Given that freelancing is the future, one would hope that the freelance lifestyle will be a simple adjustment. As more and more people transition into this way of working, understanding what freelancing truly means becomes more and more important.

In the anticipation to ditch the boss and make their own way in the world, freelancers tend to overlook key fundamentals. When you’re working for yourself and managing clients, you have to become expert in spinning multiple plates at the same time. Freelancing can be the future, but only if more people are aware of what freelancing really requires.

1) A Promotional Strategy

No freelancer can just sit back and wait for the work to roll in. Freelancers have to promote themselves as a business, almost as a brand. Bringing in the likes of ignitedigital.com can help freelancers bring in more clients, increasing the demand for their service and thus increasing revenue.

2) An Accountant

As bankrate.com points out, filing tax is never simple — and that’s just with regards to personal taxes. When it comes to understanding business taxes, it’s nigh-on impossible for a non-accountant to guarantee all tax filings are 100% correct. All sensible freelancers will delegate this responsibility to an accountant. Not only does this ensure all tax filings are correct, but also alleviates the time pressure a freelancer would otherwise experience.

Juggling and the day job and trying to make sense of tax law isn’t a good mix. Freelancers should hire an accountant to assist them from the moment they begin generating a profit.

3) Tech Support

One of the most wonderful aspects of freelancing is how little equipment you need to get started. For most freelancing careers, if you’ve got an internet connection and a laptop, you’re good to go. Most freelancers will also use their work computer as their personal computer, blurring the two lines, and saving themselves some money on tech as a result.

However, what happens when something goes wrong with the computer? The longer that a freelancer is without their computer, the longer they’re not generating an income. Good tech support is essential if a freelancer is going to be able to get back up and running, so at the very least they should have a local tech contact to run to in a pinch.

4) A Dedicated Workspace

Freelancing offers the opportunity to work from anywhere in the world; potentially even become a digital nomad. However, this lifestyle appeals to very few people. Most of us need structure to be able to function normally. As a result, all freelancers should try and set up a dedicated workspace that they only use for work-related tasks. This helps to keep a decent separation between life and career, helping a freelancer balance their time and priorities.

By keeping an eye on these four fundamental requirements for a freelancing career, the adjustment to this new way of working should be trouble-free. If you ever contemplate shifting into freelance work, you can recall this list and be sure to keep all your plates spinning.