How to deal with the push and pull of a ‘real job’ vs freelance life

Let’s talk about the push and pull of freelancing vs staff jobs. Because I think we’ve all been there. I certainly have. I’m Jenny Holliday, founder of The Freelance Media Network, and I know the lure of freelancing when you’re feeling trapped in a full time role, and the sparkly attraction of full time jobs when you’re freelancing. Many freelancers I know are considering full time roles, or applying for fixed term contracts, which can be the sweet spot between fully freelance and fully full time.

I first went freelance in 2007 when I quit a weekly women’s magazine. At that time, shifts were available at most magazines, and I began a life of working shifts everywhere from Chat and Reveal to Bella and LOOK.

At the same time I’d pitch to different publications and write in the evenings and at weekends. So I shifted but also built up a portfolio. I loved it! I loved the variety and the pace of it, along with dodging most of the office politics.

Along with the short-term shifts, sometimes a few days or weeks, I would also sign up for longer blocks of work. For example, a month or even a few months if someone had left and the magazine were recruiting.

But I always had my eye on the jobs listings. Those ‘real jobs’ always tempted me. They still do. Are you the same? Do you have one eye on the permanent jobs even though you are also enjoying freelancing?

You might be a staffer who is longing for that freelance freedom that you have experienced before or feel would work better for you. (But then you also speak to freelancers who tell you how challenging it can be!).

I have gone back to permanent jobs a few times - once, to a monthly mag called Practical Parenting & Pregnancy, and later to Metro newspaper, one of my favourite jobs I’ve ever had. I left there after I was made redundant and did what I think many of us do - I knee-jerked back into freelancing.

Back in the 2010s, the jobs listings website Gorkana (now Cision) was the place to get all the info and latest job offerings. Now of course there are myriad job newsletters aimed at freelance writers and we can find jobs listings on Facebook groups, too.

We all get FOMO about the ‘other side’ of media work. Finding balance can often be about refocusing on what you want and need - what’s right for YOU rather than what’s right for someone else. And you never truly know what the ‘other side’ is like until you try it. There is, in my experience, always a way back.

Freelancing in particular can seem super attractive to those who are feeling stuck in permanent roles. Creating a community for media professionals across freelance and staff will bring us all together - so that we can discuss both sides, share our experiences and encourage each other as we navigate the push and pull of it all.