What the world of creation looks like…

WThis piece of writing is intended to focus (in detail) about a creative profession entails. Its common disregard in most households, is something to be baffled about. A creative profession is a very much a grounded path toward women empowerment and career gratification. The parameter of what encompasses the choice of a career, is knowledge that is skewed, especially in India. Above all, there lies a monetised area where creative outputs can be capitalised upon, as in a person can truly find any number of ways to live with what they are passionate about. In the era of the women, it’s of utmost importance that she walks toward where she belongs, and find her shine through it.

This isn’t be translated to reality, however. Perhaps it stems from a general lack of knowledge about what a creative profession looks like.

If information can help straighten out the unsympathetic responses from near and dear ones, may this piece of writing be the guiding rope.

Let’s start the right way and that means finding an appreciation of the work expanse known as freelancing.

A freelancer is a creative or technical person you employ to handle a certain project in hand. When a person offers her services for a certain amount of time in exchange for payment, this is known as a freelance job.

Once they have finished the project and received the agreed-upon payment, they will move on to another project with a different client. As long as they efficiently manage their time and resources, they are free to take on many freelancing jobs at once.

The following is a partial list of some of the jobs that freelancers typically complete:

• Content Writing
• Graphic Designing
• Digital Marketing
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
• Coding
• Coaching
• Photography 
• Makeup Art
• Modelling and Acting 

Compared to a regular desk job, freelancing gives you a lot more freedom and flexibility. You get to choose the projects you work on, the team members you work with, how long a project takes, and where you work from. When you work as a freelancer and become your own boss/entrepreneur, there is the concept of having a healthy work-life balance. charging based on the amount of work you put in. You often work from home, which eliminates the need for a commute and office politics. Obviously, more flexibility is available than in a conventional job career.

However, just like any other job, freelancing has its own set of disadvantages that you should take into account.

There will always be a lack of job security and times when you might not have work. To fulfil deadlines, it may frequently be labour around the clock.
In addition to your work, you must devote time to administrative tasks including marketing, self-promotion, payment monitoring, and client follow-up. Foregoing perks like a PF, health insurance, and paid holidays.

The amount of work you do affects your income. Therefore, it is almost impossible to take too many days off.

A creative professionals job is mostly a freelancing gig.
Particularly for freelancers, a single assignment could necessitate multiple revisions.

Finding continuous work can be a major challenge for a part-time or independent creative professional. Even if there are countless websites, applications, and organisations that can help with the process, major obstacles can arise due to creative disagreements, incongruent deadlines, or even inadequate remuneration.

The pandemic, was able to shed previous notions against working from home and there is a better understanding of an extensive newer approaches to working and earning money.

It’s important to understand the context, pros and cons of freelancing before truly setting out on a career journey. The concept of freelancing is still underappreciated, almost secondary to what a traditional desk job entitles.

The appreciation for a creative professional and her career choices must start from an understanding of freelancing as a career.

A creative professional’s life is swamped with a tonne of inquiries and worries from those around them, to doubt their decision to work as a freelancer and their ability to handle such pressure.

How do you envision yourself when you are an adult? — From the moment we can form understandable phrases, we are asked this question. We are praised and encouraged to pursue the occupations we aspire to, including those of pilots, astronauts, doctors, lawyers, writers, actors and dancers.
Yet, at some point, we are taught that we’re being ‘too ambitious’.

Being discouraged for ‘asking too much’ — with career, education, or life in general. We frequently give up on our goals because we believe they are “unattainable.” We’re expected to select less, do less, and be less, even as we get older.

“….And when a woman is working at it, it is no longer a job. It becomes a pastime…”

A creative career seldom ever constitutes a full-time job. And when a woman is working at it, it is no longer a job. It becomes a pastime.

Hers is a pastime, and one that can be refined even without the meagre payment. To help with it, she has her hubby. without being under any obligation to generate income or draw clients. When a woman in the arts marries, she endangers her profession on two fronts. Not only must she take time off from work, but she should also think about making it a pastime.

There are no established data for freelancers, part-time occupations, or creative jobs. But we can all foresee the result. Women in creative industries who married have less clarity about their commitments to their careers. Since many creative jobs allow for remote work, the family rarely considers it to be work.

Families do not consider freelancers or part-time employees to be working members. As a result of the strain placed on women to perform domestic duties, the job suffers. If she is able to maintain an equilibrium, despite sleepless nights and unanticipated creative spurts, she is questioned about her work if the remuneration is minimal.
She is still viewed as a caregiver, a housewife, and a homemaker even if she is highly paid. She barely makes enough money to support the family; the only reason she is the Laxmi is because she brings luck, not wealth.

The final option is given to her if everything else fails and she insists on continuing to work because she enjoys it: continue your passion and quit your job.

Women represent only 19.9% of India’s total labour force, citing Catalyst’s online report Quick Take: Women in the Workforce – India 2020.

It’s easy to think that this disparity just applies to lower middle-class or middle-class families, or to families where educated women are still a myth. However, this gender gap transcends all obstacles related to caste, class, and education.

According to the National Family Health Survey, just 32% of married women between the ages of 15 and 49 are employed (NHFS 5). In the same age range, 98% of men work either full- or part-time.

When this poll is closely analysed, it becomes clear that there aren’t many working married women, and that 15% of them don’t receive any compensation for their labour.   In comparison to men, more women were left unemployed or faced substantial pay cuts as COVID-19 worsened and jobs fell. 

You must be aware of your workplace, whether you are a full-time employee or a freelancer. For you to work effectively, it should be a setting where you feel upbeat and productive. You cannot disregard the demand for a positive workplace environment just because you do not have set office hours or working days.

As a freelancer, you must still satisfy your customers. 

They will demand what they want from you; hurried modifications or abandoning the project are part of the work

Being a freelancer does not make you “the boss.” Even if you will enjoy your effort, the power does not immediately rest with you.

Freelancing comes with a completely different lifestyle than a full-time employment, where you have a certain number of hours to work and so many tasks to complete in that time. While it takes up the most of your time, in order to earn well, you must remain active and hunt for better projects during the downtime. In a technical sense, you are always working.

When you are a freelancer, networking is the key to obtaining new projects. You never know when, how, or who can provide you a job, so do everything from participate in online communities for freelancers to attend events for them.               

Having now had an almost complete overview of freelancing and creative jobs that fall under that category. It is only fair to treat members of the family working as freelancers, some basic respect, courtesy and free will to work to their best interest. Most people work to gain some sense of validation. Women seeking to work again, especially as freelancers, need to be appreciated, supported and above all, validated.

Freelancing is a great way to begin again on career fronts. It can be an all satisfying, all empowering route to defined success.
To incorporate passion into capitalization and finding different means to do it is economic progression at its optimum. Do recommend it as an option of validity, to dear ones attempting to start / restart on their careers. Better yet, direct them to Woower – where they will be assisted in finding work or perhaps even stumble upon this blog?