taking my laptop. My accommodation has wireless access. I will be checking my emails every day. I will be putting out fires from the other side of the world. Such is the freelance life.

Enough whining. It’s only a month, after all. Remind me to tell myself to shut up, I won’t go out of business if I’m not available for a month…. will I?

Until next time, happy freelancing.

x Monica

Freelancing for Australian (for Dummies) is available in bookstores and via the Freelance Success website right now – visit http://www.freelancesuccess.com.au/books for more information.

I admit, there was some small amount of sleeping in.  I took my breakfast back to bed and finally finished reading that book I’ve been wading through for the last few weeks. The little ladies did various forms of chillaxing until I got out of bed.

Since then we’ve eaten, probably every thirty minutes or so. None of it healthy. We watched a girlie movie (The Proposal) and now we’re watching the first season of Glee on DVD. The kids have also raided the craft cupboard. Pinky has been designing her first fashion collection after watching the finale of Project Runway. It’s inspired by lollies and features both evening and casual wear. The Woolly One has been made a beautiful picture called “Fishies in Love”. First Born Gretl has created a paper house, very Japanese, replete with curtains and matching carpet. Just because.

I don’t even want to think about how other kinds of working parents manage the school holidays. I suppose it’s a combination of expensive vacation care and relying on family. Perhaps older kids get left alone.  Perhaps parents take time off to coincide, although it must be an understanding job if they can take 12 weeks off per year (unless they’re teachers).

I so appreciate my freelance life for letting me have this. After blogging I will probably eat again, feed my kids, lay around some more and eventually make dinner for my family. My Irishman will come home to a cheerful mess and a home cooked dinner. Later this week I will have meetings and deadlines, and work that stimulates me and provides for me, but right now it’s lazy time.

I have had that rare thing – I’ve been a largely stay-at-home mother with a full time job. Pardon my smugness, but I feel pretty damned happy about that. And about as grateful as can be.

Now, back to the snacks.

Until next time, happy freelancing.

x Monica

Freelancing for Australian (for Dummies) is available in bookstores and via the Freelance Success website right now – visit http://www.freelancesuccess.com.au/books for more information.

I do not live in Suit World. Every morning I get up, and after that it’s always different. Sometimes I put on gym clothes for a spot of morning fitness, if I have time. Sometimes I frock up, hair done, red lippy and eyes lined for a speaking engagement. Sometimes it’s dressing for glamorous comfort if I’m going to be on set or teaching. Sometimes, and how I love these days, I’m writing or working on a submission all day and don’t leave the comfort of jammy jim-jams and slippers.

My Irishman goes to an office every day with a large number of other people in suits (even the lady people). When he gets there, he does mysterious things. I’m not entirely sure what those things are. I know his work involves telephoning people, working with spreadsheets, meeting these puzzling things called targets and making his boss happy. On Friday afternoons it involves having a few drinks in the office, and on Melbourne Cup day it involves not working at all.

My days are as varied as the weather. Just in this last week my work included writing an article in a café in Newtown, speaking on a panel about micro-business in Parramatta, teaching for a day in Leichhardt, and writing a tender for a film job in my little home office. My working week is rarely 9 to 5 Monday to Friday, and on Melbourne Cup day (that cruellest day for freelancers) I work alone and drink with nobody.

Still, I think the Irishman and I are making our mixed marriage work. We sit down to dinner every evening with the little ladies and share the details of our day. I do my best to decipher Suit Talk and he tries valiantly to understand my weird working life. We try to be enthusiastic and empathetic to each other, although it’s hard for him to be excited when I have one of those bitty days so common in the freelance life. You know those days – you muddle around in the office all day, chase a few invoices, email a couple of clients, start a few projects but don’t finish them, procrastinate over something or rather – bitty. It’s all productive and yet nothing really worthy of discussion at dinner.

But we try. We even try to keep our jealousy at bay, especially if I take a Tuesday off to go to the movies, and of course on Melbourne Bloody Cup day. But envy is rare. Mostly we look at the other’s life and marvel that anyone could be so brave as to face that strangeness. He couldn’t imagine doing anything productive in jammies, and I would rather gouge out my eyes than don the black or grey uniform and head into Suit World. I love that he has the strength and character needed to work for others, and he admires the spirit and whimsy that it takes to run a creative business.

