The income floor that makes it liveable, what you lose when leaving a job, and the month to jump.
Recurring clients count more than a good month
That is the measure predicting the following year, and nobody looks at it.
An exceptional month is almost always an accident: a seasonal campaign, a client spending an end-of-year budget, a grouped order.
Three questions to ask your order book.
How many clients have ordered at least three times.
What share of your income comes from the biggest client, and what happens if they disappear.
And how many months in a row you have passed your floor, with no exception.
The floor is not your current salary: it is what you need, plus the charges the employer was paying in your place.
Build the cushion before the jump
Six months of expenses, available, and not in a locked investment.
Three reasons, and they all happen.
Payment terms: an invoice issued in January is often settled in March.
The equipment failing at the wrong moment, replaced the same day.
And the first-year hole, when the tax and contributions from a good year arrive during a quiet season.
One habit that saves you: open a separate account and pay a fixed percentage of every receipt into it, from the first one. The amount to set aside depends on your situation and is worked out with an accountant.
Winter is the wrong time to start
That is the local calendar particularity, and it decides the first quarter.
Budgets freeze in January, decisions drag, and outdoor shoots become difficult.
Three practical consequences.
Leave in April or September, when budgets open and shoots are easy.
Sign your first two or three contracts before resigning, with dates.
And keep winter for what does not depend on the weather: editing, indoor formats, prospecting.
What you lose besides the income
Four things, and they are replaced one by one.
The imposed rhythm, which becomes your job to organise.
The retirement contributions paid by the employer, which now have to be provisioned yourself.
Paid holidays, which no longer exist: a week without shooting is a week without invoicing.
And the collective: nobody reviews your work, nobody tells you an idea is bad.
What you need before resigning
| Marker | Comfort threshold | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Regular clients | Three at minimum | One departure does not sink the month |
| Cash ahead | Four months of costs | Payment terms vary |
| Visible pipeline | Six weeks ahead | The quarter has started |
| Cover | Insurance and scheme chosen | No gap between the two statuses |
What is settled in the month you leave
The legal status, a dedicated account, a contract template and an invoice tracking table. Four items prepared in one evening that avoid six months of disorder.
What to ask a professional
The status to choose, the contributions, the tax question and social cover during the transition, to be confirmed with an accountant.
The sign that says it is time
One single sign, and it is easy to check.
You have turned down profitable work three months in a row, for lack of time, while still employed.
Two additions making the sign reliable. The refused work came from different clients, not from one. And you refused it for reasons of capacity, not of price.
When those three elements are together, the jump does not create the order book: it frees an order book that already exists, which is the only situation where going full-time is not a bet.
