Written by Otaku Apologist
Freelancing in the hentai industry is Game of Thrones on steroids. My years as a freelancer here were a brutal experience. This survival guide lists the many problems you’ll face, and strategies that will help you eek out a living.
The companies in the hentai industry are often terrible employers. You are dealing with macchiawellian despots who use people as stepping stones. If possible, you should not be building a long-term relationship of dependence with any companies.
The most pressing problem as a freelancer is that your income will fluctuate when your motivation and energy levels fluctuate. Many things will fuck with your motivation, which becomes a problem when you’re trying to pay the bills.
Problems you will face as a freelancer:
1 – Sudden life tragedies
A death in the family, or a loved one getting injured can really fuck with you. The stress caused by tragedy can mess with your work relationships. Personally, I lost a very valuable business friend around the same time my cousin injured himself while drunk-driving. And when my mother lost her job, I took my anger out on my freelancers.
2 – Sudden medical bills
A sudden illness can destroy your ability to work. If you have no savings for medical treatments, you will soon be depressed, broke, and incapable to work. Always keep cash reserves for emergencies.
3 – Competition for projects
Your skillset is not unique. You have competitors who will work for less pay, who are more skilled at your craft. You have to practice hard and find ways to win bids for projects over your competitors. In the long-term, you want to build a fanbase who supports you. Then you have financial stability, emotional stability, creative freedom, and no shortage of work.
4 – Irregular stream of jobs
You will not always have the same luck with projects. When you get rejected a lot, you will lose confidence. Your aura of negativity will make you fail at negotiations. You will find yourself starved for paying work. Your income will fluctuate with your luck, so prepare for bad months during a good month. Don’t increase your spending when you’re earning, save money.
5 – Boredom with work
Customers and company clients usually want safe, formulaic products. You will find yourself in similar projects, doing the same thing over and over again. You have to train yourself for monotonous, unsatisfying labor, if you want regular income. Prepare for boredom, load up your music player, keep candy in your pocket, play hand-held games on breaks, etc.
6 – Your online portfolio can be nuked
Make a website to host your work. Especially if you’re doing hentai, you cannot rely on social medias. The rules on social media platforms change all the time. Moderators can ban you, you can be subjected to censorship. Make a website and build a fanbase.
7 – Loss of team members
Prepare yourself for losing team members. People get injured, they get illnesses, they can leave without a word. Pick your team carefully, and eliminate weak links early. Keep a roster of replacements on the ready.
8 – Your employer fires you
Your boss can fire you at any time for any reason. You have no worker’s rights as a freelancer. While things are good, prepare for worst-case scenarios. Invest some of your income to build your own products and services. Seek new employers.
9 – Your employer / client doesn’t pay you
The lower quality the people you work with, the more fuckery you’ll endure. You want to build a respectable brand that is trusted, so you can ask advance payment. Make yourself trustworthy, and you will get better clients who don’t scam you. If your market value is still low, and you’re forced to deal with shady people, don’t start spending any money you don’t yet have. Wait to get paid.
10 – Anonymous under-the-table gigs
Many companies offer work where you’re a nameless nobody. Only if you’re truly desperate, or the pay is exceptional, should you subject yourself to the waste of time that is under-the-table work. You need to be building a name to attract a fanbase, and better clients.
11 – You will get older and more tired
You want your life to get easier as you age. You don’t want to be chasing gigs, or grinding a dead-end job in your 30s, let alone your 40s and 50s. Personally, I’ve set up my websites and business model to generate passive income. These days there are days when I barely work an hour with no dent to my earnings – that should be your goal too.
Concluding words
Your long-term strategy as a freelancer should not be a relationship of dependence with your employer. Even if you have a reliable employer, start building a fanbase on the side, or make projects of your own. Your employer is unlikely to ever increase your income – why should he? If you stop working, he replaces you. Your only shot at a better future is to build things.