Mutual respect, that’s the key. And perhaps having something to talk about other than work, hallelujah!

Until next time, happy freelancing.

x Monica

Freelancing for Australian (for Dummies) is available in bookstores and via the Freelance Success website right now – visit http://www.freelancesuccess.com.au/books for more information.

When I was a kid Saturday was a working day too, but a different kind of work. We would always be doing housework or shopping or something busy and meaningful. It was an active day. Sitting on your bum watching TV was somehow not acceptable on a Saturday. Sunday was lazy day, the day for watching videos and eating biscuits straight from the packet and lounging.

Now, though, Sunday has become busy day. It’s my Saturday, so I need to do all those weekend things that I wouldn’t otherwise get time for. The kids usually have a bazillion things to catch up on for school, many of which have been left to the last minute, and the poor Irishman gets caught up in the current, so we all end up being very active indeed.

That means Monday becomes Sunday, and that should be OK because I’m freelance and I can do what I want, but it’s never really a resting day. Irishman and little ladies all go off to work and school, and I help them on their way, and then I have my usual Monday Morning Meeting (a meeting that I have with myself about the week ahead. Odd, I know). After that I would feel vaguely weird if I sat on my bum so I head to the gym. Then my clients, who don’t realise that it’s Sunday in Monica World, call me or email me and actually expect me to be interested and engaged. A working day has started without my really meaning to, and it all ends up being quite action packed.

By the time Tuesday rolls around, I feel a bit resentful. It’s technically Monday now in Monica World, but yesterday didn’t feel like a proper lounging biscuit-packed Sunday, and there’s a lingering sense of being somehow robbed. Even worse, I’m working Saturdays for the next month so by the end I will be feeling very discombobulated indeed.

Who knows what day it will be by then!

Until next time, happy freelancing.

x Monica

Freelancing for Australian (for Dummies) is available in bookstores and via the Freelance Success website right now – visit http://www.freelancesuccess.com.au/books for more information.

The great news is that I started getting sick last Monday. I knew illness was coming, because Pinky and the Irishman both had it the week before, and they were like the walking wounded. My house was the village of the damned. It is inevitable in these situations that I’ll also catch whatever is going around, but last week I was frantically busy and told my body, in no uncertain terms, to wait.

Pinky is the only one of my children who would be tempted to fake an illness, but sadly for her she has such a lovely healthy glow to her that it’s almost impossible for her to trick me. As soon as she’s really sick, she goes all grey and floppy. Which is exactly what she was, poor love.

The man has been known to suffer from Man Flu, which as we all know is a potentially deadly and virtually incurable except for treatment with extreme lying around and sometimes beer. In this case he was sick for real, and I spent lots of time feeling his forehead and making him drink water.

I, on the other hand, started feeling blechy last Monday – but I had a shoot that started at 6am, then I flew to Adelaide, then I had two very insistent deadlines that couldn’t be pushed back, and then I was teaching all day Saturday. None of these things could be postponed, and as we all know if we don’t work we don’t get paid, so I simply requested that my body hold off until Sunday. I could be sick on Sunday.

It did mean that there were quite a few moments in my Saturday class (after my paracetamol wore off) where I was a little bit loopy, but I don’t think anyone noticed. The great thing about having a professional reputation for being a bit odd is that I get some leeway between creative eccentricity and genuinely bizarre behaviour.

Anyway, yesterday was blankie day all day, and I didn’t stir. I cocooned into the duvet and stayed there till I felt better. Monday morning, still not 100% but ready for a quieter week than last week, definitely.

Until next time, happy freelancing and be Winter well!

x Monica

Freelancing for Australian (for Dummies) is available in bookstores and via the Freelance Success website right now – visit http://www.freelancesuccess.com.au/books for more information.

This month’s journeys have been variously uneventful, which I’m grateful for when travelling in the air in the big silver tube. We’ve just had a smidgen of turbulence and my coffee slurped in a minor way, but fingers crossed that’s all.

