Freelance work: Advantages and disadvantages

The trending word «freelance» appeared in our vocabulary not so long ago. It means working outside the state of any company. Freelancers can participate simultaneously in several projects or work for several companies, while not being a full-time employee of any of them.

For some people, the opportunity to become a freelancer is true fairy tale: 

• there are no early rises at 7 in the morning to catch an office by the working day beginning; 
• there are no annoying bosses who constantly monitor your work progress; 
• there is no need to ride the subway at rush hour or stand in traffic for hours. 

At first glance, freelance work from home has only advantages. But this is only at first glance. In fact, freelance has both advantages and disadvantages, and not everyone can become a freelancer. First of all, you need to take into account the workflow specifics. Freelancers are most often people of creative professions — designers, illustrators, photographers, etc. Freelance online work is also common in IT, journalism, philology (translation of texts and books), marketing, engineering, and many other fields, which are quite demanding to qualification level.

Lion’s share of time, freelancers themselves look for clients (most often — via the Internet). To believe statistics, people working in freelance have an income of 1.5-2 times more than specialists in similar professions, but working in the office for a particular company. 

So, is freelance work from home so attractive as it seems? Should I say goodbye to the office and embark on «free swim»? To understand this, you need to carefully weigh all the pros and cons of freelancers’ lifestyle and work.

Freelance online work advantages

• Perhaps, the most important advantage is a free work schedule. The freelancer receives the task and deadlines for its completion (sometimes, he appoints deadlines himself), but he decides on what hours to work on his own. It is more convenient for someone to sleep before lunch and work until mid-night — a freelancer can afford it. However, the widespread belief that a freelancer has a lot of free time is a fallacy. In fact, when you become a freelancer, you work as much as an office worker, sometimes — even more;
• Freelancers themselves seek clients and can choose projects, that they will be interested in. This is a definite plus, as a freelancer has opportunities to do the work not only for money but also for own pleasure;
• Each freelancer has a certain price for work. And it is the freelancer who says, for what reward he will agree to do a particular job. The employer only accepts or doesn’t accept these conditions;
• Freelancer is a financially independent specialist. He receives exactly as much money for each completed project as he really earned. No more, no less. He cannot be deprived of part of his salary or fined for any violation, as is often the case at enterprises (for example, for systematic lateness, incorrect behavior or other oversights). A freelancer always knows, why he received his salary, and knows that this amount currently corresponds to his abilities and skills;
• Freelancer has access to an unlimited number of potential clients. The Internet offers tremendous opportunities for freelance work from home and finding customers across the entire globe;
• A freelancer can combine several professions at once. If you are very good at software, but at the same time writing stunning oil paintings, why not be a programmer and a painter at the same time?
• While you work through the Internet (communicate with customers, receive orders and give work done — and all this happens online), you can afford to work from anywhere in the world. What should you take a ticket, say, to Thailand, and live there a couple of months, without violating your workflow? This is a great opportunity to change the working environment;
• A freelancer cannot be fired. A freelancer will never hear these unpleasant words: «You are fired!», which often causes a psychological blow and drive them into a depression.

Freelance online work disadvantages

• A freelancer can have lots of orders in one period, while in another — not have them at all. Consequently, a freelancer cannot always hope for regular earnings. Basically, a freelance specialist experiences difficulties in finding jobs only at the first stages of his activity, since there is so far the little experience and a regular client base has not been developed;
• When a freelancer starts working with each new customer, a lot of time can be spent discussing working conditions and payment methods. The employer fears that the freelancer may not provide the exact result of the work that was originally required, so he tries to find out all points of interest to him regarding the past experience of the specialist. All this can take lots of time, which is not paid;
• A freelancer always runs the risk of being cheated in terms of paying for work. When the employee is not documented, and his location can be quite far from the company, the employer is tempted to receive completed order, but not to pay for it. Of course, not all of them are such persons, but a freelancer always has chances to run into an unscrupulous customer;
• A freelancer works at home — usually, alone. Team working is attractive because you can ask your colleagues for advice on the work process, talk with them during lunch break, and celebrate corporate holidays together outside office hours, and just make friends. A freelancer is deprived of such communication. But, considering freelance work advantages and disadvantages, this is a flaw not for all people;
• The freelance work from home can easily disorganize a person. A freelancer needs to gather all his will into a fist and work, even when he doesn’t want to. In the office, there is a boss who makes sure that you work, and it will be quite difficult to get distracted by extraneous matters. Although, if the work is really interesting and brings moral pleasure, then the freelancer may not face such problem;
• Relatives, friends, and acquaintances may not take freelancer’s work seriously. «You just sit at home and click something on the computer, is this work?» they will say. Not everyone understands that a freelancer also works, albeit at home, but this is work. And he can’t afford to just take it and go somewhere, answer a phone call, just to chat or urgently come to help bring the piano to the 7th floor. People can think of a freelancer as «a person who dallying every day at home» (which is actually not the case) can put pressure and psychological discomfort on morally;
• There is another drawback, although in modern society it is already losing its significance, and for many, it will not be a significant minus. This is the lack of a social package. If a freelancer gets sick — no one will pay him sick leave, if he wants to go on vacation — he will have to adjust his schedule himself so that he can afford to take a break from work for a couple of weeks.