Freelancing Has Its Bad Sides That No One Tells You About

Business LoungeNovember 7, 2017

When someone is thinking about a freelancing job, it can seem that there are no bad sides—you can work anytime you want, you are not office-connected, you don’t have a boss, and you can work only on projects that actually interest you. Yes, all of this is true, but still, there is the other side of the coin, the side you have to experience in order to believe it. We are going to tell you about these negative sides of freelancing, and it is up to you to decide if you want to believe us or not.

“Freelancing is tough. It can be very difficult, in fact. It can wear people down, making them lose sight of what they used to love because they have to do everything else just to get by.” — Mason Hipp

Here they are!

The beginning is the most difficult part

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Actually, it is difficult to start but not to get paid. In order to be able to earn a significant amount of money monthly, you have to have a good reputation. On your way towards it, sometimes you may have to work for free or for the lowest amount of money possible. And this is no matter what your previous background is.

With freelancing, no one will pay you when you are actually not working. And this is something we have at our standard jobs – we have a lunch time, we have paid leaves and similar benefits. In freelancing, there are no paid leaves, and no work equals no money. Unfortunately, it is as simple as that.

Even after getting some experience with a few clients, it sometimes takes some years to build trust and reliability with the clients in order to be able to charge higher fees.

You are not always able to work full time

With freelancing, you work on projects. Therefore, when a project is finished, then there is no more work and no work=no money. Then you have to search for some other projects to work on, and this can take weeks or even months if you are unlucky. This pattern repeats over and over again. You have to be financially prepared for these gap periods and learn to save some money always just to be on the safe side with your basic needs.

On the other hand, if you are lucky, you will get two or more projects to work on at the same time, and they can vary greatly, so you will not be bored, that is for sure.

Generally, to be a successful freelancer, you have to have constant projects to work on, and that means being able to sell your skills. You also have to be mentally prepared for the stress of these pay gaps while you are convincing people to work with you. This can be very stressful sometimes.

You will feel lonely

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While freelancing offers you a valuable freedom, it also takes away something that makes any job better — your coworkers. There is no one with to share thoughts on the project you are working on. There is no one to ask you for after-work drinks and no chatty lunches. You work alone, at your home and if you are passionate about the project, you might not want to go out for days. You may even forget to eat and drink. Yes, it has already happened to some people. So, pay attention not to fall into this trap.

On the other hand, if you have a family, by working from home, you will have much more quality time spent together, and that is a precious thing.

Still, with freelancing, you must be able to stay on task without a boss looking over your shoulder, so give your family some tasks to do by themselves while you are working.

Since you may not be seeing other people apart from your family, you also have to remain happy with your diminished socialization. This solitude can be overcome by working at a cafe or some co-working space.

When freelancing, you have to use many different skills

If you are a writer and you are given some writing assignment for your client’s meeting, you can also be asked to set up that meeting and send out a few emails, maybe call some people by the phone, create some spreadsheets, etc. Then your client might ask you to make a Facebook event page and promote it.

When you are a freelancer, you never know what comes next, especially if you do hourly jobs. Also, as a freelancer, you have to handle all of your finances, create invoices for clients, and deal with all the taxes. And this part of your business often lasts much longer than the actual job.