Freelancing to Eternity

Professionally speaking, the last three years for me have been something special. They have been stable and prosperous.  

Entering Elul I realized that I got too used to it. I took for granted that every morning I will wake up to a job, and every month I will receive a salary.  

When blessings are assumed, my sincere thank You’s to Hashem, colleagues, family, to everyone – come with a basic subscription fee.  

This has to end. 

The last time I had to look for work, I enjoyed an edge that somehow smoothed out with the luxury of steady work.  

I used to freelance. As a freelancer, you take nothing for granted. Everything you get is a blessing. The code of conduct you need to succeed carries over into your entire life.  

Your entire attitude changes when you approach every day without knowing whether or not someone will greet you with “good morning,” or “Dave, there are a couple of people who need to speak to you immediately.” 

The Code of the Freelancer 

Freelancing is an attitude. It is working under the constant awareness that the client can fire you at any moment without notice, without warning, and without reason.  

The great opportunity of this situation are the rules you need to follow! 

1. Always accommodate. You have to produce great work, but not stand out too much. If someone doesn’t like your work, you cannot argue with them. You must be humble. You have to take their opinion into account and present what you can do next as an option they can exercise if they choose to.  
 

2. Aim for their goals. Always produce value under the banner of their big picture agenda. Even when you have to create something you know is the right way to go, it has to be presented in the lens of how they want it. They set the rules for right and wrong, not us.  
 

3. Admit mistakes, and fix them quickly. If you do something wrong, fix it with alacrity. Never fight, never get defensive. Ask where they feel you went wrong, solicit suggestions, and float a strategy to fix it. Once you see what they want, get on it right away.  

Freelancing is an exercise in humility. It is a peek into what is possible when the world around you is no longer about what you want, but on what everyone else wants.  

The greatest benefit is when you take this attitude to the next level and apply it to your service of Hashem.  

The Elul Assignment 

Our soul serves Hashem permanently, but our body is somewhat of a freelancer.  

We are given life one day at a time and at any given moment Hashem can tell us that through success or failure, our assignment is complete.  

Regardless of how well we are doing, we get a yearly 10–day review in which G-d will decide whether or not to extend our assignment for another year.  

It is up to us to apply the freelancers code to our service to Hashem, and to each other.  

The downside of freelancing is that you can lose it all in a minute. The upside is that you can get a raise, even a doubling of your salary overnight.  

You can go from one client to two in a single phone call. You can take on your next assignment at twice the rate in a day. You can suddenly be asked to do other things you didn’t originally contract to do, but they insist you can do the work and are willing to pay you more to do it.  

Up and down are daily events.  

We are all freelancers, getting paid by our Boss for the work we do. Nothing is guaranteed and we have to prove our worthiness every day. But we are promised to be paid by our Employer, more if we take on additional responsibilities.  

This is the Elul Assignment, the opportunity to take things up a notch. To punch Corona in the face with the Hand of Hashem. To bring the world closer to Mashiach, and the peace that comes with it. To provide for our family while keeping our bond with G-d intact, and Hashem willing, stronger than ever.  

Let’s capitalize on the current economic environment to reshape ourselves to prosperity . . . in everything we do … going forward.  

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David Ben Horin lives in Israel with his wife and children.