I have dutifully observed all the usual jaded business traveller aeroplane etiquette. I nonchalantly hung back when called for boarding, keen to look like a seasoned traveller and not an over-anxious tourist. I took my seat but delayed belting up just in case. I obediently stored briefcase below and wheelie bag above. I secretly dreaded pulling the seatbelt across my middle, in case a skinny person had been in it before me, forcing me to lengthen it to contain my fatty-boom-stickness (no fear necessary, I had to tighten it and happily felt svelte like an otter).

I have, however, disobeyed some of the rules of business travel. I peered enthusiastically out the window when we took off, watching as the city became a toy town beneath me (who are those weirdo cool people who don’t look out the window anyway? What kind of jaded person doesn’t have that moment of labrador-like joy when the big plane takes off and launches itself into the sky, disobeying the laws of god and gravity and everything?!).

I even broke the cardinal rule, and ended up having a conversation with the man next to me. This is usually a big no-no. We’re all supposed to pretend that we’re completely alone on the big plane, even though we’re squished in cheek-by-jowl. But he was a nice man and I’m not that cool anyway, so a conversation was struck.

I did have one unique flight experience this month.  On the Taree to Grafton part of my flight a few weeks ago, I was the only person on the plane – apart from the flight attendant and pilot, of course. It was quite bizarre, and very unsettling. I joked to my client that I enjoyed the private plane they ordered for me, who knew the Clarence Valley Council was so well heeled! Really though, I’d rather be a sardine. It was a bit too much like a plane version of The Shining.

By the way, which is more correct – aeroplane or airplane? I quite like the jaunty American-ness of airplane (who needs that extra syllable anyway?), but there’s something charming and olde-worlde about aeroplane. Pedantic comments are most welcome!

Happy freelancing jetsetters!

x Monica

Freelancing for Australian (for Dummies) is available in bookstores and via the Freelance Success website right now – visit http://www.freelancesuccess.com.au/books for more information.

I shouldn’t be so glib; the conference was fantastic and a great opportunity to discuss creative business with a bunch of similarly-minded devotees. Something bothered me, though, and since this is my blog I get to air my bothers.

We discussed creative business a great deal, and engaging speakers told us that Australia should focus more on the creative economy, and clever people advised that those of us who help or support or work in creative enterprise should be as business-like as possible about everything we do.

Absolutely true, couldn’t agree more, there was only one problem. The speakers and experts were focusing almost entirely on creative businesses that have a turnover of a million dollars or more. There was very little discussion of smaller creative businesses, and nothing much at all about freelancers.

I tell a fib, there was one speaker who referred to us as ‘lifestyle businesses’. That’s those of us who are ticking along nicely, working in the arts for ourselves, making enough money to put a roof over our heads and feed our kids and buy a new pair of pretty shoes or go on holidays every so often. We warranted a mention, but were then brushed over as not requiring the attention of the powers that be (the power of three!!).

Now, I fancy being a millionaire one day but I’m also perfectly happy being a “lifestyle” creative business. More to the point, practically every single person that I’ve consulted to over the last fifteen years of teaching creative business has wanted only that. Some of us are more ambitious than others, and millions are lovely, but I believe the vast majority of us would be perfectly happy just to be creative for a living and have enough money for nice things every now and then.

It’s easy to ignore freelancers, but if supporting a creative economy is the issue then freelancers must be considered. In November 2008, over 1 million people were working as independent contractors in their main job. That’s 9% of the workforce. Of those people, about 100,000 were working the creative sectors. If 100,000 people making enough money to support themselves and their families aren’t worth the attention of the power of THREE, then it’s a short-sighted vision indeed.

After all, those million dollar turnover businesses had to start somewhere. And I’d wager a pair of pretty shoes that most of them started as creative freelancers with a bit of talent, a good idea and a fire in their belly. If those freelancers get ignored too much, our thriving creative economy will falter. It will become a good idea that once had its moment in the sun, and has been left to squander on the conference circuit.

Happy freelancing in your lifestyle business!

x Monica

Freelancing for Australian (for Dummies) is available in bookstores and via the Freelance Success website right now – visit www.freelancesuccess.com.au/books for more information.

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