I know I haven’t been as faithful to BeThumbed as I once was… I was very busy with projects and I can hardly find the time to post although I did have a lot to write about. The path of a freelancer is a very hard path to trod on. You can never win whichever way you choose…
If you don’t have projects, you’re done. With no steady job and with two mouths to feed, you’ll have to spend sleepless nights applying for projects and toughen your act and your face calling possible and previous clients asking for projects to take on. But when projects do come in, you also have to spend countless sleepless nights, drink gallons of coffee and face head crushing migraines trying to finish 2-3 websites in a week.
The payout is good and the convenience is priceless. Where else can I find a job where I get to stay at home, work on my own time, wear whatever I want and even have my kids over? None. As with everything there is a downside to being a freelancer, aside from what I have mentioned. I have already established a name for myself and don’t have to spend as much time looking for projects nor into talking prospects to trust me with theirs. But the time I get to spend with my kids and husband are drastically cut off, the time I spend for myself is next to nil and I practically have no social life. I never get to see my friends and can only talk to them via yahoo messenger during those rare times when I actually sign-in to my yahoo. I don’t even have the time to text… As a freelancer, you constantly have to cram – with clients sometimes giving you less than two days to finish a project and there are clients who are just pig-headed with the deadlines and clients who are a bit over the top with what they want and of course stingy clients. They pay and all you have to do is finish the job. As cruel as it may sound, that’s a fact.
To be a freelancer, you also have to be aggressive and to scrutinize each and every client you deal with. There are clients who will use you, they will ask you to work for them, steal your ideas and codes and poof! they are no longer there. They will refuse to answer your calls, your instant messages, your emails. I’ve had my share of them and believe me, its a hard thing to get over with especially after spending countless sleepless nights on a project. And the worst of it is when you search for a site and see it with your unpaid work live. It sucks bigtime. But that’s life and this is the path that I chose. Sometimes it sucks but I love what I do and the sites that I have done are my masterpieces – online for all the world to see. It may not have my name on them but I know they’re mine and they carry my signature codes. 
I love what I do and everything that goes with the path I chose, stingy clients and all… If you can’t handle pressure, cringe on the amount of time you need to work (80-100 hours a week), handle clients effectively, sell your self and learning and re-learning everything over and over again, then this path is not for you.
