Freelancing can work well, especially for financial peace of mind. Then one day you can become well enogh established to go full-time and have a rewarding career.
Re.flying schools "dictating" what to do:
Flying schools have to have standardised ways of doing things. This is a basic principle of quality assurance. The CFI may seem like a funny old fruit, but if they say you are to do things a certain way, then that is the way it needs to be done. You have to bow to their experience!
It's important for instructors to have their own style, otherwise we'd all be clones, but you can't really do all your own thing...until YOU become a CFI!!!!
Re what hours to work, this is basically a service industry. To a certain extent it is up to the student, you have to be there when THEY need you. They are the customer. If your student wants to fly at 5am, then get used to it!
Two no-nos of freelancing: working for more than one organisation at a time, and appearing to be treading on the toes of the full-timers.
Good luck!
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