1. Most people think life as a freelancer is one long jolly – "what you work for yourself? do you get take lots of time off then?"
2. You might have been working 20 hour days for one client trying to finish a project but you have to hide this fact from other clients. It's a bit like having a dirty secret – clients know that you work for other people but they don't want to be reminded of the fact.
3. There is no place to hide. The buck stops with you so you have to do a good job or it shows.
4. It's very dull handling all the accounts.
5. It gives you an insight into the human condition. OK this is a bit over the top, but the point is that being in and out of various different work places means you understand all the different 'types' of working environment from the trendy agency where everyone is out to be seen to be doing 'cool stuff' to the blame culture of some of the bigger companies, where everyone is scared of making a decision for fear of it coming back to haunt them.
Overall – I'm glad it just me, myself and I.
image courtesy of Saital – Creative Commons license