On Being a Freelancer: Chantal Payette

... But it is an example of an essential freelancing quality: boldness. You must believe in yourself absolutely and make others believe in you too. Chantal has found this challenge to be never ending. "It's a tiring, relentless thing," she says, "but you've got to get yourself out there, go to conferences, cold call the press. You've got to do the meetings and [shake the] hands. After a while you want to pull your hair out. You're thinking I have all this experience! Doesn't that count for itself?'" No, it doesn't. Usually not until you get the job. And then once you do, the next challenge is getting paid. "A lot of companies have ridiculous lag times, 60 or 90 days," Chantal explains. Freelancing can also, at times, be a lonely enterprise. Telephone and email can become your only source of contact with the outside world for long stretches of time. So why freelance? It would seem that as a career decision, it more than takes its pound of flesh. When freelancing is tough, it's very tough. But when it's good, it's very good. The opportunities for learning and expanding your skill set, for example, are tremendous. "You do a different gig all the time," Chantal says. "I just finished this intense analysis/recommendation on the text-to-voice market. It was fascinating and I know a lot more now than I did before. The next thing I'm doing is completely different." "You also have freedom," Chantal points out. "You can work when you want. I work best from the evening until about 3:00."