TL;DR
- Freelancing can be an option for someone wanting a full-time and long-term career.
- Freelancing has many benefits, but it does have a few disadvantages like… you’re going to have to pay your own taxes and get your own health insurance!
- Businesses perfer hiring freelancers because it saves them money without having to commit and follow labor laws.
- Freelancers can make good money depending on their client base and skill set. Advanced skills + more experience = higher rates!
- There are some bad freelance clients out there that you may encounter, but you are able to leave the bad jobs and replace them with better ones 🙂
- How to start freelancing involves learning some business skills and finding clients.
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Yes! Freelancing can be a career option for anyone looking for location independence and flexible hours.
Of course, you will have to get skills that are freelance-worthy, and you will have to learn how to be a marketer and bookkeeper.
But after the initial learning period and finding enough clients to pay the bills, you are off!
Can Freelancing Be a Career?
Of course! These days, freelancing is a viable, popular, and in-demand career choice that more and more people are turning to.
Freelancing has always been a job choice and a side hustle, and will continue to be one in the future.
Just think: paying your neighbor to mow your lawn, hiring a one-person cleaning service, and calling a plumber are examples of people who are freelancing.
Digitally, the possibilities are greater with lower startup costs and an unlimited client pool.
Is Freelancing Even Considered a Job?!?
Yes. In the eyes of the US government, not only is freelancing considered a job that you have to include on your taxes, but it’s considered self-employment and a business.
Related Article: Seriously, Does Freelancing Count as Work Experience?
Can Freelancing Be a Full-Time Career?
Yes. Freelancing is a business, and you can treat your business however you please. If you want to work a full-time job and freelance on the side. Go for it.
If you want to freelance as a full-time career and replace your job, go for it!
It is totally possible, and it’s the norm for people to be full-time freelancers.
One caveat to this, though 👉 In the beginning, it may take a while to build up your client base. So, it’s not recommended to jump ship from your job until you’re confident that your client base is solid.
Is Freelancing a Long-Term Career?
Yes! Freelancing is your business. And it’s a business that grows with you. The more you invest in the service you provide, the more your skills will grow and BOOM!
You have more services to sell. Freelancing opportunities are going to be here for a long time, and you can count on the flexibility and the business skills you will acquire to keep you going for the long term.
I’m personally on year TEN of freelancing! And I see an abundance of job listings if I ever need more clients 🙂
Is Freelancing a Good Career Option?
Of course! If freelancing is a good match for you and your skillset, then there’s no harm in pursuing it as a career. If you need help deciding, here are some pros and cons to the freelancing business:
Why Freelancing Is Better Than Regular Employment
Here are a few benefits you will experience through freelancing:
- More Freedom: Hours, location, which clients to work for, and which projects to work on will be your choice from now on!
- Flexible Hours: Most clients won’t care WHEN you work as long as the work is done by the deadline.
- Location Flexibility: Most clients won’t care WHERE you work as long as good communication is practiced and is done in timezones you both agree on.
- Income Growth: There is no limits to your income growth. You can charge more over time as you gain more skills and experience.
- Increased Skills: Clients may throw curveballs at you that will give you a chance to learn more skills. You will be constantly learning and growing.
- No Office Politics: Never again will you pretend to care about Janice’s new baby.
- Job Security: Contrary to popular belief, a regular job is not stable employment. You can be let go at any time. With freelancing, you’ll have multiple clients. You will still have a stream of income going if you lose a client.
- Networking Opportunities: Your clients will become your network and overtime you will see past clients requesting your services again or recommending you to other businesses.
- Tax Benefits: Since freelancing is a business, you will get to deduct expenses from your tax bill. But don’t forget: you’ll be paying taxes from now on. So save around 30% of your income!
What Are the Disadvantages of Freelancing?
Of course, there are some downsides to freelancing as well:
- No Insurance, Benefits, & PTO: Businesses are not obligated to provide any benefits to you. It’s up to you to get your own health insurance and set money aside for PTO.
- Unstructured Work Life: It’s all on you to show up, figure out how to do your assigned tasks, meet the deadlines, and to have working equipment and an area in your living space to work.
- Isolation: You’ll be working from home, and you will lose the social interaction of a job site. A workaround to this is joining a coworking space, but it’s an added cost (but a deductible business expense!).
- Chasing Work: You will have to be on your toes and make sure your client base is filled. Finding new clients will take some time and during which, you will be short on revenue.
- Unsteady Contracts: Clients can cancel services at any time.
- Expenses: You will have expenses like a domain name, software subscriptions, and new equipment if needed. These will not be reimbursed by anyone, so your business needs to pay for itself!
Why Is Freelancing Good for Businesses?
You may be wondering why businesses even bother hiring freelancers if they have employees. Well, here’s the thing:
Freelancing is GREAT for businesses. Seriously, some businesses don’t even hire W2 workers anymore. They rely strictly on freelance workers.
This is because of a number of reasons:
- Saves Them Money: They don’t have to put out money on employee benefits like PTO, health insurance, social security, or unemployment.
- No Commitments: They are able to drop your services as soon as they no longer need them. AND they don’t have to worry about jumping through labor law hoops.
