Available

Along with "yes" and "of course, I'll be there," "available" is probably one of the most important words in a freelancer's vocabulary. When you're staff, your presence is basically a given. But when you're freelance, employers want to know that you can appear at a moment's notice, that you can jump into a planned, or a last-minute, vacancy on the schedule they need to fill.

So, as a freelancer, I try hard to be available. I don't make too many absolute plans, I don't get attached to particular working hours or modes of travel. I am, within reason, available.

What I have discovered as an active freelancer, however, is that "available" works both ways. While I am busy being "available" for work, I am also "available," both logistically and emotionally, for my family, in ways that I couldn't necessarily be with a job others might consider normal. As my schedule is constantly fluid, my thought processes tend to be that way too, which means that I can process the needs of kids and personal life in the available moments here and there. I may need to "be available," for the places where I work, but I can also use "being available" to help fill the needs of my family I never could if I were "full-time."

So, as much as I can, I say, "yes, I'm available." Because that doesn't mean just succeeding in working in a freelance world. It also means being available to help the important people in my life through that world.