How to Prepare for Illness as a Disabled Freelancer
I found in my most recent full-time employment that working around my health just wasn’t working for me or my employer, so in April 2021, I took the leap into freelance and joined the team at SIC.
Photo by Emma Simpson on Unsplash: A woman is walking down a path lined with trees, her hands touch the top of her head in a stretch. The path is scattered with leaves, the sun shines through the trees.
Switching to freelance has been the best option for me, it’s proved accessible and the power of when and how I work has been back in my hands. However, it hasn’t been smooth sailing. In July 2021, four months into my freelancing journey, I caught Covid-19. I’m double vaccinated, but as someone with a weakened immune system and breathing issues, it hit me really, really hard.
Here’s what I learnt about getting sick with Covid-19 while being self-employed.
Be authentic
Trying to style it out and not tell your clients that you have Covid is not a good idea. While I was sick I spoke to a lot of freelancers in similar situations who tried to just keep working, but the truth is their outputs were just not up to standard, they were stressing themselves out and getting more unwell.
For two weeks, I didn’t work a single day. I told my clients upfront I was ill and gave them weekly updates on my health. I then worked for 2 weeks at half capacity.
My clients were all understanding, and none of them met this time off with any hostility. What’s worse than taking time off? Losing clients by not being honest and giving them subpar sickbed work.
Don’t beat yourself up
There’s always going to be the people that suggest being really sick is basically like being on holiday, a time to catch up with some reading and binge Netflix. The reality, however, is that it is far from a holiday.
That feedback from others is not helpful, it just adds to the guilt you may already be feeling for letting people down.
Try to turn your guilt into thought rather than feeling in order to better rationalise your guilt which is not helping with your recovery. Ask yourself, have you done something wrong? By thinking your guilt through you’ll start to realise you have nothing to feel guilty about, and you need time to recover properly.
Don’t punish yourself either. When I moved to freelance I made the decision that each year I would give myself at least six weeks of leave and that was not to include periods of sick leave.
I had a holiday booked a week after recovering from Covid, and I still took the time to actually have a holiday. By taking away your holiday for getting sick, you’re more likely to burn out, and just get sick again!
Given the opportunity, create a financial buffer
Pricing yourself as a freelancer can feel really hard. If you base it on a previous full-time wage, you’re forgetting all the other costs you have to cover such as your own sick pay, holiday pay, and pension contributions.
Make sure you create a value that enables you to cover these costs. I purposefully do not pay myself everything I earn each month and all earnings go into a separate business account. I also have my account set up so that future national insurance, tax, and student loan fees (which are charged annually for the self-employed) are immediately put into a savings account whenever an invoice is paid.
I pay myself what I consider a decent living wage, which does not change. This meant that even a few months into freelancing I was still able to cover my “wage” despite having been unable to bill for a fairly substantial period of time.
The reality is when you’re unwell and a freelancer, your income stops, and with only four months of self-employment there are no established avenues for financial support.
Rest, and then rest some more
I’ve always suffered from fatigue but one of the symptoms that really hit me with Covid was more fatigue. Even when your other symptoms are gone, I found the fatigue remained, and it still does.
My biggest piece of advice is to keep resting and listen to your body. If you’d normally work until 6pm but are now tired at 4, accept it. Powering through will most likely mean you wake up and some of your symptoms are back.
Freelance and self-employment is a fantastic option for those of us with chronic illnesses and disabilities, especially while the standard workplace is so ableist. The reality of freelance work though, is that you aren’t afforded the same rights or support as someone in employment. You have to create that support for yourself.
If you’re reading this and have experienced something similar, know that you aren’t alone, that these things happen, and that they will pass. I found reaching out to freelance networks was an amazing way to gain advice and support.