- Bigger, Diverse Talent Pool: They have more options to find the perfect person to do the job no matter where this person is in the world.
Did you notice some negatives from that list, like they don’t have to give us any benefits including health insurance? Well those are some disadvantages of freelancing.
We are responsible for our own taxes, insurance, and benefits. BUT because it increases businesses profit margins, we get more work and a bigger client pool.
Even Forbes is like, “Bro, you better hire those freelancers and not a full-time employee.”
Do Freelancers Make Good Money?
The money you make as a freelancer depends on your skill level, business acumen, and finding the right clients.
At first, you may not be making as much as you need or want.
But once you get the hang of getting clients, and your skills are at a level where you can charge higher rates, you can make that real good money. That feel good money.
But since freelancers have business and insurance expenses to account for, you can get away with charging more than what you were making at your job.
To get a sense of what your ideal rate should be, you can research what other freelancers are charging in your industry and what businesses are paying.
Here are some ideas on where to look for your rate:
- Find Rate Charts: By googling your freelance skill + “rate,” you should be on track to finding resources on how to price your services. For example, here is a good chart for website developers.
- Search Reddit: I’m sure you can find someone on Reddit who has asked this question. Google “what should my freelance [skill] rate be reddit,” and see what others are charging.
- Look for Portfolios: Hunt down freelancers who are already doing what you want to do and see if they list their rates/packages on their websites.
- Look at Job Listings: Search for freelance job listings that you may want to apply for and see if they have the rate listed.
After taking in all these data points, you can get a sense of what you CAN and SHOULD charge as a freelancer in your field.
Then see if that will be good money for you after figuring how many hours you can work and minusing all expenses including health insurance and taxes.
Essentially:
Advance Skills + More Experience = Higher Rates
Are Freelance Jobs Good?
Yes and no. Like any job, you’re going to find jobs that are decent and others that were a waste of time.
Sometimes, you can catch low-quality jobs at the application stage 👉 Look for businesses trying to charge low rates and skip to the next one!
That will be the number one sign that they are cheap and won’t care about you.
But some clients will bypass that check. You may see horrible, vile, and mean people demanding tasks from you in such a disrespectful way that you may want to quit.
But good news! You’re in control here 🙂 You can cancel the contract and leave.
Other times, you may meet a client that will ghost on paying you…
These are real things that may happen, but the majority of them will be good, civil, nice, and APPRECIATIVE of your work. Especially if you work with smaller businesses!
Ultimately, you’re in control, and you can choose which business to work for, which projects to work on, and when, how, and where to work.
As long as there is a contract, the work gets done, and the invoice gets paid, it will be a good job!
Which Job Is Best for Freelancing?
There are several types of jobs that are perfect for freelancing, and new ones popping up all the time.
Like bruh, within the last year, we are now seeing freelance AI jobs. You can be an AI Specialist, an AI Researcher, an AI Pic Generator, and an AI Virtual Assistant. How cool is that!?!
But you may not be an AI expert and that’s okay! Here are some in-demand skills that are perfect for freelancing:
- Programmers
- Web Developers
- Web Designers
- Writers
- Copywriters
- Editors
- Marketers
- SEO Strategists
- Content / Social Media Managers
- Graphic Designers
- Content Creators
- Video Editors
- Multimedia Artists
- Project Managers
- Accountants
- Bookkeepers
- Tutors
- Virtual Assistants
How To Start a Freelance Career
Do you think you want to try freelancing? Let’s dive into how to start a freelance career!
Why Do You Want To Do Freelance Work?
First, we need to start with your WHY because, to reiterate, THIS IS A BUSINESS!
That means you need to gain some business skills to make sure you stay profitable. In the beginning, you probably won’t be able to hire people to help you, so you’re on your own with:
- Finding clients
- Marketing
- Bookkeeping
- Taxes
- Customer service
- Invoicing
It can be a lot and daunting, but having a clear vision and a strong WHY can make all the work worth it.
My why was simple 👉 I never wanted to ask permission to take a day off, to go to a doctor’s appointment, or to visit my family again.
Oh, you have to “approve” my time off so I can go spend time with my grandmother? Fuck. Off.
Whatever your reason is for wanting this career, hold on to it!
How To Find Clients as a Freelancer
Teaching you how to start a freelance career is too much to squeeze into this short article. But I can give you some ideas on where to get started.
You will need a resume and a portfolio showcasing your skills. After that, it’s time to find clients.
You may have found advice on signing up for websites like Upwork, Freelancer, or Guru. These are what I call “Freelance Bidding Sites,” and they’re a no-go for me. That’s where you’re going to waste time with low-quality clients.
I recommend going to job boards and finding job listings that directly state they are looking for freelancers with your skillset.
Then apply to those job listings as if they were a regular full-time position. I have gotten all my clients using this method, and my clients are literally the best people I have ever worked with!
So start on places like Indeed, WeWorkRemotely, and Problogger (for writers).
Is Freelancing a Good Idea?
Yeah, it’s a good idea if you’re willing to hustle a bit in the beginning! As with all businesses, the beginning is going to be tough.
You’re learning new business skills, finding your client base, and figuring out how to pay taxes.
But once you get into a rhythm, freelancing can give you the opportunity to have a full-time, long-term career on your terms.
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