woooosaaaaah

Is that how you write it?
As much as I love being in the freelance business (I could never do the steady 9-5, I need excitement and flexibility), working as my own boss, managing myself,
it comes with alot of snags.
I love being able to work with someone I've never met before on a regular basis. I need to hire out seamstresses, models, photographers, show coordinators, venue owners etc etc.
It's exciting because you make alot of new friends, learns things from interesting people, and you have access to all different circles (I party with the hipsters, the preppy people, hippies, hip hop crowd, the die-hard fashionistas, the belly dance community, and more)
But one thing about hiring out people you don't know, is you have no idea if you can trust them. You have to rely on your instincts, and sometimes you just have no choice. And if people don't know you that well they don't give a damn about screwing you over.
I've had so many instances now where models or photographers would cancel on me last minute... and it's really awful because people don't realise that a lot of planning goes into a shoot, the makeing of the clothing, fitting it to the model, coming up with a theme, booking the time, expenses...
So imagine you spend hours planning and setting up for this thing, not to mention it's quite a feat organising a date where 4-5 people are available at the same time! and then someone calls you up with some made up excuse about, well I'm sure we've all come up with some stupid thing or other when we wanted a day off work. but the problem with a contract is this is the one time you'll work with the person, potentially one or two times more, but never again if you cancel a few hours before the shoot! And paying a model doesn't even seem to make a difference!
The worst thing now is having entire fashion shows cancelled last minute, which is even more time spent for preparation and set up.... PEOPLE IN MONTREAL ARE SO FLAKY!
Being in the belly dancing business for 7 years now you'd think I'd be used to this kind of thing (last minute cancellations), but fashion design requires alot more work and dedication, so all these set backs are beginning to wear me down. This project is my baby!
At least from this experience I've learned that I need to build a circle of people I can work with regularly and be able to depend on, once you build a trust with people I'm sure this kind of thing happens a lot less.
New Goals: 1. Have only 3 in house models I use all the time
2. Use only a few photographers I trust and love working with (I already have a few that I have great experiences with!!!)
3. Organise my own god damn fashion shows.
(although I must make a shout out to Ottawa fashion week, these people are incredibly organised and helpfull, I've been having a great experience with them!)