Freelance Notebook 3.12.2020

I’ve been very fortunate that most months I’ve scheduled enough work to cover all my financial responsibilities for our household. There are months that are better than others, but eventually it all balances out…usually.

This week, I’ve lost a couple very high profile (and high paying) engagements due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) scare. I am completely on the side of ‘better safe than sorry’, so I understand the decision that was made to cancel these concerts. However, this will make what was going to be a financially ‘above average’ month (very above average) to just about an average month. I’ll be fine, bills will be paid, mouths will be fed, but just when I thought I was going to get ahead and maybe even start to save for the future, the rug gets pulled out from under me.

As I was typing and editing this post, another full week of work with the Sinfonia da Camera was canceled/postponed at the end of the month.

I hope that this work does get rescheduled, but for now, I’m simply out of the work and the money that comes with it.

As my freelance player brothers and sisters know all too well, we don’t have sick leave, paid time off, or anything else that can help with the financial hit.

This line of work is risky and one bad month can send ripples well into the financial future, but that’s a price we pay as freelancers to have such a fluid career path.

Let me ask you, dear readers, what do you do when work is lost? How do you cope? What work have you lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping across the nation? I’d love to hear from you!