A self-employed person is someone who works for themselves and is not committed to a long-term employer. Freelance work areas include music, journalism, filmmaking, photography, illustration and event management. Working for yourself is often said to provide many benefits to the individual, as it allows you to create a professional life based on your personal skills, talents and intrigues. Freelancers can work on a variety of projects with exposure to many variations of people, and the job often offers flexibility of location and schedule. In the arts and media industries, working on projects of your own design offers greater creative freedom than a conventional job would allow. However, how true are these things and do they work for everyone? To answer this question, I interviewed a number of people in different areas of self-employment. Momoko Hill (see appendix 1) has been a marketing representative, events manager and currently works as a manager for several musical artists. She said she freelanced because: “For me, the number one reason to freelance is freedom. I've heard a lot of people say that the best thing is being able to get up and work from home in your pajamas, and that's true. There's a lot more freedom than what an office job gives you. I particularly like the freedom of creation, that of making your own decision and learning for yourself. She also highlighted the benefits of not having a boss; “The freedom it gives you is truly such a benefit. You're not always limited to an office or a 9-5 schedule. You can do different projects and choose what you want to do. I prefer to manage things myself and make my own decisions, rather than let someone dictate things to me. Freel...... middle of paper ...... capabilities of the company you work for. Working on a film set would give you a good understanding of how a production team works and the types of people and equipment needed. This is knowledge that is difficult to acquire without hands-on, hands-on experience, which allows for greater levels of creativity. In conclusion, through my research I have found that freelancers and employees face very similar challenges and benefits. Both face instability in light of the current economic climate and require a lot of hard work and networking. Both offer you skills and creativity, but in different ways and to different degrees. This project has broadened my understanding of self-employment and also opened my eyes, as I initially thought that……Actually, it could be considered in many ways to bring much more control and creativity to your work..