Free

the new office..., originally uploaded by JamesB.

So I've been freelance now for 2 weeks, trying to cohere some sort of business which I've called Rattle.    The business is there to provide planning, service design and research concerning digital/social media. 

And in that 2 weeks I've learnt a hell of a lot. Firstly, always read and check your employment contract and don't sign anything that's anti-competitive or plain bad for you [thankfully, I did check]. Secondly, get some solid legal and financial advice because if you don't get that right you might as well not bother and lastly, remember why you're doing it and believe in yourself, because if you don't no-one else will.  That last bit isn't easy but I can heartily recommend Tom Hodgkinson's  treatise on being free from the man who brought us The Idler. 
I rather like the history of the term:

"medieval mercenary warrior," 1820, from free + lance; apparently a coinage of Sir Walter Scott's. Fig. sense is from 1864; the verb is first attested 1903.

I'm also going to be developing an ecommerce business, which I've been banging on about to those who will listen for 2 years+ now and finally have the time and money to make it happen.  More when it does...

Comments

[russell]

Belated congratulations James.

If you're ever down in London and want to swap notes on the life of a medieval mercenary warrior I'd love to share a cup of tea sometime.

[simon roberts]

Good luck indeed. The photo protrays not a dissimilar scene from my early ideas bazaar freelance days...but then I went and swapped 'free-dom' for 'cube-farm'

(Oh, remember to put that VAT money to one side each month!).