Surely you have heard that the best decision someone can make when talking about work in the twenty-first century, is to become a freelancer for the great benefits it brings. However, not everyone understands in depth what it means to be a freelancer and why this way of working is not really for everyone. Let’s see…
When it comes to making such an important decision as deciding what to do about our working life, it is always best to start analyzing the disadvantages over the advantages. If we realize that the disadvantages are not many or are not important enough to affect us, we may think that we are a step ahead and closer to making the decision we had in mind at first.
As freelancers, we identified three main disadvantages that we will list below:
- Unstable workflow and income
- Lack of work-life balance
- Feeling isolated and prone to a sedentary life
Unstable workflow and income
Deciding to work as a freelancer does not imply that, automatically, we will begin to receive offers from potential clients to be part of their projects, in reality, it is the opposite.
The need to go out to look for those jobs that we want so much to be able to exploit the skills that we have been developing with hours of practice and study is real, and we must put it into practice as soon as possible, to start attracting customers, having our first jobs and, thus, our first income.
Once we have a sufficient portfolio of customers to be able to pay all our expenses, we may find ourselves in a situation where some of them, decide not to continue hiring our services, either for lack of budget, because their projects failed, or for a myriad of reasons they have chosen to discharge us.
That’s when the doubts begin, and we ask ourselves: was it the best decision to give up a stable job with a fixed salary to enter the freelance world?
The answer to that question can only be found in ourselves. We must be proactive and determine what factors must be respected so that the lack of customers or income is not a cause of complications in our daily life. We must prepare ourselves mentally for these types of situations, knowing that they are possible and that there is no way to avoid them but to combat them effectively to come out in search of the projects we dream of.
Lack of work-life balance
While for some people the decision to work freelance is ideal to achieve a balance between personal and work life, for many others, this is actually the biggest problem.
Those people who work classically, that is to say, fulfilling a schedule in an office, know that on leaving it their working life ends until the next morning when they must return to work. However, for freelancers like us, as the environment in which both aspects develop is usually the same, the work and personal context are intermingled, producing in many cases the feeling that we are working all day and that we must be available twenty-four hours a day for our customers.
As in the previous case, here again, we find the solution in us, in our ability to organize, to know how to clearly establish the times in which our customers can contact us and set specific times to work.
Feeling isolated and prone to a sedentary life
Working freelance is not the most optimal way if we are people who love to socialize and have an active life.
Being a freelancer and working from home has the consequence of depriving us of the talks and constant contact we have when we are in an office, where our colleagues make us feel all the time accompanied.
On the contrary, when we decide to become freelancers, the work activity becomes completely solitary, where our only companions are usually our relatives, dogs, cats, some podcasts, or the music we listen to in the background.
In turn, the fact of not having to physically move to an office, produces a clear tendency to move considerably less, since everything we need to work is within reach, or, at most, in the next room.
If we desire to become freelancers, we must overcome these obstacles, either working in co-working places, working together with other freelancer friends, taking the time to do some exercise, stretching, and try not to lose the habit of having a somewhat active life.
After listing the main disadvantages of the freelance world, we can only reaffirm that this way of working is not for everyone, that everything in life has certain impediments, and it is in ourselves to know how to decide what is best for each of us. Since we are the ones who know us the most, and we know what makes us feel good and happy.
And you? Are you a freelancer, or have you ever considered working in this mode?
What disadvantages of working as a freelancer have impacted your life?
Author: @MaxiAlbarracin