Is freelancing the road to success? The answer to this question is very dependent on the person. There are a lot of people that say yes, some are hesitant, and some will say no, it’s just not for them. There is loads of work out there for a freelancer. Freelancing does however come with its advantages and disadvantages over working for a company which I will investigate below.
Advantages
There are websites out there that promote and help freelancers. Some of which are Freelancer and Upwork which do allow quick hits. Some of this can be very easy work and very profitable for a short term basis.
Work life balance is improved as you get to choose what hours you work. You can work whilst you are productive regardless of time and enjoy your time when you don’t feel in the mood. This can be a double edged sword as you do need to balance correctly between work and life. Working from home means no traffic jams in the morning.
You are your own boss. You get to make all the decisions, big and small, whilst harvesting all the rewards. You get to choose what projects you want to take on and if you think the client is going to be too much hassle a simple “no thanks” gets you out of the work. You have the freedom to charge what you want with no-one taking a cut (apart from the tax man).
Most importantly, you learn business skills and ultimately every detail of how to run a business. You will be every part of your business from sales, admin, accountant to project manager to keep on top of the work and make sure you do the work you’ve been paid to do. All these jobs sound quite daunting, but they are well worth learning to be successful at freelancing.
Disadvantages
Long term profitability will require a better strategy such as marketing and selling your services to a targeted market/client. For a web developer this means there is a requirement to have some sort of skills in design or having to freelance the design work out.
High highs and low lows. When everything is going successfully, and the money is rolling in it is the best feeling in the work. When the work dries up it can be incredibly stressful as the bills don’t stop due to you having a bad month or three. This also goes for starting up, it can be slow to build your reputation and reliability. Clients can be unreliable as well, not paying on time or at all. Jobs can fall through leaving you short for the month and you need to find a way to make that work.
You don’t get sick days or holidays. Any time you choose to take off is unpaid and if something goes wrong whilst your holiday with a client’s maintenance (site goes down), this could result in you losing a client. Also lack of benefits for working for a company. Some companies have a half day Friday, some offer private health care, some offer discounts for certain places.
Is Freelancing For you?
Not everyone is cut out for freelance work. If you can’t hand the uncertainty, stress or juggling your time management then maybe it is not for you. However, there is a great deal of work out there for freelancers and it is worth trying, even in the short term. Small companies often freelance work out through freelancing websites. The drawback is the competition normally drive down prices and competition on these sites can be fierce. Long term you are best networking and having a marketing strategy such as running inexpensive Facebook and Instagram ads. They are cheap and accumulate a load of views on your targeted market making them very efficient. Freelancing itself is a risk but life is a series of calculated risks and some risks are worth taking.
Each person will have a preference about whether they want to work independently or work as part of a team within a company. Personally, freelancing isn’t for me. I’d rather not shoulder the responsibilities and I work better as a team as get to bounce of people and can have fun whilst I enjoy doing my job.
