Is Freelancing Right for You?” Questionnaire

Having read “Is Freelancing Right for You?” piece fromMediaBistro.com’s Get a Freelance Life by Magit Feury Ragland, youwill answer the following prompts in short answer form (3 – 4sentences / Paragraph form) and post on your blog.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of working independently?
You can be your own boss and work whenever you want which is good. However, you do need to motivate yourself and make sure that you meet your deadlines or else you may not get a paycheck. If you work too much you will also lose your social life entirely so you need to make sure that there is balance.

How does your occupation/ position/ or status affect your potential opportunities or career direction?
If you know a lot about your field already then that is very beneficial to you because publishers will feel more comfortable hiring you as an expert. Also, if you have connections to people in that field already then it will be easier to find a publisher.

How does the frequency or infrequency of payment from freelancing affect t the budget of a writer?
Freelancers do not always have a steady paycheck so they need to make sure that the money they do have can last them for a while incase they do not get a check for a while. If they just go out and spend their money, they may have a problem paying their rent or mortgage as opposed to if they had saved their money.

How do flexibility, organization, and discipline affect a freelancer’s capacity to research, generate and produce quality work?
If they are organized it will be easier to write their piece because they will have everything in one place and will be able to figure out a good order for it. If they hand in sloppy work that is completely unorganized then the publisher will belive that they are unprofessional and are not likely to hire them again. They also have to make sure that they work on their projects and get them done in time instead of procrastinating and missing the deadline which does not look good for them in the publishers eye.

How does one’s expertise or ignorance affect a freelancer’s choice of assignment?
If they know a lot about their assignment they article will come out better. It will also be more respected because the information in it will be from a trusted expert. If you don't know anything about the field you are trying to get into its better to ease yourself into it so that people will hire you.

Should you say no to an assignment? Why or When (at what point)?
Yes, if you take on too much work it is likely that you will become overwhelmed by it so it is usually better to not take too many assignments just because you think you can. If you need the work then its probably a good idea to take the assignment.