As time is advancing, people are inclining more towards autonomous working on individual projects that can help them save more time and hassle. The best option that they see these days is freelancing. According to recent surveys, people in freelancing has almost doubled since 2014.
While it is your personal choice to follow your career as a freelancer, a thorough guide on the pros and cons of this field may make it easier for you to take your decision. So here we are, with some bright and dark side of freelancing, based on personal experience.
Table of Contents
The Pros
1. Commute issues:
Many people find it bothersome to drive 45-50 minutes a day to reach their workplace, which eats up a significant chunk of the day. That time could have been used to do more fruitful work. With freelancing from home, your commute issue gets solved, saving you many important hours, which may profit you in the long run.
2. Selecting clients:
In a regular job, you do not have the liberty to decide your boss. It compels you to go along with a rude and arrogant supervisor. But with freelancing, you are at perfect freedom to choose people you want to work with.
3. Work Attire:
Several people complain about this to be their greatest problem in a job. According to them, a big chunk of their salaries goes to expensive and professional work attires. Working from home via freelancing will solve this element of the problem for such people.
4. Flexibility:
Probably the most worthwhile point for someone who wants to be their boss. You can work in your night-suit, in a coat pant, at a restaurant, from a party, because freelancing will not make this an issue, unlike your 9-5 job.
5. Workload:
The field of freelancing will allow you to deal with your workload with efficiency. With this opportunity at hand, you can choose the number of projects that you can perform within your deadlines, while in a job, you may be given a lot of work within an insufficient time slot.
6. Independence:
You can select the work which falls within your comfort zone and can reject the proposals that do not go with your taste. This allows you to appreciate your work since you preferred them all.
7. Earnings:
Depending on your availability, you can pick more work to do. This means that your cash flow will not be constant, like that of a job. This enables you to earn more, because you may end up staying all night, taking more projects, and ultimately more cash will make its way to you.
8. Work-Life Balance:
Since you are at complete freedom to determine where to and when to work, it becomes easier for you to manage your life along with your career. You can attend a party late at night, because you know you can work late in the afternoon and can sleep through the morning, a privilege, you would not be getting at your regular job.
The Cons
1. The inconsistent flow of money:
Unlike your job, you cannot make a constant salary in freelancing. Yes, you can more cash if you take more projects, but there will be days when you will make less than usual or not frighten you, but some days will pass with no projects at hand, and hence no wealth.
2. Stress:
You may become more stressful than ever. This is because you will spend a solid chunk of your daily energy in reflecting on the projects that you need to bid, not to bid, you will be thinking about the projects waiting to get accomplished, that needs to be sent the next minute, the next week and so on. You are your boss, right? So, you will be individually taking care of everything.
3. No backup:
Let’s say you have a project that is due tomorrow, and you get hospitalized. You have no backup alternative in such cases, unlike in the office setting, where some friend or someone who has the same post as yours, can do that for you. So, it leaves you with no other option but to inform your client and ask for an extension in the deadline which will affect your overall grades.
4. Isolation:
Since most of your work, after entering the freelance world, requires you to do it from home, you will feel abandoned and isolated. You will feel as if someone broke your connection with the outside world. This problem may not look a crucial one, but it is serious since it can lead to depression. A lot of freelancers quit their freelancing careers, only for this reason.
5. Health:
Sitting in front of your laptop, or desktops, for hours, may lead to eye constraints and back-aches. Since you are free to choose whether you want to work from a bed or a sofa, you may end up risking your spine. Along with this, we have observed it that many freelancers try to finish their work in one sitting, without necessary breaks, which is damaging and thus impairs their healths.
6. Scam:
In a regular 9-5 job, you serve for a month and you know that you will see the result in the form of your salary. Well, this is not the case for the freelance world. At many steps, you will find clients who will disappear as soon as you have completed their task. Though there are some ways to tackle this issue, which we will talk about later, we would not deny that you are at risk of scam in this field.
Conclusion:
The freelance world has many merits and demerits, which we talked about. However, this should not intimidate you to make a lifetime decision, for which your future self will thank you. In short, if you are a person who perpetually seeks the bigger picture, and can tackle risks in the field for future success, give this a go!
