Thursday, January 30, 2014

The Glamorous Life of a Freelancer

As a freelancer for a cosmetic company, I experience a lot of job envy when I visit different stores. People who are unhappy with their perfect position wonder if freelancing is as awesome as it seems to be. I, myself, had the same job envy before becoming a freelancer. So here are some of the pro's and con's to being a freelancer makeup artist.

Pro's:
- Making your own schedule:
Yes, making your own schedule is pretty fantastic. I can come and go as I please as long as I hit a certain amount of hours per store. But it also leaves room for laziness.

-Being able to leave the drama behind:
Because you're not working with the same people every day, you're not subject to the drama that tends to come with working with a lot of women. But because you are a neutral party, they like to tell you the drama and like you to pick sides. Say what?! Ain't nobody got time for that.

-Meeting cool new people:
As you travel from store to store, this allows you the freedom to meet cool new people. And that doesn't just apply to beauty associates. This also applies to clients. I sit really cool clients in my chair all the time and I never hear the same story twice.

-Pay is pretty decent:
Yes, we do get paid pretty well as freelancers. We're specialized selling machines and we're typically very good at what we do. But we also don't get mileage. So we get paid overly well to compensate.

Con's:
-Soooooo much driving:
Ugh. This is the least favorite part of my job. Even though I have gotten used to all the driving, sitting in traffic is the worst. One evening, I was stuck in traffic for 3 hours because they shut down the freeway. Umm, no thank you.

-Paperwork? Eff balls!:
For those of us who are unorganized, paperwork is not a very fun experience. It requires us to become organized (which is really a pro in the long run) and get stuff done in a timely manner. Otherwise, bad things happen like you wait until the last minute to get your paperwork done and it takes you all day or you don't get paid on time. Not cute.

So overall, I actually enjoy my job. I love the cosmetics that I sell and that's half the battle. Just know that being a freelancer isn't as glamorous as it seems to be. Just like any other job, it has its up's and down's.