[fhd2]

I personally took the plunge, with enough savings to make it several months until the first invoice is paid. Some clients pay on time, some don't, some go bankrupt or just drag it out infinitely, from what I've seen.

Without that kind of savings (and being comfortable with watching them meld away for a while, taking the risk that you might not recover them), I would suggest to try to find a safe way to experiment with this. For example reducing your hours, or taking on a new main job with less hours, and taking on part time freelance work. Maybe there are things you can do for your potential clients with less hours than what you/they think is needed.

[nicolas_t]

With regards to clients not paying on time or going bankrupt, one data point, after being freenlance for 18 years, I have lost about 3% to unpaid work, conflicts with clients etc... Besides this, I've had quite a few clients who have been late (up to 3 months)

When I first started, I remember researching a lot and reading that to expect 5% loss as a rule of thumb and have enough runway to last a year without income, I think that's a good rule to keep in mind.