Almost 10 years ago my flat was burgled. My kit bag, which I had sat on the floor of my home office, was stolen just days after shooting my last wedding of the year. It had some of my lenses, SD cards and one of my camera bodies in it.
When I reflect on the break-in there’s a strange mixture of misfortune and luck.
I was unlucky that out of a row of 10 flats it was mine that was targeted. I was unlucky that I had just landed abroad when it happened. I worked from home, so my flat was occupied 90% of the time. Normally, there wouldn’t have been an opportunity for theft.
But I was also incredibly fortunate.
Because I had taken most of my kit with me on that trip, the thief only got away with an aging body and my least favourite lenses. And, most importantly, it happened just after I’d backed up my latest wedding.
Had it been a few days earlier, the story could’ve been very different.
I’ve imagined the horror story conversation that would have followed with the newlyweds. Still on their honeymoon, I picture having to tell them their entire wedding gallery is gone. First kiss. First dance. Their favourite people all under one roof—none of it captured. Years of planning and a chunk of savings spent, and nothing to show for it.
Even though this nightmare never became reality, the thought makes me nauseous because of how close I was to having that conversation. Through no fault of my own, might I add.
I think about the fortune of it being my last wedding of the year. Imagine it had happened in the thick of wedding season or that I was shooting a double that weekend. You have no time to recover before your next job and need quick turnaround for your equipment in peak season.
I think about how lucky I was that my mum (you can always count on mums) had badgered me to buy insurance as soon as I started trading time for money. Like many freelancers I procrastinated with admin. Insurance especially felt easy to ignore because bad things don’t happen to good people like me, right?
That’s the thing about being freelance: a lot of what happens is out of your control. You can be careful with your kit. You can be meticulous with back-ups. But you can’t always prevent bad luck. And when bad luck finds you it’s the preparation that decides what happens next.
I share this because too many freelancers only realise the importance of insurance after the bad thing has happened. I was spared from having the hardest conversation of my freelancer career because I got organised before I needed to be.
I believe that if you freelance long enough you’ll have to brave some tiny fires. The question is, have you done enough to put that fire out before it spreads?
If my story of being burgled resonates, spend 10 minutes of your week:
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Reviewing your insurance cover. If you don’t have insurance get a quote
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Start backing-up your work. Need inspiration for a good back-up system?
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Create a disaster recovery plan. Ask yourself, “If my kit was stolen today, how fast could I get back to work?”
