For many people being able to work as a freelancer full time can be a dream come true. You get to be your own boss but have to employ anyone else. So you really can work when you want and take on as much or as little work as you need to. For many, this does sound fantastic. For many others, it could be a bit of a nightmare. Freelancing isn’t for everyone. You do have to be incredibly disciplined to get the work done that you need to and not just get distracted all day. You might be thrive working in a traditional office environment, and like that, you can leave your work at home. So if you are thinking of being a freelancer, what is it really like? There are pros and cons, for sure. So you should consider these things before you decide on a freelance career.
Working as a freelancer can be a bit of a lonely profession. You mostly work by yourself, though you will have interactions with others. Those interactions tend to be through emails, social media, and phone calls, though. So it needs to be something that you can feel happy doing. Some days might go by when you will hardly speak to anyone, as you’ll be sat at home doing your work. Some people thrive off doing this. Other people might consider renting a workspace in an office, so they have an ‘office’ to go to. You’d need to be making enough to cover that cost, though.
With that in mind, many people choose to work elsewhere on some days. They might like to work in a coffee shop or cafe, as it breaks up the week and gets them out of the house. The tricky thing with that is being able to power up your devices. Not all places will have power sockets that they will let you use for health and safety reasons. So the only app you’ll ever need to get is eliminated that problem is called Chargeapp. It lets you locate where charging stations for phones and devices close to you are. So if you like the idea of not working at home every day, then it could be a good choice for you.
As you can work flexibly, you need to set yourself some kind of routine. It can be nice to not have to rush to wake up, but then you can’t have a two-hour lunch break each day unless you plan on working later into the evening. If this sounds like something that you wouldn’t be able to do very well, then freelance work might not be for you. The flexibility is great, but you need to have to discipline to get back to work and meet the deadlines that you will have.
You need to have good negotiating skills when you are a freelancer worker. Many clients might feel like they are doing you a favor by giving you work. But you need to make sure that you are working for the going rate, and getting paid what you deserve, and need, to be paid. So standing your ground and negotiating are always really important skills to have as a freelancer.