Are you getting tired of the daily grind of a full-time job? Believe it or not, you’re not alone with your struggle. There are now 57 million freelancers in the United States who work for themselves.
However, becoming a freelancer isn’t for everyone. It’s a lot of work and requires more from you than a traditional job. The question is, will becoming a freelancer be worth the effort?
If you’re looking for the answer to that question, this post will help. Keep reading to read several benefits you’ll see when choosing a career as a freelancer.
More Freedom
Do you spend most of your waking hours working for a company you don’t like? With how work-focused society is today, it wouldn’t be surprising if you’re spending more time than necessary trying to make it look like you’re busy at your job.
Unfortunately, this trend isn’t likely to stop in the future. Corporations want to get as much from their employees as possible, so the culture of long hours will stay.
You have much more freedom to work on your schedule as a freelancer. You pick your hours and don’t have to worry about needing to take a day off now and again.
Work Less
As mentioned above, it’s hard to get away from a 40-hour workweek in a modern job. For whatever reason, we’ve settled on 40 as the perfect number for a full-time job, no matter how much work you accomplish in that time.
You don’t need to work 40 hours if you don’t want to when working for yourself. Since you set your schedule and take on as much work as you wish, you can get by with a 20 hour week if you want.
This isn’t as much of an issue since you set your price as a freelancer. If you brand yourself as an expert, you can charge a premium for your work. You won’t require as much work to make a living this way.
Make More Money
Your income is capped when you work for a company. While some professions pay a lot to their workers, that amount still has a limit. If you want to make more money, you’ll need to find more work to do so.
When you’re a freelancer, you set your rates. While you may not be able to charge an immense amount when you start and don’t have a reputation, that won’t be true once you start delivering results.
Pick Your Clients
One issue with working for companies is that you don’t control who you work for. If you work for an agency, you’re stuck with the clients they pick up. If you work for a more prominent company, you’ll have managers and shareholders to deal with.
While that may not be an issue sometimes, not all those people will provide a pleasant work experience. You’re stuck since you have to deal with those people to keep your job. When you freelance, that isn’t the case.
You’re more than free to cut your clients loose when you work for yourself. You don’t have to stress yourself out if you don’t want to and focus on finding great clients.
You can also vet your clients through a service like Taxfyle to ensure you get great clients from the start.
Stop the Commute
You don’t have to work in an office when you work for yourself. While you may want to rent an office for the occasional meeting, the chances are good that you can do most of your work at home or your client’s work location.
That means you don’t have a commute anymore. Many people waste over an hour every day traveling to the office. That isn’t an issue unless you decide to rent a location and work away from home.
Luckily, you don’t have to do in-person meetings if you don’t want to either. If you work in an online industry like web development or content production, you can handle all business matters over the phone and with email.
Work From Anywhere
Does your job tie you to your current home? If so, you’re stuck where you’re at and can’t make a big move anywhere. Most companies don’t offer relocation and won’t let you work from across the country.
The same isn’t true for freelancing. You are location-independent when you work for yourself. As long as you produce results, your clients won’t care where you’re located.
The only exception will be if you need to go on-site to provide support.
That means you can move anywhere in the world and maintain your client base. You don’t even need to live in the same country. As long as you deliver results and can communicate during your client’s workday, you’re free to live where you wish.
Improve Your Skills
You don’t only have to worry about your professional skills when you’re a freelancer. While you probably will learn more than you would with a typical job, you have more on your plate when you work for yourself.
One of the biggest hurdles you’ll need to overcome is to learn how to conduct yourself in business. You’re solely responsible for landing clients and handling relationships. You don’t have upper management to turn to for this task.
This means you’ll develop many leadership skills when taking on freelancing jobs. It will help you grow as a person and a professional.
Becoming a Freelancer Is Worth the Effort
You can only get so far when you work as an employee for a company. The amount of money you earn is eventually capped, and you’ll have far less freedom than you would on your own. Look into becoming a freelancer today to see if the career change is correct for you.
Of course, you’ll need to learn more about promoting and marketing your services if you want a successful freelance career. Head back to the blog to learn more about branding yourself as an expert.