Given how some businesses treat freelancers, you’d be forgiven if at some point you’d assumed that ‘freelance’ meant ‘free’.

Though it’s a way of working I’ve long left behind me in terms of how I choose to operate my business as a self-employed copywriter, it’s still a sad state of affairs when you log on to LinkedIn (or the forum of your choice) to learn that freelancers are often paid little, paid late, or even not paid at all. I always assume, in these cases, that the clients in question were most likely a bit miffed that the notion of an invoice was even discussed at all in initial dispatches.

A bit of digging reveals the actual definition of ‘freelancer’ or ‘freelance’, and it’s joyously the opposite of what the root word would suggest.

Google (as well as someone in my wonderful membership community, TeamGDI), confirms to me that, the term ‘freelancer’, when first coined in the early 1800s, was a way to describe medieval “mercenaries” who would “fight for any nation or person that paid them the most“. That’s right, fellow freelancers, you’re practically a knight! Not a noble one, admittedly – but a knight nonetheless!

I could leave this blog right here and allow the freelance community to ponder proudly the information I’ve just bestowed upon them, but that’s not the point (pun) of this post.

This post isn’t even for that community.

It’s a post for those people in question who don’t seem to see value in what a freelancer can do for their business in both the short and long term.

A freelance worker within any industry or skill-set may have gone solo for any number of reasons or volitions, but what draws such people all together is that they’re putting themselves out there, on their own, to make a living.  Yes, they’re talented, but they are also 100% accountable for making their business work.

Freelance workers don’t have the security and stability of a salaried or contracted job, and therefore, though we can take time off whenever we damn well feel like it, and sit down to segments of work at home in our pyjamas if we so wish, we rely on the fact that the clients we carry out work for settle our invoices at the end of each month. No clients = no money. Note that I am personally a massive advocate for charging upfront, and

I’m confident that all and any of my clients would tell you that a) my rates are more than reasonable, and b) they get great value for money via the fact that I genuinely love going above and beyond for them.  It irks me then that for some people, I have to explicitly state that my skills are not free, my time is not free, and my otherwise lovely nature that they may wish to take advantage of… that’s not free either.  You can call that soul-less if you like – I call it sensible.

There are only three reasons I can think of why I would ever do work for free:

1. You are my own flesh and blood – though even then, it’s sketchy. I don’t even particularly like several members of my family…
2. I owe you a monumental favour – although having said that, I’d rather offer you my first-born or something of equivalent value to that.
3. The task is tiny and will literally (LITERALLY) take me two minutes –not the two minutes you tell yourself it will take me in order to make yourself feel better about throwing an unsolicited project at me at 11pm on a Sunday night, but real, standardised, Talking Clock-style minutes.

Please understand that even if you do make it into one of those three categories, you’d be taking the place of a client who could ultimately pay me to ensure I have electricity to charge my laptop to do your work.  Therefore, although the work I’d do for you would be as professional as ever, I will simply not be able to afford to make you a priority.  I will not do your work instead of narcissistically going out for the evening.  I will not do your work instead of selfishly going to bed at/lying in until a reasonable hour.  I will definitely not do your work in place of sitting down for a meal – hell no.

There seems to be a view that when someone is freelance, they have all the time in the world and can therefore easily and happily help you out.  The opposite is true.  If a freelancer has too much free time, they’re probably panicking about the lack of clients/projects they have right now and how they’re subsequently going to generate the money to pay their rent that month.

Time is most definitely money when you’re a freelancer, so if you want something doing and you want it doing for free, ask someone with a 9-5 or steady shift job – or are you worried about bothering them after a full day of work (working towards a guaranteed wage and benefits)?

There’s nothing funny about someone trying hard to earn a living – on their own – and people taking advantage by expecting their time and talent both for free.  So, if the mantra in the picture is good enough for The Joker, it’s good enough for me – and I am so serious.