Full-time to freelance.....

[//dean]

Hi everyone,

I'm not 100% sure why I'm posting this, I guess I just want to hear other people opinions on the matter and I'm hoping that somebody will tell me to grow some balls. You'll have to bear with me; I tend to waffle and get side-tracked.

I am in such a pickle..

So to cut a long boring story short: I work in IT, the job is 100% secure and wage is really rather good for what I do. However, I absolutely loath my job, I have to travel 100miles a day, there is no scope to move around, no training, no comms from management, I do some pretty odd hours and there are currently some issues which I won't go into (I have expressed that I will resign over them). I don't care for the job and I have absolutely no interest in IT anymore. The long and short of the story is that it is making me really quite un-happy.

On the side of my IT job I do some freelance automotive photography. Of late, this has been going rather well, I have a fairly large client list but being freelance, I never really know when the next job will come. I've not really pushed my work out to potential clients, all of the work I have done in the past has come through clients seeing my work elsewhere. Reason being; is that I cannot commit to any freelance work due to the IT. Needless to say, I absolutely love the photography.

So that's my current situation.

Now, do you think it's a good idea to go freelancing 'full-time'? I *think* I can make it work. I'd have to sell the car as its 'borrowed' money, not a problem to get this sold and paid off. I have use of another car (I don't think I should mention what it is, not on PH anyway!), which sorts out my transport. After this, with all things considered, I would need to take home £1k a month to keep the mortgage company happy, bills paid, myself and the GF fed & watered, which leaves a couple of hundred left over for emergencies and clothing etc etc.

My resignation period is 12 weeks. This should give me enough time to ready myself, get my portfolio out to potential clients and look for some part-time work.

It might be worth adding that I am beyond-useless with money, but I think this stems from working so far from home (always grabbing food from petrol stations etc). If I'm going to be home based, I'll be eating at home and if out on a job, food and petrol will go on expenses. I have no savings so, I'm thinking of looking for a part-time job somewhere to help keep me afloat, I couldn't care-less what it is; I'm quite happy stacking shelves in Tesco. On top of this, the GF and I are looking to move in the future, we're both 50 miles away from our current employers!

So do I grow some balls and go for it? Can you see any flaws in my master-plan?

Any help or guidance much appreciated!

PS. My work can be seen from various links in my profile.

[Dave^]

I'd make sure you have a PT job lined up as backup BEFORE putting your notice in...

Everyman and his dog are looking for work at the minute...

You might be as well off setting yourself up in IT to start with, maybe you could take a few of your current clients with you, then you could balance the IT and the 'togging to suit your needs, then when the photography takes up enough to support you fully, you can ditch the IT, or keep that as a sideline...

[Eric Mc]

Does your current photogarphy activity actually make you money? And I mean REALLY make you money. In other words, if you sat down and realistically took into account ALL the costs incurred in carring out a photography project, do you end up with a surplus at the end.

Of course, if you are making a surplus, even now, you might need to be taking the tax implications into account as well.

Edited by Eric Mc on Friday 5th February 09:45

[john_p]

//dean said:

I don't care for the job and I have absolutely no interest in IT anymore. The long and short of the story is that it is making me really quite un-happy.

Put it this way: in a few years time you and the GF will probably be thinking about kids. If you're not, she is! Would you give up a guaranteed income if you had extra members of the family? If you don't do something now, it will be at least ten years before you think about doing this again.

I think your photography is really good. My only concern would be it might be a hard market to break into? At least you can fit it around a part time job.

Let her sort the finances if you are worried. You can always get a job in IT.

Edited by john_p on Friday 5th February 09:51

[Landlord]

Savings are very important. To have a cushion will benefit you greatly.

What do you do in IT? Depending on what it is, contracting is a good way to get a lot of cash quite quickly. Maybe you could have a 6/12 month plan. It'll be easier to do if you have an end goal. However, this would require being better with money than you admit to being!

[//dean]

Thanks everyone, some very useful points have been made. I'll respond to them individually shortly.

[//dean]

Dave^ said:

I'd make sure you have a PT job lined up as backup BEFORE putting your notice in...

Everyman and his dog are looking for work at the minute...

