The Struggle of Being a Freelancer When Your Friends have “Real Jobs”
First of all, to contradict my own title, freelancing is in fact a real job. The reason I started to write this is because those who have jobs with set hours, a regular schedule, and a steady pay check will never understand the struggle of what everyone thinks is a ‘dream job’, working for yourself, from home. If you’d like to view a professional article about this topic related to why employers should respect gaps in the resume, read here on LinkedIN.
I’ve done freelance writing enough in between full-time gigs to know it’s much the opposite. Although the main perk is being able to take off into the sunset and travel abroad or embark on a new adventure whenever I please, it’s also a curse, as the lack of stability and ties holding me down is anything but comforting. Being stuck in a rut maybe be boring, but it least you feel secure.
The following are the real struggles, pains, hassles and anything but easy moments you endure when you take on the challenge of being a freelancer.
1. Everyone assuming you’re free on their day off
Although most of my friends now work daytime hours during the week, the ones who don’t always assume that on their random day off, I’m not busy. If you try to say “I have to work during business hours, more often than not their response is “Oh come on you can do it later”. Sorry Buddy, but if you and I are out day-drinking at the beach, there’s no way I’m getting to my assignment later.
2. Having to manage your own time
The most challenging thing about working from home is managing your own time. I’ll agree micro-management is unproductive and nerve-wrecking, but having an office where you need to be forces you to stick to committed working hours.
3. Finding your own work
Being micro-managed by a boss or having a list of never-ending tasks is draining. But believe me, when it’s up to you to source your own work and your wallet depends on it, you’d be wishing you had someone else to assign the work for you. Until you have a solid list of clients, 98% of your time as a freelancer is looking for work.
4. Never really having “free-time”
When you work a job where you have no connection to the business or establishment once you punch out, you have this thing called ‘free time’ where you can actually enjoy your time outside of work without having to worry about it. Yes, there are jobs where you’re expected to be a 24/7 contactable employee, and that does suck. When you freelance, you make your own hours, so time awake is always time you could be working, and time is money, and money is life.
5. Always being broke
Okay, so this isn’t true of all freelancers. But until you get a client base and have a steady work flow coming in, you never know whether or not you’ll be able to pay the bills, yet alone go out and splurge on the luxuries. Even with solid clients and a decent amount of work, there’s always the possibility your customer may cut their budgets or no longer need your services.
6. Running yourself as a business
Freelancing is equivalent to owning your own business. Of course, it’s a much smaller scale and you don’t have things like rental fees, other employees, and other attributes of a physical or even an online store, but you still need to know money, deal with taxes, and handle your affairs in a business-like manner. It’s not all willie-nillie fun and games when you work odd-jobs on a lap top.
So in conclusion…. I don’t think I will ever figure out how these so called “Digital Nomads” you see posting away pictures of their awesome lives working around the world while riding camels and doing handstands on a beach in Thailand actually afford to live their glamorous freelancing lifestyles. Maybe they really do make a mint living working from their laptop in a different country each week, or maybe they still feed from the bank account of their rich parents. Whatever they do, they clearly earn enough money to not only live, but travel, which is a luxury most of us will ever know.
Like me, you can live frugally, work full-time jobs when they come around, serve, bartend, and whatever else on the side of your true passions, and see enough of the world to know you’ve made life count.
The invaluable experience you get from being a freelancer is very different from anything you earn in a traditional workplace. Personally I think it’s a tough gig, which when you’re ready for a full-time job, employers should not over look this. Read my article on Linked In to find out more!
Love from Lala.
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