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Is it wrong to do Freelance on the side? (self.freelance)

submitted ago by keconomou

I live in California, and I'm attempting to transition from freelance-only to employment with freelance here or there. Supplementing my income and skills is very appealing, but I don't want to break trust (or laws) with any possible employers.

Is it wrong or illegal? Is there a stigma?

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[–]twelvis 11 points12 points ago

If your feudal lord permits this, I don't see why you shouldn't. Seriously? Of course it's legal. The only exception is if your current employment contract specifically forbids it.

However, although dying, there still is some stigma attached to telling people you work for yourself; many just assume you're covering your ass for being unemployed or are making very little. Mind these simple-minded folk not.

[–]keconomou[S] 2 points3 points ago

Ha, feudal lord. I will try not to worry about the stigma, though I've been doing freelance for a bit so I've gotten good at shrugging it off.

[–]hjonx 2 points3 points ago

I freelance on the side and have no qualms doing it. However, some companies make you sign a non-compete clause when you're hired. So if you're freelancing in the same area as your job, depending on the state, there might be an issue. Since you're in CA, there isn't one since NCCs are illegal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-compete_clause

[–]keconomou[S] 0 points1 point ago

that... that is remarkable news that makes my worries disappear overnight. thank you.

[–]elspic 0 points1 point ago

As someone else mentioned, as long as you aren't pursuing your employer's clients, doing work on their time or directly trying to position yourself as competition, you'll probably be fine. But, just because you can't be forced to cover a non-compete clause (which is usually intended to keep employees from quitting/being fired and taking their knowledge to start a competitor), doesn't mean that the company can't still find a way to prevent it; California being an at-will state means they can fire you for nearly anything. They could be upset by you not being upfront about it and fire you for wearing the wrong color pants.

Generally you'll probably be fine, as long as you're upfront with them about it. I've taken jobs at hosting companies before and, even though they prohibited employees from running their own hosting companies, since I provided hosting for web development customers, I just had to explain it and give them a list of the domains I was handling.

[–]ascottmccauley 3 points4 points ago

The biggest legal problems would be if you are directly competing with your employer and taking away their business, or if you are working on freelance projects on company time/equipment.

Otherwise, make sure you get your quarterly taxes in order and have a blast!

[–]gruntbuggle 1 point2 points ago

I started freelancing while working full time, when I wasn't working on their stuff I was working on mine (I had been there a few years and soon developed methods to do their work faster freeing up the time).

Of course that wasn't in California, I understand things are... different there.

[–]keconomou[S] 0 points1 point ago

[10]

[–]jessefletcher 0 points1 point ago

I freelance on the side, but i asked my employer first, and they have no issue with it as long as I don't actively go after their clients of course. When in doubt ask.

[–]josephnicklo 0 points1 point ago

As long as it doesn't conflict with your full-time job, nothing is wrong with it — just dont sign a Non-Compete.

[–]wefandangrow 0 points1 point ago

One possible issue is the hours you're working interfering with each other in a way that makes the client frustrated. For instance, I do scoring/composition of background music for a local video company on a freelance basis, and sometimes they'll need a quick change that will only take me a couple minutes to do, and send them the new file. However, I'm my job, so I can't get it back to them until I'm at home later that day, and have to dance around the topic delicately. So, there are a few tricky things about it. And yeah, be careful if you're under any kind of non-compete, and if you are, make sure you never sign one ever again