You might be as well off setting yourself up in IT to start with, maybe you could take a few of your current clients with you, then you could balance the IT and the 'togging to suit your needs, then when the photography takes up enough to support you fully, you can ditch the IT, or keep that as a sideline...

Thanks Dave!

That's what I'm thinking (RE:PT jobn before quitting). I have been looking but as you said, everyman and his dog is after work and there isn't much out there.

Unfortunately I won't be able to take any IT clients with me to start IT on my own. I work as an Incident Manager on a major Government project.

[//dean]

JDMFanYo said:

Is it an option to reduce your working hours in current job (part time) and then phase in full-time photography?

If you find yourself being inundated with requests, then that's a good sign to go full time

Unfortunately not. Another thing I forget to mention is that I do on-call every other week.

I wouldn't say I was inundated with requests, but there is certainly a lot of interest and I'm currently looking a 5 jobs this month.

[Landlord]

Just to add - your photography is superb. Really very talented.

[//dean]

Eric Mc said:

Does your current photogarphy activity actually make you money? And I mean REALLY make you money. In other words, if you sat down and realistically took into account ALL the costs incurred in carring out a photography project, do you end up with a surplus at the end.

Of course, if you are making a surplus, even now, you might need to be taking the tax implications into account as well.

Edited by Eric Mc on Friday 5th February 09:45

I do make a profit from the work although most of my previous profit has been spent on the company, mostly on camera-gear and other items needed to improve my work-flow. Being freelance, I charge the client for fuel + expenses so that helps with reducing costs greatly and helps to give me a clearer view of earnings.

I have a very good accountant who takes control of all the tax (god send!)

[//dean]

john_p said:

//dean said:

I don't care for the job and I have absolutely no interest in IT anymore. The long and short of the story is that it is making me really quite un-happy.

Put it this way: in a few years time you and the GF will probably be thinking about kids. If you're not, she is! Would you give up a guaranteed income if you had extra members of the family? If you don't do something now, it will be at least ten years before you think about doing this again.

I think your photography is really good. My only concern would be it might be a hard market to break into? At least you can fit it around a part time job.

Let her sort the finances if you are worried. You can always get a job in IT.

Edited by john_p on Friday 5th February 09:51

Thank John!

Having kids is something that we have committed to, I guess marriage has to come first......gulp! If I had kids now, I'm not sure I'd take the risk at the moment. But in my current situation, I can't help but think that it's now, or never

Absolutely, it's a very tough market to break into. Most of the larger magazines and manaufacturers will have their preferred photographers who can consitently produce good enough work at a sensible price. I'm going to need to up my game, but I simply can't what with all the IT work...sigh.

I think getting a PT job before quitting is going to be the only way, else I have nothing to fall back on (I don't want to rely on my GF, she has been nothing but absolutely brilliant in the past with helping me out).

[//dean]

Landlord said:

Savings are very important. To have a cushion will benefit you greatly.

What do you do in IT? Depending on what it is, contracting is a good way to get a lot of cash quite quickly. Maybe you could have a 6/12 month plan. It'll be easier to do if you have an end goal. However, this would require being better with money than you admit to being!

Indeed! I am an incident manager/Service Desk dep team lead. Unfortunately, I no longer have the skills for contracting (passed CCNA 4 yrs ago, but this job has meant that I'm not in a technical role).

Being better with money wouldn't be hard, honestly, it's a shambles...and very embarrassing.

[Landlord]

//dean said:

Being better with money wouldn't be hard, honestly, it's a shambles...and very embarrassing.

Welcome to my world!

I'm doing exactly what I've suggested you do - contracting for as short-a-time as I can get away with, with a view to doing pub stuff fulltime whatever money it may provide. That said, I'm fortunate that my skills are "current". Unfortunately, the side of IT you're in I know nothing about.

[//dean]

Landlord said:

Unfortunately, the side of IT you're in I know nothing about.

Me neither!

[Gallen]

Hi Dean,

Invest in looking at providing assets to the CGi (including Automotive) industry.

Look into HDRi, and 360 Degree HDRi assets (either using precision head or spheron camera).
It's an expanding business and will set you apart.

Get on agency books.

Clearly, you have the skills!

Gallen.

[Rude-boy]

Nothing to add other than f me those pics are good!

[itsnotarace]

This is relevant to my interests. I sent you email earlier so check spam folder