Freelancing is a great way to make extra money or even replace your current income. There’s no question that freelancing is becoming more and more popular, especially as people become increasingly unsatisfied with the traditional 9-to-5 grind. But before you hand in your resignation letter, there are a few things you should know about freelancing. First and foremost, it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme. It takes time and effort to build up a client base and earn enough money to live on. You also need to be very organized and self-motivated, as there’s no one looking over your shoulder to make sure you’re getting work done. Secondly, you need to be good at what you do in order to succeed as a freelance worker. There’s no room for error when it comes to delivering quality work for your clients.
Are you ready mentally to work from home?
Sure it’s fun working from the comfort of your home, wearing anything you want, and having the freedom that you don’t get while working in an office. Working from home would also give you the chance to spend more time with your family. These are just a few benefits with work from home jobs. But there is a flip side.
When you are working in an office, you hated the daily drive or commute. But the time you spent on that gives you time to either prepare yourself for work or relieve your stress before going home. One of the downsides of working from home is you don’t have time to get into the right mindset for work. When you are stressed at work, you can leave the office, forget about everything and go back to work the next day. Being away from the office is enough for you to destress. But if you are working from home, your office is your home. That is why most freelancers get burned out easily.
Freelancing is not a stable job
You heard it right. Freelancing is not a stable job. There is a risk of losing your job. especially when starting out with a new client It is very much different from your traditional 9 to 5 work. You have a certain degree of job security with your 9 to 5 job. But this is what I always say to those asking me about freelancing. A stable job gives you a stable incoming. What that means is that even if you exert effort to do overtime, you will not get as much with your effort.
Also, you would be lucky if you get a big yearly salary increase from your traditional job. There is this thing called a bell curve that companies use when deciding how much your annual salary increase would be. If you’re unlucky and you are at the bottom of the curve, you would be lucky if you get a decent increase.
With Freelancing, you can get that increase in a couple of months depending on your effort and if you are willing to get another client. Your salary would depend on your effort. The more clients that you get the easier you will reach your target salary.
You don’t have a safety net with freelancing.
Freelancing can be unpredictable. I know a freelancer who was asked to take a pay cut when the pandemic hit. In a normal office setting, that is unheard of and sometimes illegal in some countries. But then again, wouldn’t you want to take a pay cut instead of losing the job instead? Also when you’re in the office and you made a mistake, you have your supervisor and your managers to deal with the client. With freelancing, you have to deal with clients directly.
Making your client happy should be your top priority. Sometimes you have to make compromises like extending hours free of charge or coming to work an extra day every week. That is why freelancing is a high-risk and high-reward job.
Before leaving your 9 to 5 job to pursue freelancing full-time, there are a few things you should know. First, freelancing can be unpredictable – you might have a great month where you land several high-paying projects or a lean month where work is scarce. It’s important to have savings set aside in case of lean times so you’re not scrambling to make ends meet.
Do you have the necessary equipment you need to start freelancing?
Desktop or a laptop
You can’t start freelancing if you don’t have a decent Desktop computer or Laptop. As much as possible it should be core I3 GPU or up and you should have a minimum of 8 GB RAM. Let’s talk about Intel’s classification and RAM
What is the difference between I3, I5, and I7? All you need to know is that most I7 are better than I5 computers. and most I5 computers are better than I3. Although I mentioned that you should have at least an I3 (because that is the minimum requirement for most clients), it is still advisable to get something higher than I3.
To make it simple, the I3 computer is adequate for your basic task. I5 would provide good performance with most of the tasks while I7 could deal with demanding tasks with ease.
So how about RAM? What is it used for? To make it simple, RAM is used when you have multiple browser tabs and applications opened. The higher the RAM, the least likely your application would hang. Just like the core, it is important to have a higher RAM. It would be easier to toggle between tabs if you have a higher RAM.
Internet
You need a Lan connection for better internet speed with a minimum speed of at least 5 GB. But it would be better to subscribe to a higher-speed plan. Before applying for a fiber plan, check your area and asked around which Telecommunication company provides the fastest and most reliable internet connection. Your modem should be connected to a LAN.
You can also use wifi modem but sometimes the internet connection is intermittent. You can use this though as a backup internet connection in case of a blackout or in case there is a problem with your internet connection
Backup power source
The best option for a backup power supply is a generator. The only problem is that it is pricey and it is quite noisy to turn on. Most VA, especially those starting out could not afford it. But there are alternative
You can purchase an AVR for your electricity needs. But take note that this will only last for a couple of minutes to a few hours depending on the capacity. This is not advisable for prolonged power interruption
There are power banks out there in the market but I have not found a decent laptop power bank. Once I do I will let update this post.
Conclusion
There’s no question that freelancing is becoming more and more popular, especially as people become increasingly unsatisfied with the traditional 9-to-5 grind. Most people think that having a freelance job is easier than their traditional 9-to-5 job. That is absolutely not true. Sometimes you have to do some overtime or work an additional day without getting anything extra. Most of the time, you would be required to learn something new from time to time to make clients happy.
So before you hand out your resignation letter, you must ask yourself if it is worth it out leave your office job for something riskier and less secure. This is a completely different animal from your traditional office work. But Let me reiterate. High risk yields high reward.
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