I lept into the deep dark end of the freelance pool some 17 years ago. I had no idea what I was doing then. I only knew I liked the freedom. The flexibility. The money. And working from home, and pissing in my own pot.
Most of all, I liked doing what I wanted to do, write.
And not doing, what I no longer wanted to do: managing people, sitting in status meetings, fighting with planners, handholding clients who knew nothing about the magic of creating advertising and dealing with the corporate bureaucracy.
I am not a process guy.
Now with the cratering of the economy, the collapse of the holding company model, and the death of advertising as we know it, the landscape is being fertilized with the rotting remains of the old ways. And giving sustenance to a new generation of freelancers, independent boutiques and creative people who just can't take the bullshit anymore.
And will never have to fill out another timesheet.
While this might mean my end of the freelance pool may be getting more crowded, I'm actually happy to see friends and colleagues undoing the shackles of corporate bondage and finding the freedom I found 17 years ago.
More encouraging however, is the notion that soon the holding company overlords will discover they can't maintain a healthy bottom line unless they have the people who can deliver an attention getting headline. Or a hard working tagline. Or even a disruptive positioning line that separates Bank/Airline/Beer A from Bank/Airline/Beer B.
In other words, the Sorrells, Roths, and Reeds of this world need us way more than we ever needed them.
In other, other words, the pendulum is starting to swing back the other way. And though I only have a rudimentary command of economics I do have a passing familiarity with the laws of supply and demand and very well picture the following conversation:
Creative Services Manager: "$2000?"
Me: "That's right."
Creative Service manager: "Isn't that kind of high for a day rate?"
Me: "Oh no, that's my hourly rate."
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