Recognize the Benefits and Drawbacks of Being a Freelancer

Advantages of Freelancers. Photo by Tranmautritam From Pexels.

Freelance work has recently become popular because it saves you the hassle of going to the office. In line with the implementation of work-from-home and remote work, freelancers have become a career choice that many people pursue to increase their income.

Most people choose to work as freelancers to have extra time to spend with family and have a high level of flexibility in work.

If full-time workers at the beginning get an offer in the form of a work contract because they are directly bound by the employer, but not for freelancers. Freelancers are not bound by a contract with the company, so workers can freely at any time and anywhere.

Freelance is a job that relies on the skills, education and experience you have where the service provider will work with clients.

Freelancers will collaborate with clients, starting from the number of projects that can be done, workflow, and rate to the process of submitting work to clients.

No need to bother to come to the office. Freelancers can directly do their tasks from home, even wherever they are. The fields that you can take by freelancers are writing, design, social media and others.

If you want to work as a freelancer, it’s a good idea first to recognize the advantages and disadvantages so you don’t make the wrong choice. Check out the explanation in the following UMN article.

Freelance Advantages

Let’s get into the advantages of freelancer work. Here are the benefits:

• Flexible Working Hours

The first advantage of being a freelancer is the flexible working hours. Compared to full-time jobs, they have to work on time from morning to evening.

Freelancers can choose their own working hours. Morning is fine, afternoon is fine, you can do it anytime. If there is no work contract from the company, you can choose your working time.

Especially if you have a weekend off, you can travel with your family. This is an advantage that you can’t get compared to working full-time.

As a freelance worker, you can work during the hours that you find productive. Furthermore, freelancing allows you more freedom to work on tasks outside regular working hours.

Also read: Studying While Freelancing? Check Out Some Types of Freelancing Based on Your Major!

• Focus on Client Work

When you work for a company, you don’t get to choose who you work with. You only focus on the same clients, and you will keep working like that. Whether you like it or not, you must live with it because a contract already binds you.

Unlike freelancers, you have control over the work and clients you choose. Here, you can contact clients and make agreements on future projects that you will work on.

When you feel suitable with the client’s offer, you can start working. Conversely, if it doesn’t fit, no problem. You can reject it.

• Can Work Anytime and Anywhere

Freelancers can freely work wherever they are. If you want to work at home, go ahead. If you want to work in a boarding house, that’s great. Especially for coffee lovers, doing freelance projects in coffee shops is no problem.

Freelancing also does not require you to dress neatly like working in an office. You can wear anything as comfortable as you want.

• Become the Boss of Your Own Work

Here, you don’t have to follow the rules of anyone except the client as the first party and you as the second party. As long as you do the tasks correctly, there is no problem.

Freelancers can be the boss or manager of the work they do every day based on their chosen field.

The responsibility and control of any job is all yours as long as the client is happy and all work is completed as agreed.

• Portfolio Field for Job Application

Is anyone here a freelancer while studying? Well, it’s a golden opportunity for you if you take a freelancer job according to your desired field. It’s about gaining experience, pocket money, and adding to your portfolio.

Don’t hesitate. You can collect the results of your work in between taking freelance jobs and turn them into a portfolio. Of course, it will be a plus in the eyes of recruiters if you have previous experience.

It doesn’t matter how many projects you take and how much the pay is. Even if it’s a little bit, it’s worth it.

Disadvantages of Freelance Working

Every job and whatever the job is, there must be advantages and disadvantages. Apart from the advantages a freelancer gets, it is not uncommon for them to also find disadvantages. Here are the disadvantages of working as a freelancer:

• Inconsistent Income

Permanent employees in a company have a fixed and transparent salary. However, freelancers, unfortunately, have inconsistent income. This reason makes sense because the projects taken vary.

For example, in the first month, you may take five projects, the second month four projects, and the third month seven projects. The amount of income from each month varies depending on what kind of agreement with the client. 

• Difficult to Divide Time with Personal Life

Being your own boss and working from home also means that it is difficult to distinguish between work time and personal life. This means you can work long hours and never make time for personal interests.

• Big Effort

Being a freelancer means you have to be responsible for fulfilling your clients’ work. You are the only person who can be relied on and have to spend a lot of energy and thought.

This is different with full-time employees in companies where it is inevitable that you get projects from the company that employs you.

• Vulnerable to Not Getting Paid

Being a freelancer also means you are vulnerable to not getting paid. If you are not paid, the only way is to collect payment according to the agreement formed at the beginning. Sometimes freelancers are also annoyed when clients like to break promises on agreed payments. 

• No Performance Bonus

Unfortunately, freelancers don’t get performance benefits or bonuses, let alone health benefits like full-time employees. Health benefits are expensive, depending on your current health.

Being a freelancer means you won’t get the usual benefits if you work in an office or full-time, such as health benefits, paid holidays, etc. And if you’re not working, then you won’t get paid.

Also read: Want to Work Freelance While Studying? Check out These Tips!

That’s about the advantages and disadvantages of being a freelancer. So, are you ready to become a freelancer? Now, all the decisions are in your hands!

Sources:

• Pexels
• Inews

By Reyvan Maulid | UMN News Service

English translation by Levina Chrestella Theodora

Kuliah di Jakarta untuk jurusan program studi Informatika| Sistem Informasi | Teknik Komputer | Teknik Elektro | Teknik Fisika | Akuntansi | Manajemen| Komunikasi Strategis | Jurnalistik | Desain Komunikasi Visual | Film dan Animasi | Arsitektur | D3 Perhotelan , di Universitas Multimedia Nusantara. www.umn.ac.id