Many people who work the typical 9-5 dream of the time when they can quit the tiresome desk job and go freelance. The benefits of freelancing are listed as many: a much better work-life balance, an amazing home office, more flexibility when it comes to choosing your working hours not to mention full control over your clients and the opportunity to sometimes triple your income. However, launching yourself into a freelance career or virtual business requires a lot of thought and some very careful planning. Without the right preparation, you can find yourself back on the daily commute within a few months. So before you make the exciting transition from full-time employee to freelancer, make sure you’re aware of any pitfalls and issues that may crop up with this informative list.
Loneliness
Working from home can be lonely. As a freelancer who set your own hours and more often than not has no team, you can spend days having no interaction with teammates, staff and even management. Who would have thought there would be a day that you’d miss your boss?!
Instead of being cooped up all day behind your laptop, try and get out, even if it’s to a local coffee shop or park. The change of scenery can do you good and give you a new set of eyes when you’ve been working on something tricky. Also, see if you can get yourself involved in networking events, meet-ups and social media groups with other freelancers to ward off feelings of isolation. Social media networks such as Twitter and Linkedin are brilliant resources to reach out and connect with people in similar fields.
Lack of Benefits
Being self-employed and an independent contractor means you’re not entitled to any benefits that a regular 9-5 employees would be entitled to. Things such as holiday pay, sick pay and pension contributions are a thing of the past. Not to mention sorting out your own tax return. Make sure you set up an auto-enrollment scheme and have a watertight backup plan in case there ever comes a time where you’re too unwell, have a personal emergency or just are simply unable to work for an extended period of time. Consider investing in health insurance, which although can be costly could possibly be used if you get an illness that means you will no longer be able to work.
Variable Workloads and Income
Most freelancers know that there are times of plenty and times of drought. The workload for many freelancers can be incredibly volatile. To make sure that you keep afloat it’s important that you learn to manage a multitude of workloads and priorities so that in times where work may not be as plentiful you have something to fall back on. Many freelancers find that large fluctuations in income can make forward planning and budgeting very difficult and sometimes that means falling into your overdraft or taking out a personal loan. Dipping in an out of loans and overdrafts isn’t usually a good idea as it can negatively affect your credit rating but there are a range of well-respected bad credit loan solutions that can help you out if things get tough.
Lack of Job Security
Reports show that many businesses fail within the first two years. If your business fails or is not doing as well as projections hoped it may be time to consider going back to the 9-5 and finding a new venture to get involved in.
