It’s looking like AB5, “the Uber bill,” might cost me half my yearly income. One client fired all their freelancers and asked them to sign up through an agency who would then get more money I could be getting. Another couple of clients are still trying to figure it out. But this is not a rant against AB5, and it’s definitely not against my clients. Because the bill was on to something, even if I’m cursing it right now. I’m going to try thinking of it as a sign that I need to rethink my model. Because that model was unsustainable. Because I was burning out and going deeper into debt every year. And because being an “independent contractor” is a lie that takes away my ability to negotiate or organize. The state is sure right about that. My work— written, educational, and editorial—is good and worth more than the money I earned (sidetone: this isn’t shit-talking about my clients. My clients have been great for the most part. They did as well as they could by me in the system that exists. It is bigger than them. This is a systemic problem of hoarding by the richest of the rich.)
There are people who are actively destroying the world who make more money in an hour than I do in a year. So many educators and writers and editors are scrambling over scraps — for what? The honor of doing something that helps people and reaches people? How is helping people something that we literally have to pay for? How did this shit get so broken? How did we end up in a system where you can only make money by fucking people over? I am done. Donedonedone. It’s time to start over.
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