Here are a few items that might be overlooked when making up a list of pros-n-cons for becoming a freelancer
- No more commuting – there are many benefits from this:
- Time: how much time do you spend driving to-from work? Take that time back and use it for something more useful like spending time with family, playing games, or even working.
- Money: save on gas.
- Reduced carbon footprint from less driving.
- Save money by eating lunch at home – how much money do you spend each week going out to eat lunch? Just a few times a week can add up to hundreds of dollars a month. You can reclaim a lot of that money. Plus there’s that Starbucks coffee you get on the way to work because it’s convenient. It all adds up. Consider how much you can save.
- Less exposure to viruses: probably isn’t going to make the top 10 list of reasons to be a freelancer but nonetheless if you’re around fewer people then your less likely to get sick. That could be a huge deal in a pandemic.
- Pick your projects: at work you do what you’re told. As a freelancer you can pick and choose your projects. Invariably you’ll still get stuck with projects that you’d rather not be working on but at least you have the option of saying no to a client. Try saying that to your manager.
- Live anywhere: this is obviously dependent on your family life but as a freelancer you have the option to live anywhere. And if you can live anywhere then you can live where it’s cheap. Sure you can make a 100k+ working in a city. But if you can make something near that and live somewhere with a lower cost of living then your expendable income will shoot way up.
- Pick your co-workers – sometimes: it’s pretty common for freelancers to group together on projects. Over time you’ll find people that you like to work with and recommend them to new clients who need their skills. Note to freelance designers: if you produce nicely organized PSDs with Layer Comps then the developers you work with will be more likely to recomend you to new clients – I’m just saying. :)
- Listen to music or watch TV while you work: in the office you have to keep the music low or wear headphones. But at home you can let it blast. Or watch TV while you work. Trying doing that in the office.
- Naps: Afternoon food coma hits you then just lay down for a nap. You don’t have to sit there at your computer struggling to stay awake and not getting any work done.
- Flexible work hours: Do you like to work until 3am and then sleep in? As a freelancer it is very easy to set your own schedule. About the only thing you need to work around is conference calls with clients. And even that is pretty flexible. In my experience clients usually work around my availability.
- Daycare: do you have kids that have to go to daycare for a few hours after school until mom or dad gets off work? Now they can come straight home. Of course that could also get in the way of getting work done.
- Downtime: As a freelancer there are bound to be times when work is slow. Beef up your income by learning new skills and blogging about it. Or work on some personal project that you might be able to monetize. The goal here is to build up residual revenue. I’ve managed to build up my residual income to a level that it can support me. So any freelancing I do – which is very little – is gravy.
A few cons
Freelancing isn’t all candy and roses. There are some serious downsides. Everyone is going to have their own experiences but here’s a few of mine.
- It’s very hard to work 40 hour weeks. It’s more like 5 hours one week and 90 the next.
- Vacations :Taking vacations that don’t overlap with national holidays can be tricky. Trying to plan for that family vacation 3 months from now might conflict with some new client deadline. This is always a problem whether as a freelancer of office worker but it seems harder as a freelancer.
- Taxes: this sucks for everyone but it’s much more complicated for freelancers.
- Health insurance: almost as big a headache as taxes.
- Over booking yourself: This is probably the number one issue that I’ve heard from other freelancers. Especially when they are starting out. There is a tendency to accept every offer that comes along out of fear that you might run out of work in a few weeks or months. My suggestion is to decide how much you need to make each month and how much you want to make each month. Keep a running total to see if your income is falling within projections.
Did I miss anything? If you have any additions I’d love to read them in the comments.
Great list, being a freelancer/independent contractor I totally agree with your points. The biggest pro's for me are the time saved from commuting and meetings and the time gained to be with my family via a flexible schedule. Plus the ability to have more choice in the type of projects I can work on. Sometimes you have to take on some dog projects to make ends meet but most of the time it's all good and you meet and work with a wide variety of people.
@Derrick, thanks for backing me up. One thing to remember is that when you’re an employee you have to work on dog projects. At least as a freelancer you have a choice.
Huge Perk: Control (pride in work, check!)
Huge Negative: Anxiety (cash money yo)
@Michelle, Agreed. There is probably more anxiety – at least starting out – as a freelancer. But then again some employees have anxiety these days at keeping there jobs.
Pro: You don't have a Boss.
Con: You have multiple bosses. Every client lift the phone and start giving you orders that usually you cannot decline.
@Pierluigi, That’s true. Once you do accept a project you can have multiple bosses. When that has happened to me I try to make sure each client is somewhat aware of what I’m working on and the time I have available. So that if they come to me with some new features or try to change the due date I can let them know that they’re not the only person I’m working for. That usually helps. I’ve rarely run into issues with that but it’s bound to happen every now and then.
Yep, the freedom of being a freelancer. Just one thing I hate about being one. I work at home and so it sometimes annoys me that I have no officemates to talk to in person. While there is Skype, Yahoo and all those VOIP apps, nothing beats talking to a live person. LOL!
@Michael, That is certainly an issue. But then again you don’t have the bozo in the next cube yacking your ear off either while you’re thinking, “Dude, STFU so I can get some work done.” :)