3 reasons I sometimes miss my cubicle

Sometimes, freelance writing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. There are days, like today, where I actually miss my 8 to 5 life in a gray office cubicle. While I don’t regret my decision to leave my job to pursue freelance writing, being an independent contractor isn’t without challenges. Here are my top three.

1. No coworkers. I miss the feeling of being part of a team, and the little social interactions throughout the day. Most of the time now, it’s just the dog and me, and it can get lonely sometimes.

2. Clients don’t always pay on time. I’m lucky in that most of my clients pay in a timely manner. That isn’t always the case, however. I currently have several invoices that are past due, totaling more than $750. I really need the money, but I also need to preserve my relationships with these clients. It’s times like this I miss those regular paychecks.

3. The constant search for work. When I worked as a staff writer for an organization, there was never a shortage of projects. I always had something to work on. As a freelance writer, the opposite is true. If I want to keep money coming in, I have to always be contacting editors and potential clients looking for my next assignment. Rarely will an editor call me out of the blue and offer me work (although this has happened on occasion).

On the flip side, if I hadn’t left my cubicle job, I may never have realized my dream of publishing my own articles. You can see links to some of my published work on the Start Here page. I guess the message is that no job is perfect, but some are definitely better than others.

If you enjoyed this post, you can subscribe to Peculiar Girl or share it on Twitter or Facebook.

Photo by Tim Patterson on Flickr.