The Pros And Cons Of Never Having A Real Job

The Pros and Cons of Never Having a “Real” Job Confession: I’ve never had a “actual” jobâ€"until, of course, you count my part-time job on the local florist shop during high school. Don’t get me wrong; I do work. Quite a bit, actually. But I fell into freelancing during my junior year of faculty, and I’ve never looked again. At first, didn’t get a “actual job” as a result of I was nonetheless finishing my degree. Freelance writing gave me the pliability to work around lessons, and I made way more per hour than I would have working at Starbucks. I thought briefly, during the starting of my senior yr, about getting a daily forty-hour-a-week workplace job upon graduation. Or perhaps going to graduate faculty with the goal of finally becoming a college professor. Then, throughout my last semester, my husband and I discovered we were anticipating. No method was I going to go to grad college during our first year of parenthood, and what common job may I discover proper out of school that would cowl sky-high daycare pric es? So, we determined one of the best factor for our family could be for me to continue working from home as a freelancer. I was making first rate cash, and getting extra purchasers all the time. I enjoyed the work, and I could do the work-at-house-mother thing. Truly, it’s been nice. I love working from house and spending a lot of time with my daughter (although my practically-two-yr-old does go to daycare a couple of days every week, just so I don’t lose my mind). With that mentioned, freelancing, like another profession possibility, has its professionals and cons. The Best Parts of Freelancing When you consider working from residence as a freelancer, what comes to mind? Waking up late, working in your pajamas and never dealing with an precise boss once more? In spite of what different go-get-‘em, costume-for-success, early-rising freelancers will inform you, this pretty a lot does describe my work day. I rise up pretty late (at least for the mother of a toddler), and I not often wear something but yoga pants to work. And, yes, I am technically my own boss (although clients could be worse than bosses in some ways). These, for me, are some of the greatest parts of freelancing. But there are different nice issues about not having a daily job, too. In Ed Gandia’s 2012 Freelance Industry Report, freelancers named the highest advantages of freelancing. Six of the top seven advantages have been: Let’s break these down so you possibly can see how these benefits have worked out in an actual-life freelancer’s expertise (mine). 1. Flexible Schedule Interestingly, the report broke down these benefits by the age of freelancers. While schedule flexibility was an enormous profit to all age teams, it was essentially the most useful for 30-somethings. Gandia surmises it's because this group is most likely to have young children to look after. That’s actually true in my case. Though I’m not 30-one thing but, having a flexible schedule with my daughter here is great. Working to a deadline signifies that if she’s sick, I just hold her residence with me. I can all the time catch up throughout naptime and even the following day. 2. Variety of Projects As a freelancer, I’ve written on every little thing from infertility to life insurance. I will say that since I’ve began tackling more specialised work (personal finance writing, in my case), my earnings has gone upâ€"but still, it’s not like I’m solely ever writing copy for one specific firm, which is refreshing. three. Being My Own Boss / 4. Making My Own Decisions These are each massive benefits of freelancing for me, and for many people who are self-directed enough to make it as freelancers. I hate being micromanaged and love attending to make my very own work selections. Still, working for shoppers can, at occasions, be worse than working for a daily boss, so keep that in thoughts when you’re interested in freelancing. 5. Working from Anywhere One of my favorite perks of “working from home” is that I don’t truly have to work at home. Though most days you’ll discover me with my laptop on the kitchen desk, I also work at Starbucks typically. Plus, if we’re touring, I can simply take my laptop computer and work wherever. 6. Higher Income Potential The Freelance Industry Report noted that greater income potential is the biggest benefit of freelancing among 20-somethings. I’ve undoubtedly found this to be true. If you’re simply beginning your career, you could be staring down some fairly low-paying entry-degree jobs at the moment. Freelancingâ€"in the proper subject and with the correct hourly rateâ€"can nearly certainly make you more money, no less than per hour, than entry-level jobs. And should you start freelancing early, like I actually have, your revenue potential has a very, very excessive ceiling. For those coming out of a high-paying regular career and searching into freelancing, this will not be the case. But I can tell you that I’m definitely making greater than I would at most entry-degree writer positions in my area at the moment. Worst Parts of Freelancing Before you determine you’re going handy in your notice and begin freelancing at present, it’s important to know that freelancing isn’t all rainbows and unicorns. There are days when it’s really actually freaking annoying and I’d a lot rather be steadily employedâ€"even if which means dressing like a grownup every single day! Going back to the Freelance Industry Report for the highest complaints of freelancers, five of the top seven freelancing points named have been: Again, I’m suffering from most of these points, similar to your average freelancer. Here’s how these common issues have affected my life as a freelancer: 1. Finding Clients At first, I had a straightforward time finding shoppers. That’s as a result of I was working for a penny a word on jobs from Elance. It’s not that tough to seek out purchasers keen to pay a penny a word. But please promise me, all you potential freelance writers, that you simply’ll by no means, ever work for rates that crappy. You’re worth greater than that! (Click right here to tweet this thought.) Now that I’m breaking out of backside-of-the-barrel jobs, discovering purchasers is more durable. I have to actively market, which I’m still determining. It’s not easy, however I’ll be talking in future posts about how to discover higher shoppers as a freelancer, so stay tuned. 2. Feast-or-Famine Work Cycle I’ve lucked into many common shoppers over time, so I don’t have this problem fairly as much as some other freelancers. Still, those regulars generally make up absolutely the naked minimal income I need to per month to assist pay the bills. (My husband works with children for a dwelling, so we’re not exactly rolling in dough over right here.) This goes hand in hand with the number one freelancing drawback (discovering clients). If you could have hassle discovering purchasers, you’ll have hassle making a steady earnings. And that’s irritatingâ€"and in addition kind of scary, especially whenever you’ve got a child to support. three. Work-Life Balance I’m not one of those freelancers who has bother strolling away from the laptop on the end of the day. I’m sort of the alternative; I swing in direction of the “life” end of the work-life spectrum. When I’m working from house, there’s all the time laundry to do and dishes to scrub and beds to make and all those other things I actually shouldn’t be doing during my treasured few work hours. four. Time Management If I’m not getting distracted by the pile of laundry in my bedroom, I’m getting distracted by Facebook and Pinterest. Time management is difficult, no matter what your job. But if there’s no one wanting over your shoulder to ensure you aren’t on Facebook, it’s up to you to remain in control of your time. Which leads to the following issue… 5. Wearing All the Hats As a mother, I’m used to sporting plenty of hats. It’s not so bad at residence when the roles are issues I enjoyâ€"cook dinner, playmate and even maid. But there are some things I just hate doing as a freelancer. I hate keeping track of my revenue and bills. But I still have to do it. I hate marketing. But I nonetheless have to do it. I also hate managing the backend of my web site. But, once more, it has to be accomplished. Until I can afford to outsource some (or all) of this stuff, I even have to wear these hats. That’s just the character of working a micro enterprise. What’s It Mean for You? If you’re good with a Google search, you can probably flip up a hundred articles about why you need to or shouldn’t freelance, or why you might be or are not suited to work from home. And the fact is that not everyone is minimize out to work at home full-time. But I’m not here to let you know whether or not or not you should work from home. I just want to make sure you could have a sensible picture of what freelancing seems likeâ€"a minimum of for one experienced writer who has never had an actual jobâ€"so that you can make that decision for yourself. Image: Photobucket