The Joys of Unemployment and Freelancing

I worked!

It was awesome.  It wasn’t much but it was good to at least have a gig.  I did a little camera work for a few days a couple weeks ago. Really great opportunity to meet some new people in the business and hopefully this will all lead to more work.  So springtime is coming and thing are looking up.

As a good little boy on the dole, while I was clarifying my benefits for this week I told them that I had worked the week prior.

For those of you not familiar with the unemployment benefits you need to clarify your benefits each week.  If you work one week and make more money than you would on unemployment, they suspend your benefits for a week. 

This is totally reasonable to me.  Some people may say that they wouldn’t try to find work as long as the free money is coming in, but I make a lot more when I’m working than I do when I’m not working.  So if I can find a gig for a week I set myself up in a good spot and then the weeks I don’t work I get my unemployment to make sure I keep myself afloat. 

That was 2 weeks ago, and then this week happened. 

I got a very nice paycheck from that freelance gig and I promptly put it into my bank account.  This put me in a really good spot monetarily.  So I waited the week of my suspended benefits and I was sitting pretty to start collecting again this week. 

When your benefits are suspended, you need to fill out a questionnaire for the DOL about the previous work experience.  It asks questions about whom you worked for and why you aren’t working there anymore.  Very simple and I think relatively easy.

Problem was, my friends at the Dol use snail mail.  (I KNOW!) So I didn’t get the questionnaire last week like I thought I would.  I got it this week, on Wednesday.  Which means I didn’t get it out until Thursday, Again through snail mail. (I KNOW! I even had to buy a stamp!)  The issue with the questionnaire and the snail mail is that you don’t receive benefits until they receive the questionnaire.

Everyone follow so far?

Recapping quickly, my unemployment has been suspended for two weeks because they haven’t received my questionnaire yet.  This is a little annoying, but it is ok because I have some extra cash because of my freelancing. 

Until that check bounced…

It was in my account, and then it just evaporated. 

So now I have no income for the past two weeks.  I have been staring at my bank account on my computer screen for the past 3 days just wondering when the rent check is going to clear and hoping that I have all the other bills that automatically debit accounted for.  If another bill clears the same day my rent clears it will sink me.  It will incur fees that will start to snowball into a debt that I will have trouble paying off once I start getting paid again. 

I will eventually get all of this money, or at least I should.  That will be a good chunk of change, but now I have to wait and try to make sure I don’t drown while it comes.  I’m trying not to be terrified, but I quite literally have $100 to play with until I get the checks that I am owed, and there is no guarantee that this money will show up in time. 

These are the joys of unemployment and freelancing

Day 10: The end of the beginning...

It has been 2 full weeks now without full time unemployment. I'm not sure how people survive like this.

Over the past couple years I have been introduced to a lot of contractors that work in the entertainment industry on a freelance basis. It took me a little while to figure out that this industry is one that lends itself to freelance contractors. This entire industry; from film, television, and theater/events is all dictated by projects. Freelancers work on their current project while they are looking forward to their next project and billing their previous project. Now that I am a freelancer, I have started this process. I am now chasing the money that is owed me for the previous project. I sent my invoice in and now get to wait for it to be deposited into the bank account. I hope it gets dumped into my checking account before I have to start following up with those who I just worked for. So, now I need to start working on my current project and looking forward to my next project. The trouble here is, I don't have a current project or a "next" project. My only projects are getting the money that is owed me, and find a new gig. This is a concept that terrifies me. Frankly, all my friends who are freelance contractors should be terrified as well. The events industry is slowing down at breakneck pace. It seems every couple days I hear about shows getting canceled or the budgets getting cut. This side of the industry is taking a lot more heat from the economic decline than it really should be. It's falling victim to perception instead of reality. The events industry is something that at a glance looks frivolous because it's a lot of money spent to hold business meetings. So now instead of spending money on these events, companies are going to be allocating this money to other sections of their company. This will undoubtedly save a few jobs in those companies for a short period of time, however, will crush those outside of the company who relied on its events.

What have I learned over the first 2 weeks of the dole?

This is going to get a lot worse before it gets any better.

The Week Of Waiting Is Over

When you apply for Unemployment Insurance the first week is a waiting week. At first this seemed silly, but now I have a better understanding of this week of waiting.

Last week I wrote about how awful it made me feel to apply for unemployment benefits. However, seven short days later, that feeling has disappeared. I'm not sure exactly what is to blame for the change of heart. Perhaps it was the level of difficulty of actually finding a new job in this economy, or my bank account plummeting. For whatever reason, I have gotten over myself and began falling in love with the idea of that "free government money."

Now my only worry today is that the freelance gig I am going to embark on today doesn't earn me so much money that the government thinks I have fulltime work again.

Next time will be from the road.