Keeping Ahead Of The Game When Freelancing

Freelancing can be extremely liberating. Working for yourself can mean that you get to decide what you are doing with your own days and where you get to spend them. To an extent, you will be able to decide on the type of work that you want to be doing. You will be in charge of your own destiny. It can be a great feeling. You can start work when you want, and if you’re working from home, you don’t even have to get ready for work in the morning. You can just roll out of bed and get on with your days work. 

But there are some other sides to the freelancing coin that you should consider before you take the plunge. 

Working From Home Can Get Lonely

If you are working from home every day it can get a bit lonely if you are the only person around. Looking at the same four walls can also drive you a little stir crazy, and, if you haven’t been out in a couple of days you may start to feel like you need to get a break from it all. 

Some people may choose to go and work in a public place such as a coffee shop or the park to give them a change of scenery and put them into contact with other people. But often, this type of place can prove to be somewhat of a distraction and you may not get the job done. 

If you want to get out and work somewhere else, coworking or hotdesking in communal office space may be the way forward. This will put you into a creative and professional work environment where you will still be working for yourself, but you will feel as though you are part of something still. 

You Don’t Get A Pension Or Holiday Pay

Planning for your retirement is important for everyone. When you are employed, you may well have a pension scheme that your employer has set up. When you work for yourself, it will be down to you to find a pension scheme for freelancers and it will be up to you to consistently pay into it. 

Without holiday pay, you may need to manage your finances to allow you to take a break from time-to-time. Where an employer will still continue to pay you for your time off, you won’t have that income so you should ensure you have money banked up to cover you on your week off. 

You Have To Keep Hunting For More Work

If you are really lucky, work will just come your way. However, for most freelancers, you will need to do some searching for work on a regular basis. This may mean sending out speculative emails to potential clients, or it could mean hunting down work through a number of different agencies. While working on one days work, you will very often need to be thinking about how you can drum up work for the following day.