With the gig economy on the rise, many people are being tempted by what freelancing has to offer. Freelancing means that you are self-employed. You don’t work for one employer. Instead, you are free to offer your services to many different customers. There is no question that freelancers enjoy more freedom than full-time employees do. Even so, there are plenty of disadvantages to freelancing as well. So, is freelancing for you? To find out, read these pros and cons of freelancing before you quit your job and join the gig economy.
The Pros of Freelancing
The biggest attraction of freelancing is the freedom that working for yourself brings. You are the boss. In fact, you have full control over what you do and who you do it for. Here is how that freedom breaks down into specific benefits:
Ability to Work at Home
The internet has made working from home more practical than it used to be. This has given a big boost to the gig economy. Fast home internet connections have made it possible for many people to work at home. Working at home has lots of benefits. There is no commuting, the hours are flexible, and you don’t have to deal with office politics.
Flexible Working Hours
When you are a freelancer, you can choose when you work. You can fit your working day around your personal commitments. You can also take days off whenever you feel like doing do so.
No Upper Limit on Potential Earnings
Subject to the availability of work, there is no limit to how many hours a day a freelancer works. If you need to earn some extra cash in one month, you can work the extra hours. In some types of work, freelancers can also earn more per hour than full-time employees can.
No Boss Looking Over Your Shoulder
Freelancers are their own boss. They will still need to produce work to a standard that clients will demand. And they will have clients’ deadlines to meet. Even so, if you have many clients, you are not tied to one employer. So, you can walk away from any client that you no longer wish to work for.
Greater Variety of Work
Freelancing can take a lot of the monotony out of some types of work. You will be taking on work from many different businesses in many different sectors. A freelance writer, for example, might be writing health and beauty tips one day. Then, they could be writing about artificial intelligence the next day.
Work Anywhere
For most types of freelance work, your location makes no difference to your ability to work. You can work at home, work in a shared office, or work in a coffee shop. You could even go traveling and still be able to work. So long as you have a phone and an internet connection, you can work wherever you want to.
The Cons of Freelancing
Of course, freelancing is not without its drawbacks. For one thing, there are no such things as paid holidays, benefits or perks. When freelancers don’t work, they don’t get paid. It’s as simple as that. The disadvantages don’t end there. Here are some of the other cons of freelancing that you need to think about.
No Guarantee of Work
The first important drawback of freelancing is that there is no guarantee of work. In full-time employment, you know that there will be a job waiting for you when you go into the office. A freelancer wakes up every day not knowing if any new work will be coming their way at all. Of course, things can go wrong in a full-time job as well. Even so, there is far greater job security in conventional employment.
Variable Income
Because of that lack of security, it can be very difficult to budget when you are freelancing. You may have a windfall one month, and a drought of work the next. Freelancers must be very careful about managing their money. They must put some money aside so that they can cope with any periods of unemployment.
Isolation
On a personal level, freelancing can be very isolating. You might even miss all the office politics! In some types of freelance work, it is possible that you won’t talk to anyone all day long. For those who thrive on social interaction, that isolation can be difficult to handle.
No Structure
Freedom is a wonderful thing. Even so, freelancers have no structure to their day unless they impose it on themselves. If you are going to work without a boss and work without any set working hours, you must have a lot of self-discipline.
No Backup
Working on your own means that you have no colleagues to back you up. If you fall behind with your work, it will be down to you to catch up. There will also be no one available to step in if you are sick. A short illness could lead to you losing valuable clients.
It’s All Down to You
Freelancers are one-man-bands. They must keep their own accounting records. They are responsible for sales and marketing. And they must do all the revenue earning work themselves as well. Rather than reducing pressure at work, going freelance can sometimes create more pressure.
Conclusion
Being a freelancer is not for everyone. The lack of structure and job security puts many people off the idea. Even so, freelancing can be very lucrative. Freelancers also enjoy a degree of freedom that full-time employees do not. If you are considering becoming a freelancer, it would be best to test the water first.
Try some freelance work in your spare time before you quit your job. Then, you can see if there is a demand for the type of work that you want to do. You can also see how you get on with being your own boss. You can’t know for sure if freelancing will work for you, though, until you try it full-time. But, if you are willing to take the risk, you are already showing signs that you have what it takes to be a freelancer.
