It goes against everything you were taught in school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You know, the traditional career pathway of hustling for a respectable job, slowly working your way up the ranks, and eventually earning yourself a sizable and well-earned salary?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, freelancing couldn\u2019t be further from that reality, so let\u2019s take a closer look at what it means to be a freelancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Freelancing, or being a freelancer, doesn\u2019t mean you work for free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, a freelancer is someone who takes on low-commitment work as a self-employed, independent contractor. They are service providers as opposed to employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A freelancer can take on multiple projects across multiple clients, and the duration of these client relationships typically last anything from a few hours to several months. Sometimes even years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Freelance work is also usually carried out remotely, but not always.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As for finding work, freelancers advertise their services and network locally to acquire new clients, but, thanks to the internet, many freelancers now choose to market themselves online and tap into a global freelance marketplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As many freelancers now operate online and remotely, any task or project that can be executed from a laptop is always on the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Common freelance services include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are plenty of good reasons to consider becoming a freelancer over getting a traditional job, so let\u2019s talk about those.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a freelancer, you get to choose when you work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, projects have deadlines (to which you agree on), but as long as you get everything done on time, there\u2019s no requirement as to when<\/em> you actually do the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the first major difference you’ll notice when you start out freelancing, and it does require some discipline to actually get work done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This allows you to free up time for the things that really matter in your life, and not be tied down by the 9 to 5 grind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Would you ever apply for a job as a mechanic without ever having looked under the hood of a car?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course not. If you did, you\u2019d probably be laughed out of the interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But as a freelancer and a self-employed business owner, you don\u2019t need qualifications or experience to offer your services. Most freelancers don\u2019t even have a resume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, your clients are your qualifications, your portfolio is your experience, and your testimonials are your resume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For most people with traditional jobs, the people you work with and the customers you serve for are far from optional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a freelancer, you not only have the freedom to work solo or collaborate with people you get along with, but you also don\u2019t have to work for clients and companies that don\u2019t align with your values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This even goes as deep as your marketing, as you can specifically tailor your branding and messaging to the kinds of people you\u2019re looking to attract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Freelance work is usually carried out remotely, meaning you can run a freelance business without ever meeting your clients face-to-face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Granted, this is not always<\/em> the case, and particularly not in industries where a physical presence is required \u2014 but, in general, freelancers aren\u2019t expected to show up at the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is because many freelance roles can be carried out from the comfort of a laptop or other mobile device, especially if you\u2019re offering a web-based service like marketing or design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, as long as you have a laptop and a reliable wifi connection, you can be at home, in another state, or in another country entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s easy to think of freelancing as a risky proposition compared to getting a normal job, but the reality is quite the opposite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, freelance clients come and go at a much higher pace than your typical salary job, but you\u2019re able to have multiple clients whereas you only have one job (well, in most cases).<\/p>\n\n\n\n What I mean is, if you have a job and you get fired or laid off, you lose 100% of your income overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With freelancing, if you have five clients and one drops off, you\u2019ve only lost 20% of your income until you\u2019re able to replace them with someone else. And because it\u2019s so much easier to acquire clients, you will<\/em> replace them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By diversifying your income source, you also diversify your risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019ve ever been in a job where you felt undervalued and underpaid, you\u2019ll appreciate this one more than most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While a salary is negotiable to an extent, freelancing has virtually no limits on what you can charge for your services, because it\u2019s 100% up to you, the freelancer, what your rate is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re in high demand and struggling to keep up, that\u2019s a sign you need to bump your rate way up, and you can do just that at a moment’s notice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We already listed some of the different services you can offer as a freelancer, but you don\u2019t have to pick only one for the duration of your freelance career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The great thing about freelancing is that it has such a low barrier to entry. You don\u2019t need years of experience or an expensive degree to start taking on clients and making money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, you can pivot to a different field with little planning or consequence, whether it\u2019s transitioning from being a freelance writer to a copywriter, or something more drastic like switching to a design position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Becoming a freelancer has its perks, but it\u2019s not all sunshine and rainbows. Let\u2019s talk about some of the downsides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the biggest differences between getting a \u201cnormal job\u201d and becoming a freelancer is having to continuously find new work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where a traditional job requires you to pass one interview (or one set of interviews) for a potentially lifelong period of work, freelancing can mean having to do this on a frequent basis to keep your pipeline topped up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Except freelancers don\u2019t really call this being interviewed; they call it prospecting or selling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You effectively need to learn how to market and sell yourself to prospective clients who would benefit from your services, by convincing them that they would benefit from your service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While this is a beneficial skill to have a job interview, enough research and preparation can get you through regardless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With freelancing, your ability to sell consistently will almost always correlate with the number of clients you have at any given time, and ultimately your income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Freelancers aren\u2019t entitled to employee benefits like holiday pay, sick pay, or company health insurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They also aren\u2019t entitled to legal benefits like notice or severance pay if things go south, though similar terms can be stipulated in a contractual agreement between freelancer and client.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Either way, if you\u2019ve become accustomed to these benefits in your professional life, knowing that freelancers don\u2019t qualify might be enough to turn you away from this line of work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is one of the main reasons employers look to freelancers in the first place. It\u2019s low commitment for both parties involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A steady job offers a steady income, so you know what you\u2019re getting every month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Freelancing is very much the opposite, because your income is entirely dependent on the number of clients you have in a given month, as well as their budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recurring packages\u2014for services that require ongoing work\u2014can help to alleviate some of the fluctuations in monthly income, but most freelancers have to learn to live with the ebbs and flows of going freelance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Freelancing is one of the easiest ways to break into an industry and start generating income, but it doesn\u2019t come without its challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re the kind of person that likes to experiment with new skills, build your own relationships with clients and take full control of your income, freelancing might be the perfect fit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It goes against everything you were taught in school. You know, the traditional career pathway of hustling for a respectable job, slowly working your way up the ranks, and eventually earning yourself a sizable and well-earned salary? Well, freelancing couldn\u2019t be further from that reality, so let\u2019s take a closer look at what it means to be a freelancer. What Is A Freelancer? Freelancing, or being a freelancer, doesn\u2019t mean you work for free. Instead, a freelancer is someone who takes on low-commitment work as a self-employed, independent contractor. They are service providers as opposed to employees. A freelancer can\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehireups.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10098"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehireups.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehireups.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehireups.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehireups.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thehireups.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10098\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehireups.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehireups.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehireups.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}You Can Get Paid To Develop A Skill<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
You Can Work With People You Like<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
You Can Work From Anywhere<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
You Diversify Your Risk<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
You Can Charge What You\u2019re Worth<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
You Can Pivot To Keep Things Fresh<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Why Shouldn\u2019t You Become A Freelancer?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
You Need To Learn How To Sell<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
You Lose Out On Company Benefits<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Your Income Can Fluctuate (A Lot)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Is Freelancing Right For You?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n