Is Freelancing the Road to Success?

Source: (x)

According to the Upwork and Freelancers Union research in October 2017, it is predicted that the number of people working as a freelancer worldwide will rise exponentially from 57.3 million to approximately 86.5 million.

You might be familiar with the term “freelancing”. For those who are not aware of this, a freelancer is a person who is self-employed and long-term may potentially work for several different companies. This term first originated in the novels of Sir Walter Scott in the 1800s, referring to medieval mercenaries who would fight for whichever lord paid them the most.

Now, the sort of work freelancers do can vary significantly, from mere marketing and writing articles to advanced web designing or financial support.

Most web developers are freelance.

Source: (x)

What are the advantages of freelancing?

With an ever-growing demand for this market, there are numerous advantages to this sort of employment, especially for web design.

Easy to Set Up

Selecting a network for finding a client has never been simpler. LinkedIn is a good start just set up a small area for yourself to link with others. The most famous website for this freelancing is, curiously enough, Freelancer.co.uk where you can either hire people for your business or find a company to work for. For further websites, see this list of top 10 websites for kickstarting your own freelancing career. And, best of all, it can all be started up in the comfort and safety of your chair (or wherever it is you sit with your laptop or computer!).

Cheap

Of course, you’ll need to pay to make some websites (unless you use the free web hosting packages like on Weebly or Wix) but making a LinkedIn profile to advertise is free. The whole thing is relatively cheap to set up. No need even to travel to run the job!

Flexible Hours

Trying to juggle not only your social life but university, a part-time job and a business at once? No problem. You can choose to work where and when you want.

Developing Skills

Work may require people to use the same skill set each day, but for freelancing you may be writing a blog one day and the next compiling art to stick on a portfolio website or videos for an event (such as the yearly montages of MCM Comic Con).

All Profits Go To You

You are your own boss. The money your clients give you in exchange for your projects for them go to you, and only to you. Everyone wants money, everyone wants to pay their bills. The money can even go towards buying better website hosting deals, for example.

Source: (x)

And the disadvantages?

As with most things, there is a bad side to the advantages.

Workload may fluctuate

Unfortunately, being a freelancer means that on one extreme there may be phases where multiple clients are in demand for various websites, and on the other extreme there may be no requests at all. The amount of work can be most inconsistent! At a normal job, you will know your customers and enjoy a predictable amount of pay for each month whereas being a freelancer means you will not know either of these things.

May take a while to get recognition

Like any business, it will take a while to develop clients and therefore recognition. Knowing people who know other people is usually the way, so it is likely your clients will tell their friends about you and once the reviews build up, you will get more acknowledgement.

Payment

You might not be paid much when you are just starting out, and some people may promise payment and not pay you at all when you finish their project. Sometimes this is unavoidable unfortunately. In fact, a PayPal study in 2017 shows that 58% of freelancers in the main countries in Asia have experienced not getting paid. This is theft of Intellectual Property.

Working alone
It is more than likely you will be isolated from others when working as a freelancer - the only person you will mainly be in communication with will be the client. This not only means that you are the one who has to deal with any issues or complaints but this also means that there are no paid holidays, and breaks come only when the project has been completed.

Source: (x)

So, is freelancing really the road to success?

In conclusion, freelancing is so in demand because there are many advantages to it, but the disadvantages should also be taken into consideration. However, overall, I feel the negatives do not take away the positive aspects of the job and that though at first there may not be that many commissions, your business will eventually grow and become a success.