Do you have any special talents or skills that could be useful to other people, or companies? If you offer the service of your talents or skills on your own, and not in behalf of the company you are working for, then you may be considered a freelancer.
According to Merriam-Webster, a freelancer is “a person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any one employer”. A freelancer is very much like a business. Any business has a product to sell. In the case of a freelancer, his product is his own skills and expertise. He provides a form of service to his customers, in the same way business also provide services to their customers. However, unlike a business which is composed of two or more people, a freelancer is just one person providing the service he has been contracted for. Fields with available freelance work are graphics design, journalism, programming, events management, consulting and other creative services.
Advantages of Freelance Work
For those who are looking for more flexibility in their hours, freelance work may be the solution. Since freelance work is about services, your responsibility is to deliver the output requested by your customer. Since you are not tied down to one employer, you are free to create your own schedule. This is particularly true for service related freelance work, where the customers are mostly concerned only with the final outcome of your service.
For example, Mr. Juan dela Cruz is a freelance computer programmer. He has been hired by Company A to produce a program that will help them monitor the use of the computers in their Internet Café, and was given 1 month to finish the project. Company B has also hired Mr. Juan dela Cruz, to modify their existing database program to include new features that they requested, and was given 1 week to finish the program. Our freelancer, Mr. Juan dela Cruz, is free to decide when he will work on each project to be able to meet the deadlines given to him by his customers. He can decide to work on one project for half a day, and the other project for the other half, or he can work on one project first and finish it.
Another advantage of freelancing is the benefit of having multiple streams of income. Each customer is one income source. Since a freelancer has the benefit of making his own time schedule, he can cater to more than just one customer and get more than one income.
For those who are looking for more variety in your work, freelancing may allow you to explore your profession to its fullest capacity. Each customer you take will have different needs from other customers. It is this variety in customer needs that will allow you to broaden your skills portfolio, and enable you to fully master your field of expertise.
Disadvantages of Freelance Work
While everything that was mentioned may sound like the answer to the common man’s prayers, you will also need to be aware of the difficulties in freelance work.
First in the list is the unreliability of your income. There are different types of agreements for freelance work. Some of them may provide you income at the end of a project. Some of them may provide you regular income while the project is still ongoing. No matter what type of agreement you have entered into, the income you will earn from one project will definitely end, and you will need to find another project to work on to give you another stream of income.
Second and closely related to the first, is the need for marketing. As a one-man show, you will need to learn how to market yourself to prospective clients, and how to find these prospective clients. Having multiple clients, and multiple income streams, is one of the best advantages of freelancing– but you have to work at sustaining this situation if you want to keep supporting yourself. You need to learn good networking skills to maintain your customer list, and provide you with a lot of opportunities to handle projects for a long time.
Just like in the second, a freelancer will also need to learn his own accounting, and needs to learn his laws. Many people think freelancing is just like its name – free. In fact, freelancers also need to pay their duties to the government, in the form of value-added tax (VAT) and income tax. They may also need to learn about legal issues in their profession, to help protect them and their clients.
Also, a freelancer has to be able to properly assess how much profit he will get out of a project. Unexpected expenses may eat too much out of your contract price, leaving you with very little to work with. This especially comes into play when you provide your services out of regular hours, or if you have to hire other services to work for you to reach the customer’s objective. You might also want to factor in your personal expenses in your overall income. As a freelancer, you will have to provide for your own SSS, philhealth and other benefits commonly handled by employers.
To Freelance or Not to Freelance, That is the Question
Freelancing may not be for everybody. Before entering into freelance work, make sure to consider what your needs are, and the options available to you. Consult with the people who will be affected the most by your decision, like your family and your friends. Most of all, consider what freelancing service you will provide, and the market for your skills. Just like with any product, you have to consider if your skills are profitable or not, and exactly what your market is looking for. A little bit of research can go a long way in the profession of your choice, and can spell the success or failure of your choice.
Freelancing allows you to take a creative approach to how you will use your own talents. Let your imagination go wild with the possibilities, but balance it with enough knowledge to prepare you for the challenges that you will face. Your success in freelancing is in the palm of your hands.
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