Freelancing has been rising in popularity for the past few years. The pandemic proves that people can work from any place and that they don’t need to be in the office to get the job done. Additionally, because of the pandemic many people were laid off and they are turning to freelancing their skills in order to earn a living.
Freelancers are independent workers. They tend to work in creative, highly skilled, or services sectors. As such, freelancers typically require signed contracts for the job to be completed and will have an agreed upon fee on the requirements to complete the commission. The compensation may be a flat fee, per-hour, per-day or some other similar arrangement. Freelancers do their contract work as a full time job or treat it as a side gig in order to supplement their income.
Becoming a freelancer seems like a dream job to many. They can choose their clients, set their own working hours and work from wherever they want. However, being a freelancer has both pros and cons.
Pros
Choosing clients
Freelancers have complete control over what job they take, or more specifically they can choose who they work for. If a certain job or client does not seem like a good fit for that freelancer, they can turn them away and look for other opportunities. Additionally, when starting a job, the freelancer can stipulate the scope of the work they provide in the contract. This may include the price the freelancer will charge for the job, how many changes can be made to the product, additional charges if there are changes to the original deal, etc.
Setting own working hours
One of the best benefits of being a freelancer is being able to determine when the workday starts and ends. They don’t have a fixed work schedule and they don’t need to clock in and out of work every day. This flexibility allows freelancers to better manage their time and to be more efficient in their work.
Working from wherever you want
Freelancers don’t need to show up to the office every day to do their job. They can choose to work from wherever they feel the most comfortable, whether that be a tropical island, the comfort of home or in a co-working space.
Cons
Freelancers are on their own
Freelancers are responsible to make the client happy at the end of the day. Unlike mainstream jobs where you get a comfortable salary at the end the month, freelancing is volatile. Freelancers are responsible for making all their income, finding new clients, setting work schedule and meeting deadlines.
The start is hard
The beginning is usually not glamorous. Most freelancers start off with very few, if any, clients in the first year. To build a good reputation and find regular clients, it takes time and perseverance.
No holidays or weekends off when starting the career
Many freelancers struggle to find stability in their work. This leads to many of them stressing about how to make enough money to pay for next month’s bills. Many freelancers cannot take time off because there are always deadlines and clients expect them to be able to manage to work on multiple projects at the same time.
