you may never see her at a corporate desk, but open a newspaper and you can tell karen baratz is hard at work getting publicity for her clients. the 11-year communications veteran started freelancing to spend more time at home. she found other perks along the way. >> i will not take on a project unless i genuinely and personally believe in a project and i feel that i can really pitch it and work on it passionately and with conviction because i believe in it. that's a luxury that i think you don't always get when you're working for a corporation and perhaps even an agency where you have to work on projects that are assigned to you. >> reporter: baratz says in a slow economy, finding clients takes a bit more work. but, tight company budgets bring some unexpected perks. >> the positions are gone and yet the need is still there. and so that has been both a curse for the people who its affected, but it's actually beneficial for someone like myself who can step in and fill that gap and see that need, and yet the company does not have to pay overhead costs for me to have a desk space, to pay