Holiday Season Slowdown
Holiday parties signal the end-of-year slowdown.
In December, projects may wind down, emails slow to a trickle, and clients may quietly disappear as they head off for their own celebrations or take a year end vacation. For traditional workers, this can be a welcomed slowdown. However, for an independent workers who are not on salary, this lull can impact your budget.
What can you do to manage this potential downtime? What are the options?
Some independent workers take on a holiday side hustle, others save and some tighten their budgets.
Sara had a great hustle that reconnected her with friends. She worked as a contracted learning designer and, every year over the holidays, she swapped out her laptop to work in the retail rush to stave off the downturn in learning design work. “I work at Banana Republic to make extra money and buy my holiday gifts at a discount,” she told us. “Learning design can slow down during this time so I go back to my university job casually or part-time to help out with the holiday rush. I love reconnecting with my BR people, and helping customers buy beautiful gifts. There are several of us that have other jobs and we do this as our side hustle. It gives me a break from my desk work plus it helps carry me through to the end of January when projects pick up again.”
Jackie adopted a super saver mindset. As a contracted dental hygienist, she made a financial commitment to save each month for the slow December season. "I make an effort every month to put money away so that when December rolls around and work is slow, I'm not in a panic," she shared. “I don’t like to get behind in my bills because my income drops in December. Plus, I get to spend more time with my daughter because she’s out of school for two weeks and I don’t have to pay for childcare.” When the new year rolls in, new dental plans also kick in and she becomes busy again.
Kade tightened his budget. As a freelance social media marketer and videographer, he mastered the art of tightening his budget. "Basically, I bum off my parents at Christmas,” He added with a grin, “They don’t seem to notice.” Video production slows down for him during December, but he is able to manage his regular clients’ social media from a distance while he is on holidays. “Also, I don’t buy gifts. Instead, I video our family get togethers, compile and edit them into a mini-production and then I send it to everyone as my gift. They really like it and it saves me money.”
Depending on your industry or projects, the end of the year may be a slow month. It is important to plan ahead and prepare financially. Once you discover what works best for you, you will look forward to the holiday season and the new year that is just around the corner.
Here are the Realities of Becoming a Freelancer
I became a freelancer after graduating from high school, getting my first job and then getting laid off in the pandemic. I’ve learned that freelancing certainly has it’s advantages and also has it’s disadvantages. Here are some of the realities.
When it comes to being a freelancer, there are many advantages that make freelancing seem nothing short of a dream job. However, wherever there are advantages, there are also disadvantages. All of which I will be exploring throughout this post.
I am a freelancer who has been working alongside Purposeful Careers for the past six months. I graduated from high school in 2019, and I took a stab at News Broadcasting in the Fall. I decided it wasn’t for me, and so I took it upon myself to get a job working at a grocery store over the course of the holiday season. Then I got a part-time job working for a company called Jiva who had originally approached me because they wanted me to help them do video work. Unfortunately, the pandemic hit, and I got laid off. I didn’t want to have a huge gap in my work history so I approached Purposeful Careers, and asked them if they needed help. I have interest in social media, so we decided I would help create posts.
My job can be compared to that of a social media marketer because over the past several months, I have been working on a graphic design platform called Canva, creating and putting together content for both Instagram and Pinterest. In just six months, I’ve been promoted to taking a stab at writing a blog post. So, here I am.
Freelancing involves working independently for multiple people and/or companies on a contract basis. In other words, a freelancer is a self-employed individual who offers various services to their clients. I have learned over the last six months that being a self-employed freelancer has both advantages and disadvantages that everyone who is thinking about it, should know before they dive in.
Some of the Advantages
Being a freelancer means that you are your own boss, and that you have freedom to choose. You can choose your work hours. You can choose who you want to work for, and for how long you want to work for them. You can choose where to work, and you can choose when to call it a day. For example, I work part-time, three days a week from the comfort of my couch, but I don’t get to choose my hours. I start at 1:00 PM and end at 5:00 PM. During that period of time, I get a new assignment or I continue to work on the assignment from the previous day. I get to go to work in what I would call “picked-up-off-the-street” attire (basically whatever I want).
I also enjoy being able to work without having the commitment of the commute. Being able to wake up, and start work from the comfy cushions of a worn-out-couch is one of the joys of freelancing. Being a freelancer means that you represent yourself, and your brand image, and the biggest advantages of being a freelancer is flexibility and freedom.
Another advantage is the fact that it’s been hard to find a traditional part-time or full-time job in this pandemic. Freelancing has given me the opportunity to learn new skills and get work experience that I wouldn’t normally be able to get. As well, because I don’t have a career direction chosen yet, I’ve been able to test drive social media content creation as a potential career.
Some of the Disadvantages
Keep in mind that as a freelancer, there’s bound to be disadvantages. You have your work cut out for you because it is your job to put yourself in the path of potential work, and find your own clients. As I mentioned, I approached Purposeful Careers after I got laid off. Purposeful Careers has now told other business owners about me so I could have potential clients in the future.
Your workload as a freelancer will vary, and you will not always have a steady stream of income. Not having a steady workload, and not being able to rely on a guaranteed stream of income can be a dealbreaker for some. In my experience, there will be days when my client suddenly decides that they don’t need me, and there will be days when my client is unorganized. For example, let's say I’m scheduled to work on Tuesday afternoon and on Tuesday morning my client says, “It’s okay. You don’t have to work today.” As you can see, being given short notice when it comes to when you work, and when you don’t work is something that freelancers have to deal with. Receiving short notice is a bummer, but in my eyes, it just means I can go back to bed. If you are the kind of person who needs consistency, and a steady income stream then freelancing is not for you.
Freelancing is a great opportunity to make money doing something that you want to, and already know how to do. Both the advantages and disadvantages are worth looking into if you are interested in becoming a freelancer. All in all, freelancing is a job that pretty much anybody can pursue, and if you were to give it a shot, you might find that it is a dream come true.
