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Wouldn't it be great to quit the rat race? To leave bosses and
timeclocks
behind, skip the commute, ditch the heels or tie, and work in the same
clothes
you wear to weed the garden?
It's called "taking the plunge," and if you're at all serious
about writing, you've probably dreamed about it. But you may also have
regarded
that dream as, at best, nothing more than an improbable fantasy.
Writing may be
the career you love, but chances are it's not the career that's keeping
food on
the table and a roof over your head.

1. Do
   What You LOVE: If you've chosen your business because
   you read that this niche was the next hot one, or because your favorite
   uncle (or your best friend) thinks you'd be well-suited for this
   business, you may as well pack up now and save yourself some time and
   money. If you don't love what you do, it will show...potential
   customers will know it and will go elsewhere. Is it possible to be
   successful anyway? Sure -- but it won't be easy and it won't be
   fun...and isn't that why you want to be in business for yourself anyway?

by Evany
Thomas

So you finally gave into the siren call of freelancing ("I want to work
when and only when I feel like it! I want to earn insane hourly rates!
No more ruts, no more office politics! I'm going solo. ["Born Free"
swells, fade out]). That, or your head rolled in the latest round of
layoffs. Or maybe your company folded altogether.
Whichever way you managed to exit Dodge, you now
find yourself unencumbered by a salaried position. And instead of looking
for a new job, you're pulling a free-bird. You've printed
your own business cards, buffed up that e-résumé
and e-portfolio, and you're ready to start lining up those
clients.

Thursday August 4, 2005
Author: Garrett Dimon

It seems like everybody is or wants to be a freelance web
developer. Of course, this makes sense because it enables such a
glorious and carefree lifestyle. Rather, that’s what
everybody envisions.
Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as creating a web
site and cashing checks. There’s a lot more to running a
business that isn’t sexy or fun. Parts of owning your own
business are downright boring, tedious, and expensive.

Contingent work, also sometimes known as casual work, is a neologism which describes a type of employment relationship between an employer and employee. There is no universally agreed consensus on what type of working arrangement constitutes contingent work, but it is generally considered to be any one or combination of the following:

Work which is temporary or lacks job security
Work which is part time
Work which is paid on a piece work basis
or any work which does not pay what is considered a living wage.
Whether a person who does contingent work can be described as 'having a job' is debatable - however, contingent work is usually not considered to be a career, or part of a career. One of the features of contingent work is that it usually offers little or no opportunity for career development.

In October, the Freelancers Union conducted an online poll of New York City Freelancers. Nearly 1,200 freelancers responded. Respondents were asked to vote for the companies that treated them well as freelancers. They were then asked to indicate the factors on which they based their votes, and to tell us about their best and worst experiences as a freelancer. Based on freelancers' votes, the best companies to freelance for in New York are:

Conde Nast
Time Warner
BBC
MTV Networks
HBO
MJM Creative
The New York Times
Curious Pictures
McGraw-Hill
Viacom
"It is extremely important to assess all companies that hire or contract with independent workers," said Sara Horowitz, executive director of the Freelancers Union. "Because freelancers do not generally fall under the purview of human resource departments, nor do they have the same benefits or rights as traditional workers, companies are not held to written standards when employing freelancers. It is imperative that we keep a careful eye on what employers are doing and evaluate freelancers' experiences within those companies."

A freelancer or freelance worker is a self-employed person working in a profession or trade in which full-time employment is also common. The word's etymology was apparently invented by Sir Walter Scott, the 19th-century poet, to refer to a medieval mercenary, a "free lance," a knight who was not attached to any particular lord, and could be hired for a given task.
Fields where freelancing is especially common include journalism and other forms of writing, computer programming and graphic design, consulting, and many other professional and creative services. But the practice is widespread: for example, bounty hunters and mercenaries are freelancers, with their full-time counterparts being, respectively, the police and the military. Many sex workers are also freelancers.