HOW TO KNOW IF FREELANCING IS RIGHT FOR YOU
Are you spending your days dreaming of sipping mai-tai’s on a beach, laptop perched on the sun lounger next to you? It’s hard to not be swayed by the idyllic lifestyle that peppers social media, particularly when you’re following freelancers or entrepreneurs all over the world.
But like anything, there’s so much more to the reality of the freelance lifestyle than the glossy image you’re seeing. And you know what? It’s absolutely fine if freelancing or consulting isn’t the right choice for you!
Whether you’re about to dip your toe in the water for the first time or you’re thinking of jumping ship back to a traditional corporate position, there are a few important points that you need to think about when it comes to deciding if freelancing is the right career move.
FREELANCING ISN’T A ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL MODEL
Before we jump into some of the essential questions you need to ask yourself before considering freelancing, let’s take a step back and look at what the landscape actually looks like. While every Instagramming digital nomad may be chatting about a 4-hour workweek while backpacking around the globe, freelancing doesn’t have to be as cut and dry as that.
Particularly when you’re new to this type of work, starting slowly with one-off projects is a great way to test out if you want to take on more projects or even move towards freelancing full time. You can add freelancing as a side hustle to an existing full time or part time job, build it around finishing degrees or starting a family, or just about anything else that you have on your schedule right now.
One of the best parts of freelancing is how adaptable it can be. You choose what clients you take on, how many, the scope of the projects, and when you want to work (although you’ll still be accountable for meeting client deadlines). You’re not an employee, so your schedule is entirely dictated by you. That means there’s freedom to go as big or small as you want, which is always a good position to find yourself in.
DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?
Just like any other job, freelancing has certain requirements that make some people better suited for this kind of life than others.
A TRANSFERABLE SKILL
This might seem obvious, but you’d be surprised at the number of people who simply want to be “an entrepreneur” and spend their first few months trying to come up with the next big idea. Before you take the leap into freelancing, it’s best to have an established and transferable skill that’s in somewhat high demand.
Approach this like you would a regular corporate job–do I have what it takes to stand out in a crowded market? Skills like bookkeeping, graphic design, content creation, and digital marketing are all tasks and roles that companies of all sizes don’t have the time or internal people to take on themselves, and look for freelancers to outsource the work to. If you already know how to do these disciplines, you’ll find it much easier to get your first projects.
SALES TACTICS AND GROWTH MINDSET
When you work for yourself as a freelancer, work isn’t going to be handed to you when you turn on your computer every day. It’s on you to find new projects and clients, to grow your business as much as you’d like, and to keep that momentum rolling.
If you’re not sure about this part of the work, honestly ask yourself a few important questions:
How confidently can you pitch yourself and your services?
How established is your network and can you tap that for referral opportunities?
How comfortable are you discussing pricing for your services and potentially walking away from low-paying work?
You don’t have to be an expert at sales to make the freelancing lifestyle work for you, but you need to be at least somewhat comfortable with having these difficult conversations as you try to gain new work.
ORGANIZATION AND MOTIVATION
Being able to make your own schedule and work as much or as little as you’d like sounds great. But you actually have to DO the work! If you don’t work well independently, struggle to motivate yourself without a team or boss looking over your shoulder, and are somewhat scatterbrained, you’re going to find freelancing difficult.
We’re not saying that you have to have a notebook for every client or perfectly curated to-do lists in your planner to be a success, but knowing where your weaknesses are in this area and acknowledging them upfront will save you plenty of time and stress down the road.
You also need to think about how willing you are to dive into roles that may be outside of your regular workload. In a traditional job, different departments will usually take care of these things for you, but as a solo entrepreneur, you’ll be working on everything from billing, banking, sales, and business development, to client and project management, IT support, and HR issues. This can be an exciting challenge if you like to keep the work varied, but you won’t get paid for any of that time (since you’re only being paid to get client work done) and it can take up a significant amount of your most productive hours.
FLEXIBILITY
You may be thinking “isn’t the whole point of freelancing about flexibility?” For some people, that might be the case. But you also have to consider the people you’re working for, your clients. For many freelancers, their clients are based in corporate offices and work an 8 to 5 schedule. While you might have the luxury of sleeping until noon and not logging on until 2pm, they don’t. Which means, they might need you to be available during their normal work hours too.
It’s not just time flexibility that you need to take into account, but also project flexibility. Ask any experienced freelancer and they’ll have at least a handful of stories where a project has gone way over the contracted scope and they’ve not been adequately compensated for that time. How comfortable are you with saying no and reigning in a client who’s taking a project too far?
You might be one of the lucky ones and only work with clients who completely respect your boundaries or will be open and upfront about paying you extra for additional hours. But those projects can be one in a million, so it’s good to know where you stand on this before taking the leap.
TAKE THE FREELANCE LIFESTYLE FOR A TEST DRIVE
Before you launch your freelance business, quit your job, or even narrow down on a niche to work in, take the time to think about what a freelance lifestyle might look like for you. While there are undoubtedly plenty of perks, there are also some important pieces to understand and reflect on before you make any big decisions.
Still on the fence about whether freelancing is the right decision for you? Meet like-minded individuals who have been in your shoes at a no-BS freelancing retreat.