Freelance Work 101

Life as a freelancer. Wow! Well, first of all, freelancing is not new, even the world’s first profession was freelancing. Isn’t it better to work on your own than be part of organized crime (Err organization)?

Freelancing is not an option, today, it is the way to go! There is no escaping, since most small companies would not keep employees, with so much governmental rules and protocols, compliance is a headache, and expertise is difficult to retain.

Jokes apart, freelancing is now as organized as corporate sector. And like (or unlike?) corporate sector, you must first impress people with your work – you can hide in a company but not alone – since you would have no company (pun intended)

So in a nutshell, the cons

1. Hard to break in. Initial work has to be a masterpiece at dirt cheap rates or even free.
2. You’ll never be sure, that the rate is right. So better have a standard rate, that you raise every year
3. You cannot hide from your work, else there shall be no work, my friend
4. You must take full responsibility of your work, you cannot blame. Remember, blaming used to take away a lot of stress when you were in a job
5. Your work stops if you fall ill. So you cannot fall ill. You have to take good care of yourself (so can it be called the health benefit of freelancing?)
6. You do not have friends or colleagues you can ask an opinion from. So your decision making has to be great all the time (impossible?)
7. The camaraderie is missing aka there is no social life. So if you’re an introvert, then do not go for this. Only do this, if you have a great personal life
8. No free office parties for you. You pay for everything now.
9. Sometimes, when you need work, you may compromise on payment
10. You have to do a lot of bidding to get work, so at times, if you’re too deep into work, and do not submit bids, you may be left without work later
11. You have to chase payments
12. You may have to overwork (read unbillable), if the client doesn’t like your work at all.
13. Your weak areas will be exposed
14. You cannot postpone work! You will have to miss that party you were waiting for!
15. Your girlfriend would vacillate between too happy and unhappy. Your wife may never be happy!
16. You shall get disturbed by your personal life, or friends dropping in! So you may turn unsocial.
17. You have to come up with innovative excuses sometimes. But wait till you see your clients creativity with this. So avoid this.
18. All your ideas in the office belong to someone else, whereas here all ideas are invested in yourself
19. If you opt back for employment, you’re always viewed with suspicion.
20. You can never switch off your phone or mail (I did that once, and now often keep returning to that email all the time that says – $10000 work awarded, click to accept, but the link doesn’t work anymore)
21. Be ready to be disturbed on holidays. Every one of them.
22. You cannot afford to have children! They’ll ruin your work all the time.
23. You cannot get more money by protesting

Did that scare you? Well, I got scared too – even after all these years at freelancing.

The Pros:

1. 1st of a month, would have no significance for you anymore
2. No one knows how much (or how little) you make
3. You make friends all over the world (are they?)
4. You can do the work of your choice (no you still cannot be a solider or police – that crime still belongs to the organized sector)
5. You can wear what you like (now that’s a great advantage). Go wear a skirt (i mean if you’re a man, and undecided about your sex), or nothing! (pleaaaase turn off the camera!)
6. You can work as much or as little as you want (little is used just for effect, please don’t consider this)
7. You can take holidays whenever you like (can you? just take one and you’ll remember it for your entire life)
8. You get honest appreciation for your work (at least most of the times)
9. You shall get clear feedback about your performance (numbers, aah, sounds like performance appraisals)
10. You’ll get a chance to learn new technologies with trusting clients who’ll push you
11. You can withdraw money whenever you want.
12. Your boss cannot stop your promotion
13. Your goodwill does not go away because of a plotting colleague
14. You can change your boss whenever you want
15. All of your life’s work and appreciation will be there for your new clients to see. You wont have to prove yourself all the time.
16. You may be able to pass on your goodwill to your kids one day (impossible in jobs)
17. You will be driven to do a lot of learning, which you avoid in a job.
18. You don’t have to attend boring meetings.
19. You can buy the equipment you want, and it’s yours.
20. You’re trained by your work.
21. You eventually get great managerial skills. So you’re employable anyway.
22. You can keep pets and take good care of them.
23. Now you’re like your grandmother – a freelancer!

If you’re a good client and reading this, you can mail me for work at virtualciti@yahoo.com. Haha! No employee can write this line 🙂

(all of these freelance cartoons/ toons are borrowed from some freelancer cartoonist, I thank each of them for the wonderful work of theirs)