Freelancing is increasingly understood and accepted in the USA

(written by lawrence krubner, however indented passages are often quotes). You can contact lawrence at: lawrence@krubner.com, or follow me on Twitter.

This guy has no idea how easy things are in 2010:

Mortgage companies don’t get it, and nobody else really will, either. (I mean, except other freelancers. Freelancers should form a support group for one another. I guess maybe they already have? I think it’s called “Twitter.”) Go ahead, try explaining to your in-laws what you do. Or your parents. Or that new girl you’re trying to sex up. Nobody seems to believe that freelancing is real. It’s as if you’re playing pretend. “That’s not a real job, is it?” “No, I just made it up. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go hang out with my pet dragon and have a tea party in Narnia. The life of a freelancer never ends!”

My dad was a freelance stock photographer his whole life, and his career started in 1951, back when life in the USA revolved around working for large corporations. He had his darkroom in our house, and therefore he worked from home. This was extremely unusual during the 50s, 60s and 70s. This era just happened to be the golden age of stock photography, when it was easy to make really good money. But people had a lot of trouble understanding that a person could work from home and make really good money. It simply wasn’t part of the self-image of the USA during that era. Freelancing is much more widely understood today.

Post external references

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    http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2010/09/07/want-to-be-a-freelancer-just-punch-yourself-in-the-face-instead/
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