The work of a freelancer may be different. For some, it becomes a salvation from a routine office, for others it tires and disappoints, and for others it seems unbearably boring at all. Only you decide whether to try yourself in this role.
Prepare yourself mentally
No one will tell you that freelance is obscene. Here you will come across various subtleties of work that can significantly affect both the degree of employment and earnings. To create a certain picture for yourself and follow it, you should pay attention to the experience of other freelancers. Having tried myself in this area for six months, I managed to create a kind of list of pros and cons.
Like any other job, freelance has its pros and cons. To engage in it seriously and count on decent earnings, it is worthwhile to study the issue more deeply. This will help either abandon the idea at the very beginning, or prepare yourself for a new life stage.
The benefits of freelance
For me, as an introvert, a trip on public transport and a buzzing office by colleagues is stress that significantly reduces productivity. Yes, people are not to blame for the fact that they are, but since, thanks to progress, the opportunity has appeared to work in their own apartment, it is stupid not to use it. And here, many who are forced to go to the office daily can immediately name a lot of advantages.
There is no need to follow the dress code. It's easy, but I just don't like business shirts and skirts. They do not feel comfortable, which spoils the mood and reduces performance. Especially when you want to buy a new thing so much, but you remember that it’s worth updating the working wardrobe, and the desire is pushed into the long drawer.
There is an opportunity to create a convenient schedule. If you need to walk with a dog or take your child to kindergarten - please. Just talk to your employer right away what hours you work and what not.
Office trips are a thing of the past. This is becoming a problem for many. Either crowded public transport, or traffic jams and fuel payments. Saved time can be spent much more useful - make a normal breakfast for yourself and loved ones, sleep longer, take a shower or read a couple of pages of your favorite book. The absence of morning rush allows you to sit down at work in a calm, organized state.
Unnecessary communication disappears. Yes, the work of many companies is built on creating a united team and improving the corporate spirit, but this is not always necessary. Well, if the office has at least a couple of people with whom you really communicate and make friends. The rest is an unnecessary exchange of empty cues. Having "talked" with such people during the day, at home you turn into a silent and reserved person, which is unlikely to please your relatives.
Facilities. When I and several other colleagues had to sit in a small room, temperature control in the office turned into war. It is difficult to compromise if someone is unbearably stuffy, while my fingers were already numb from the cold. In some offices, people refused to accept the fact that they had invented headphones for a long time and cursed about the music they wanted to turn on. And remember how your lunch may mysteriously disappear from the refrigerator in the shared kitchen. Now these problems simply do not exist.
You can save money for lunch. Is it familiar with the feeling when in the morning you are too lazy to pack food in a container, and you no longer have the strength to look at the sandwiches brought with you? I have it! Yes, you have to remind yourself that eating “dry food” is harmful to your health, but after a couple of days you give up again. When the native kitchen is just a few steps away, warming up a normal lunch becomes very simple.
Praise for the work done is perceived differently. If you, for example, are a copywriter, then excellent reviews about the article just inspire. It becomes more important and at times more pleasant, as if you are being awarded an important award.
For many people, the work of a freelancer has already ceased to be a modified excuse for idleness. Before working at home meant not working at all, but time proved that skeptics were wrong. Now, on the contrary, society considers such people interesting and courageous.
The disadvantages of free work at home
If you are not a very disciplined person, then the lack of a boss with a “whip” behind you will have a negative effect. The temptation is to minimize working hours. And workaholics, on the contrary, will overfulfill the "Stakhanov" norms.
In the work I had to face fierce competition. Either there are those who will do the same amount of work for a penny, or the customer will consider you not experienced enough. Punching the road and honing skills is not easy, because you need to spend a lot of emotional and physical strength. Try to expand your skills and engage not only in writing articles, but also in other related works.
Waiting is exhausting. When you send an application for an order, you send out your resume, but nothing happens, it’s difficult to maintain good spirits. Sometimes there’s even no strength left to get back to work. But there is no escape from failure, and it is important to learn to treat them as an inevitable evil.
One of the most serious drawbacks is stagnation. Someone may be able to issue tens of thousands of characters daily or pass projects quickly, but experience has shown that this is not always the case. A person can be overridden, but at such moments you need to allow yourself to recover.
Underwater rocks
Freelance does not require a degree, which allows some employers to use the inexperience of beginners. Be careful with all sorts of new sites, try to learn more about them, do not rush to pay for anything until you get evidence of the real work of the resource.
Showing resumes and examples of work should not be accompanied by the sending of a whole series of articles or projects. The test task is one thing, and writing five articles for free is another.
findings
It’s worth a try, especially if the thought of freelancing has not let you go for a long time. Feel it on yourself, then it will be possible to most accurately determine whether such work is suitable or not. The main thing - do not rush, study the issue, prepare yourself mentally.