This picture was taken from a plane when I was on a business trip few years ago. At that time, it was rainy around the airport. However, after we took off and went through the clouds, I was surprised to see the blue sky which I couldn’t imagine from the rainy weather!
Following up on my last article, in which I explained how I became a freelancer, I’ll now talk about the reasons why I continue to be a freelancer. During my five-year career as a freelancer, my perspectives have undergone several changes. The journey can be summarized by the following process:
(1) I began to think differently about what it means ‘to work’
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(2) I tried new things and started to wonder if I was on the right track
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(3) I had personal coaching sessions and decided to continue to work as a freelancer
(1) What it means ‘to work’
Working as professional doesn’t mean you have to work on a fixed schedule every weekday
After I quit my last job, my perception of what it means to be a “working professional” was changed. Before I became a freelancer, I used to think that:
– I have to work in the office from 9am to 5pm on weekdays (well, I actually often had to work a lot more though…)
– I can use the weekend to pursue other activities outside of my work
– I should mainly work with my project’s members or colleagues
However, once I became a freelancer, I realized that there are no fixed working times, bosses, or colleagues. This led to new points of view:
– I don’t necessarily have to work from early morning into the evening, including on weekdays
– I can also use weekdays to pursue other activities outside of my work
– Sometimes it’s important to collaborate with people from other organizations
As the word “freelancer” might suggest, you can easily have freedom when you work as a freelancer. There are both positive and negative implications that emerge from this. You can make decisions on when to work, where to work, and can even choose with whom, among many other things. On the other hand, you might not be paid constantly, and other people even tend to think that freelancers are “less trustworthy” compared to the regular employees. On top of this, you also have to take care of your own contracts and accounting. Considering these conditions, one can’t help but ask oneself: ‘why would you want to work as a freelancer and what do you wish to accomplish through this career?’
In my case, I had two quasi-answers for this question when I tried to start working in the educational industry after leaving the business consulting industry:
A. I wanted to make an impact by acquiring practical knowledge and experience in various educational institutions (not only in the foreign language education field).
B. I wanted to acquire theoretical knowledge mainly in foreign language education by applying for a PhD, which was something I sought ever since I had finished my MA.
As I wrote in my last article, working as a freelancer was the best option for me to balance applying my knowledge/experience and my biggest interests. Moreover, my knowledge/experience led me to answer (A) and my biggest interests drove answer (B).
(2) The first three years and the turning point
If you run after two hares, you will catch neither…?
After starting to work as a freelancer, I was trying various things because I could work freely as long as it didn’t affect my clients. I rented an apartment/office in Tokyo and Hiroshima and worked in various educational fields in both prefectures, I organized and led workshops and events related to education, I worked temporarily for business consulting projects, and so on. On top of these, I was still searching for universities where I could study to get a PhD, I contacted professors from those universities (both in Japan and abroad), I prepared for the entrance exams, I brushed up on my German skills, and even visited Germany. It’s hard to believe that I did all of these.
The turning point for me was the third year of my freelance career. I couldn’t pursue a PhD degree. There were many reasons for that, the first one being that I had left a considerable gap between the time I had received my MA degree and my PhD applications – several years even. On top of this, I also wanted to change my specialization, which was significantly different from the one I had focused on during my MA, although they both fell in the ‘foreign language education’ field. The final major hurdle was that the university systems in Japan and Germany are quite different. I knew all along that these were risk factors and that it would be difficult to pursue a PhD, not to mention that I didn’t see myself spending time on another MA degree that would make my application smoother, or even spending more than 3-4 years on a PhD. In the end, I simply decided to stop the pursuit for a PhD degree.
This meant that I had lost one of my aforementioned ‘biggest interests’, which was a key part of my ‘balance’ as a freelancer. I asked myself: “If you just want to contribute to society with your experience and skills, do you have to be a freelancer?” The timing of this question was particularly fortunate because I didn’t have long-term contracts with any of my clients around that time, which in turn allowed me to take some time and reflect on what I really wanted to do.
(3) Personal coaching and new resolutions
Restoring the balance and trying to continue
At that time, I felt like I was a “jack-of-all trades” because I had worked with different clients for a variety of projects. Thanks to all these opportunities, I could acquire much practical knowledge and experience, which was one of the two key elements that I sought in my freelance career. However, when I thought about my future, I wondered if it might be better to find other ways to contribute to society, besides being a “jack-of-all trades” freelancer. Also, since I was no longer pursuing a PhD, I thought this might be the best time to branch out beyond foreign language education.
I decided to have personal coaching sessions for 6 months outside of my work. During this period, I thought about all possibilities: continuing as a freelancer, working for an institution/organization/company both in Japan and abroad, establishing my own company, etc. Receiving a stable salary and working freely were not priorities. So, I kept asking myself what I wanted to accomplish and what was the best way to do it. Finally, I decided to keep working as a freelancer and to move out from Japan. At first, I was about to move to Germany, but the plan needed to be slightly changed, and I’m now in the UK.
Although I made this decision, I’m sure these same questions will arise again in the future – probably even on multiple occasions! I don’t think that this solely applies to freelancers, but to every working person. So, the best I can do is to remain positive, enjoy the process that comes with it, even if it can sometimes be difficult to deal with!
