The Self-Employed Life... Is It For Me?

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More and more people are choosing the life of working for themselves instead of working under traditional employment. For many, the life of a freelance worker has infinitely more perks than working in a job that you hate with a passion. Apart from the reduction in resentment towards your employers, working freelance means that there is no cap on your pay; you can earn as much or as little as you want. And while working in a freelance capacity sounds like a wonderful life, there are veritable pros and cons.

You Need To Learn How To Manage Your Finances…

The life of a freelance worker is a feast or famine when it comes to money, and you will need to take the work when it comes your way. As a result, you need to learn how to look after your finances and balance it out evenly. If you get a massive job that pays well, don’t spend it all at once, because another job may not come for a while. Crunch some numbers and put rainy-day funds aside.

There Are More Than 24 Hours In A Day…

You will discover that you will need to complete work at a moment’s notice, and drop everything to get a deadline done. You need to learn the act of making time to accomplish these tasks while also making the most of your personal life. We all have issues making the balance between work and life. The best advice I can give is to structure your working days rigidly and stick to them. The vast majority of freelance employers give deadlines ahead of time so you can plan your workload effectively.

The Freelance Burn…

The feeling of frustration when there is no work coming your way can be too much to bear on occasion. You could be tempted back into a “proper” job, which may pay a regular wage but you’ll be miserable. The best way to make the most of your freelance abilities while still earning a crust is to start your own business. If you have been designing websites for years, then you can hire out your services at a price. In doing this, you are making more work for yourself instead of waiting for work to come your way, you are having prospective clients come to you rather than you going to them, and it can all be done from the comfort of your home, so it’s not a massive difference to your freelance work. Starting a business requires some planning, and as well as the business plan and marketing tactics you need to get clued up in, you need to find the best methods of financing your company. You can acquire business loans on a quick turnaround with some organizations, and some can take a while. But if you get your ideas together and slowly plan your business during periods when you aren’t working, you are making the most out of your downtime.

It’s a joke that self-employed people never get a holiday, and there is truth in that. You are constantly on the lookout for the next job, and when you should be comfortable in the knowledge that you have work, you are doing that job. It’s a good life for some, but not for others.