There are millions of freelance professionals in the workforce today. For many freelancing offers freedom and gives them some of their life back. For others it allows them to pick and choose which projects they would like to work on. Still for others freelancing is more lucrative financially than that 9-5 job they left behind. There are a myriad of other reasons why freelancing is better than a job and why many have chosen that career path.
First, Freelancing Is Not All Fortune And Glory
There are also a lot of fears that come with becoming a freelancer. Having that 9-5 job and a steady paycheck offers a good deal of security. You know that every pay period you will have money coming in and there are a lot of other benefits that come with that like medical insurance and retirement investments. That is why you probably should not just quit your job and strike out on your own. It may be best to start slowly, finding a few clients on the side to do work for and expanding as you get more comfortable with it.
Overcoming The Stigma
Freelancing holds a certain stigma with some folks. They are looked upon as temps or lazy people. They are doing what they are doing because they can’t get or hold a real job. The people that believe that have probably never met a true freelance worker. For those looking at embarking on this career path there is the fear that you won’t be able to pay the bills if you turn to freelancing or that if the economy turns south that work will dry up. That is not true, and with a boom in small businesses many customers are turning to freelancers to get work done.
Flexibility
A freelancer offers much more flexibility to a customer as well as a much cheaper price tag. Freelancers after all do not own an office and do not pay the overhead costs that comes with that. Chances are as a freelancer you will be working from home or at a co-working space giving you much more flexible hours. It is not as big a deal if you need to meet a client after hours since you have no set hours. One other big advantage of freelancing is that you have no dress code. If you want to go to work in your pajamas you can do it.
You Can Make As Much Money As You Can
Freelancing can open up numerous doors and lead to financial and personal prosperity. There are numerous projects that companies need to have finished but do not have the time and resources to devote to hiring a full time employee to do the job. By the time the hiring process is completed the freelancer can have the job done and will be moving on to the next challenge.
Open Up Free Time For What’s Important
Time is of course valuable. For a busy person, be it with work, play or kids just having the time to do what they like to do is a godsend. Need to take a break to take the kids to soccer or band? Freelancers can do that no problem! You won’t need to worry about you kid getting sick at school and trying to find someone to come pick them up. You’ll be able to do it.
Perhaps the best part of freelancing is that you can take a vacation whenever you please. You do not need to consult with HR or make sure that those days are available. If anything comes up, since you are used to being mobile you can take care of it while on vacation and go right back to relaxing.
One of the neat things about freelancing is that anyone can do it. There is no discrimination of race, gender, religion or any other reason. You will meet some awesome people while freelancing and you will get to interact with people much different than yourself and yet very similar. It makes the world just a little bit smaller.