The “free” in freelancing is supposed to be about the freedom it brings you.

Perhaps it’s freedom from working on stuff you hate.

Or freedom to work for people you love.

Or freedom to work where you want to.

Or when you want to.

For each freelancer, the freedoms are different and personal.

I want to talk about one freedom today.

I have a toddler, Piper. One weekend she came down with an illness that has been going around. Normally colds and flus burn out after 1-2 days but this one was different.

Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. The entire time she was sick. Not sick enough to do much about it other than fluids, rest, and attention but sick nonetheless.

At first we figured it would be done soon. My wife just happened to take Monday and Tuesday off from work, expecting to get caught up on some projects of her own. But instead, she had to take care of poor Piper.

But Wednesday came and Piper still wasn’t better. My wife had to go to work.

Normally, this would be a huge cause of anxiety. Sick child. Parent has to work.

But since I’m a freelancer it wasn’t more than a quick conversation and a few minutes of planning.

I’d stay home with Piper. My wife would come home at lunch to give me a break to shower and eat. Then when my wife got home in the afternoon we’d switch off taking care of Piper.

With my iphone and ipad I could keep in contact with people who needed to reach me. Then I was able to get time at night to deal with things that came up during the day.

Even though Piper was sick through Thursday, it wasn’t that big of a deal because of how I structured my business. If I was an employee I know things wouldn’t have turned out that well.

Having the freedom to take care of your family when they need you is something I value with freelancing.

Eric Davis