Pitfalls of Freelancing with Chronic Illness

I want to encourage everyone here to freelance as a way to work around your chronic illness instead of going to a full-time job that sucks every ounce of energy from you.  However, I don’t want to paint a rosy picture of the perfect life.  Freelancing when you have a chronic illness is hard.  These are some of the pitfalls you may encounter when you freelance while dealing with a chronic illness:

• You promised your client you’d turn around his project in 24 hours, but now you’re so fatigued that you can barely sit up.  Should you try to take a nap to rejuvenate yourself, or should you just slog away on the project until it’s done and you can go to bed?
• Your doctor prescribed a new medication that may help you combat your fatigue.  Problem is, your client doesn’t pay you until Friday and it’s only Monday.
• You’re on a conference call with a client, when all of a sudden, you get sick to your stomach.  What do you do?
• Your work is good, so why aren’t clients flocking to you?  Doctor bills are piling up and there’s no money in sight.

Money issues, scheduling concerns, and finding new clients will always be concerns for any freelancer, but they’re magnified when you’re also dealing with chronic diseases.  Keep this in mind as you set out on the path to owning your own business.

Chronic Illness & Full-Time Jobs: Privacy Issues

One of the many reasons that working a full-time job doesn’t always work out for people with chronic illnesses is that it’s difficult to have privacy at work.  Privacy is especially important for people who need to manage their chronic diseases during work hours.  Some examples:

• Diabetics who need to give themselves insulin injections
• IBS sufferers who need the option of using a private bathroom
• People who must catheterize themselves due to bladder issues or spinal cord injuries
• People who must maintain or change medical equipment and supplies such as bandages, colostomy bags, and braces

I used to live in New York City, where I worked for two small businesses.  Luckily, one of the companies had its own bathroom, but in an office of eight people, there was bound to be someone in there right when you needed to use it.  The other company shared a bathroom with the building next door; you had to grab a roll of toilet paper, go next door, and run up a flight of stairs to get to the bathroom.  I can only imagine how that would work out for someone with an overactive bladder or someone who suddenly felt sick and needed to get to the restroom right away.

Starting your own business can help you eliminate these privacy issues from your workday.  Instead of worrying if someone is listening outside the bathroom stall, you can manage your chronic illness right from the comfort of your own home.  There would be no need to pack medical supplies in your bag each day or worry about having something fall out of your purse that you don’t want anyone to see.  Working from home means your supplies are accessible and that you have all the privacy you need to take care of yourself.

Have you ever encountered privacy issues in the workplace (specifically related to managing your chronic illness)?  Did they improve or get worse?  How did you deal with them?

Weekend Wrap

Here are some of the blog posts and sites I found this week that are of interest to people with chronic illness and freelancers with chronic illness.

• What Keeps Us Going with Chronic Illness
• 10 Resolutions for Managing Chronic Pain or Illness
• The Chronic Illness Initiative
• No Hardfast Rules About Disclosure (Discusses disclosing an invisible illness to coworkers and managers)

Have a wonderful weekend, and be sure to leave a comment if you have a link to another resource that would benefit everyone.

Welcome to the Blog for Freelancers with Chronic Illness

If you have a chronic illness and you can’t bear the thought of dragging yourself to work every day for the rest of your life, you have options.  Freelancing can be the ideal way for people to manage their chronic illnesses and still earn a decent income.  This blog will have information about the following topics:

• Starting your own freelance business without a lot of capital
• Arranging your work schedule around your chronic illness symptoms
• Marketing your freelance services
• Choosing a freelance career that doesn’t aggravate your condition
• Preparing to transition from a full-time or part-time job to a freelance career
• Why working for someone else isn’t always the best option for people with chronic illnesses
• How to improve your time at your job if it’s not the right time for you to break into freelancing
• Managing a business budget
• Networking with other business owners
• …much more

My vision for this site is that it will become a place of refuge for people who are dealing with chronic illnesses and struggling to find a way to earn an income without working 60-hour workweeks.  Each post will be open for discussion, and I hope that readers will network with each other, support each other, and share advice about freelancing as well as dealing with chronic illnesses.

In the future, the blog will be added to www.workinginbed.com (site is now under construction) so readers can access articles, e-books, and other resources about working around a chronic illness while still earning an income.  Until then, feel free to visit often and get to know each other.