SURVIVING AS A FREELANCE

Many people ask me about being self-employed because it is not easy, although obviously everything has its pros and cons. I have been here for 2 years and a couple of months and I am going to talk to you about the audiovisual sector because it is the one in which I have experience, and also being a Spanish citizen, I know in other countries in Europe it tends to be much easier.

Most of professional jobs ask you to be registered and be able to bill, so you are forced to only take more precarious jobs in which we don't get paid or we get paid with the so well known in this sector “repercussion”. What a shame that you can't pay the rent with it.

Then, there are those who tell you: “For this project we don't have a budget, but if we like how you work, we'll call you for the next one and we'll have a budget for sure.” And many times you think that you don't measure up, but no, honey, people is just awful. I spent about 3 years, maybe more, doing work basically for free while I worked on other things and this is a very sad part of the process and one that is very difficult to get out of because, as I already told you, it's the never ending story, you cannot pay the freelance fee because you don't charge enough but you can't scale without being official. I maintained this situation until I had enough material to make a proper reel.

Thanks to this reel I found a steady client, a company that sent me work every month. At that moment I started paying the freelance fee because they demanded it and until then I had not been sure that I could allow myself to be a freelance and pay the fee every month, which in Spain is not a percentage of what you earn, it's an actual fee. I think that is the first key to being legal, because otherwise the anxiety caused by the fact that even if you don't have any work you have to continue paying the fee is not sustainable, especially if you suffer from anxiety.

Photography by Tranmautritam

When you take the step or are thinking about taking it, look for a trustworthy consultant agency, ask other self-employed people and have them recommend you, because you would not be the first person to incur a fine for poorly done management. In addition, agencies can help you with aid, which normally depends on the autonomous community in which you are registered. The normal thing is to start paying about seventy euros a year, the reduction is smaller when you have been registered for two years and you pay the amount without reduction, which varies according to your activity and what you bill.

Keep in mind that apart from the fee, every 3 months you will have to pay all the taxes on what you bill, meaning that when you get paid for the work, you need to save some. I usually calculate that half of what you earn goes away. I always pay the entire quarterly payment at once, although you can also separate it and pay by month. In my case, I prefer to save it when I get paid and pay it all at once to get it off my back and go two months without worrying about it. If you save half of what you earn and have expenses to declare, it will always be less, so you should have some left over.

Before I talked about how being a freelance has its pros and cons. The cons have already been made clear, but it is true that it also has pros. I am a very restless person, I don't like routines at all, so for me having a fixed schedule means death. The fact of being able to get up later and recover in the evening or being able to take the day off when you wake up depressed or with your period, without having to ask permission is amazing. You have much more flexibility, especially me, since I work from home with my computer. I can go on a trip and take my work with me or go to my parents' house for a week without having to explain to anyone. Do I miss paid vacation? A lot, but it's worth it because I can manage my time as I go, I don't have to be tied to certain schedules or work days, and if I work harder one month or suddenly get more work, I will earn more, because when you work in a store (for example) at Christmas you work ten times more and earn the same while your boss gets richer and richer!

I must tell you as well, there are alternatives. If you do not have permanent clients or you earn very little, you can do the quarterly payments to pay the IVA without being registered with the treasury. You can also invoice through a cooperative, which normally takes a percentage but makes the process easier and you don't have to register, but be careful, as far as I know with these options you are not paying a contribution. This is great if you have a "regular job" and only bill from time to time, but if you are not working, not being on the job in the long run can be a chore, so I recommend resorting to these alternatives until you see that you have for a few months enough work or clients to be able to deal with the expenses.