At first glance, freelancers look like they have it pretty good. They work at home at their own hours, own demands and somehow manage to get something close to (or even more than) a monthly income. I mean, we just make stuff and then send the files over, right? Well…
It’s not that simple. Freelancing has it’s own ups and downs and the downs can be as agonizing, albeit different, as those of a permanent job. If you’re looking to work as a freelancer, you might want to consider the things below. If you already are one, then you can probably relate to a few or all of these.
1. You’re constantly looking for work.
There’s a reason the word “free” is in our job and it’s not because we don’t ask for pay. Freelancers shift from one job to another. You have to hunt for a job just like anyone else, but you’re going to have to do probably every week and month. Sure there are “long-term” projects, but don’t expect for this to go over a year unless you’re really lucky or really good at what you do. Even if you did have a long-term project, it probably won’t pay as well. It’s another reason why you constantly have to look for work. One job simply isn’t enough to sustain you. This brings us to the next problem.
When you’re looking for even MORE work.
2. It’s HARD to make a decent, secure living.
You don’t get paid that well, either. While this probably isn’t a good example of where to look for work, Craigslist will at the very most offer a dollar an article in most countries. Proper freelance sites will offer work a little better, but rates for articles, editing and proof-reading rarely ever go above $30 . E-books can pay for a little more, but you’re going to have to write more, too. Unless you’re doing a lot of work or doing something for a big-time company, don’t expect to make the same amount you’d get if you worked in a full-time job.
When you calculate all your earnings and it’s not enough to pay rent.
3. A lot of times, you DON’T get credited for your work.
A lot of the work beginning and intermediate freelancers do will be ghostwriting. You’ll be going from writing articles to whole novels and your name’s not going to show up anywhere on what your tears, sweat and blood conceived and birthed for you. While you get paid on the spot, it’s frustrating seeing something you wrote and knowing no one else will ever know you made it. Maybe that’s just personal attachment to work, but maybe it’s also paid injustice.
When you ghostwrite a book and it’s a hit.
4. People think your work is easy.
If you’re a freelancer who lives with family or friends, you’ve probably heard “you have it easy” or “you have all the time in the world because of your job”. No. No, we don’t. One, we do a LOT of work and we don’t have the liberty of being given office hours. We spend hours setting our keyboard on fire as we type hundreds of words per second in order to meet deadlines. We’re not given the sanctuary of a cubicle or office space people won’t barge into saying “So, when’s dinner ready?”.
Really?
A freelancer writer might have to change diapers while making the finishing touches to a war-romance-sci-fi-suspense genre story that’s around 80,000 words or doing six jobs at the same time with the same deadline. Oh, that leads us to number 5.
5. Deadlines. Deadlines. DEADLINES.
Do I really have to explain this? Do I? I mean, even people with full-time jobs have them and they hate them. How much more when you have seven projects due and you have to shift from one to the other and get them all done somehow?
No more words needed.
6. You don’t know where your future is headed.
Unless you somehow make the proper connections or hit it big with some company that noticed your “stunning talent and dedication to work”, freelancing is a giant, empty void that goes who knows where? Unless you love what you do, and I mean LOVE, can you really imagine yourself doing this for the rest of your life? You find yourself always asking the following questions: “What am I going to do next?”, “Where am I going to find my next job?”, “Is it ever going to get better for me?”. This is more or less related to problem 7.
Thinking about the “future”.
7. There’s no room for growth unless you make it for yourself.
More or less, freelancing is doing the same thing for different people. Maybe you’ll get a bit more complicated jobs or get a little more on account of experience, but where you stand as as a professional is a big gray area. There’s no such thing as promotions or awards for hard work. You’re not going to be shifted from one area to another that will demand more of you. You have to do that all by yourself. Like anything else self-done and self-taught, no one’s going to bring you to the next level but yourself. Maybe in a sense, that’s a good thing, but unless you push yourself, expect to be in an endless, disorganized yet routine loop.
Stuck where you are for you don’t know how long.
8. You can end up hating what you do if you’re not careful.
Like with any other passion, if you’re not careful, you can end up hating what you do. After all, you’re not writing for yourself, but for other people. You’re writing for their demands and desires, not out of creativity or inspiration or beans! Something that you like doing can end up being something you hate if it demands too much of you and if you’re not able to do it the way you aspire doing it. It can really bring you down and get sick of it in the process.
I’m doing what I LOVE.
9. You don’t have a set schedule.
Each project you take on is different from the next, and as I said, you’ll be doing more than one. Expect yourself to have different days off or none at all. You don’t have set hours either, so it’s up to you to make the call if you’re pulling an all-nighter or not eating lunch or are cancelling plans because you miscalculated how long a job would take. Every day’s a work day.
You basically, all the time, when people distract you.
10. You need a certain mood in order to write.
Unlike jobs that don’t really require creativity, freelancing NEEDS you to be in the best mood to write. If not, your work is bound to suck. You can’t be interrupted when you’re in the middle of a heartbreaking feature article or when you’re about to kill an important character in order to get up from your chair. Heck, someone just calling your name from inside the house is enough to ruin it all.
When someone distracts you in the middle of writing.
11. Your work relies on demand.
Another reason you’re constantly searching for work is because you might run out of it. I don’t mean that you’ll finish fast and you’ll have nothing to do, rather, there might not be anything to do. Sure there’s always going to be someone who needs work done, but someone else can easily take the job, or there can be dry seasons. Imagine the anxiety of ghostwriting Minecraft novels for all of the holiday season and next month no one needs them anymore (Oh, wait, that’s what I do). Dry seasons do exist and the thought of that scares freelancers like heck.
When you’re waiting for more job ads.
12. You’ll feel envy towards your full-time working compadres.
You hear your friend complaining about his office hours and most times you’ll want to strangle him. What you’d give to know you’ll always have a monthly salary so long as you show up at work!
“Sure I get a stable salary, but at least you’re ‘free’.”
13. You will spend most of your time inside the house.
Your house is your office, so like any other job, you have to stay there for a set of hours every day and every week. You’re not there because you’re cleaning up or cooking or doing laundry, either. So much for your house being your refuge of peace and solitude, right?
Looking outside the window for the first time in forever.
14. You sometimes forget what looking “appropriate” means.
Spending all your time inside the house, you probably haven’t put on make-up or worn a suit in ages. While that can be a good thing, you’ve grown to enjoying your PJ’s as your “uniform”.
“Okay. I’m ready to go out.”
15. It’s hard changing jobs.
Once you’re used to freelancing, imagining doing a full-time job is a little nerve-wracking. For people who’ve been doing it for years on end, it’s unfathomable. Imagine being used to writing things at different hours every day and suddenly having a set schedule where you’re under supervision, have to do things a certain way and have to socialize. It’s a big leap from something you’re used to and that’s not the only problem. Unless you’re going for a job that relates to writing itself, those years of experience will mean nothing in whatever you apply to.
Freelancing can be hard. It’s a real job and while it’s different from things 9-5’ers do, it has it’s own set of problems. That said, freelancing does have it’s perks. You just have to deal with all of this in exchange and maybe other things, too.
Agree with the list? Don’t agree? Tell me in the comments below! Maybe you have your own freelance woes you want to share!
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