Is Working Freelance Really Good? Good and Bad

Are you tired of working for clients you don’t like? Want control of your time, location, and projects you work on? And make more money while you’re at it? Then you should consider freelancing.

Freelancing is basically being self-employed and not committed to any one company or firm. You’ve heard those seemingly perfect freelance stories. Some designer quits his jobs and starts freelancing – and now he’s making more money than he was while at a firm. All the while traveling the world and working for himself. Not to mention he gets to choose what kind of work he does.

However, there is no such thing as perfect – and freelancing is no exception. While the above paragraph might make being a freelancer out to be an ideal gig, it has its drawbacks. And some of these can be deal breakers for you.

So should you go for freelance? Let’s check the Good and Bad things of freelance:

Good of Freelancing

1. Choose When You Work

When you don’t have to come into an office each day, you can really be in control of your time. You get to choose when you work. You’re working for yourself, after all. Are you a morning person that wants to stop working at lunchtime? That’s cool. Or are you a night owl that loves to sleep in? Go for it. As long as you get the work done, that’s all that matters. When you freelance, you get to choose when you work. Or at least be more flexible with your schedule (with the few exceptions that involve time-sensitive clients).

2. Choose Where You Work

Since you’re not reporting to a stationary office every day, you can choose where you do your freelancing work. Whether it’s at home, at various cafes throughout the cities, or traveling—or even moving—to different cities, it doesn’t matter. Like with being in control of your time, as long as you get the work done then it doesn’t matter where you’re located. When you freelance, you get to choose where you work. Or again, at least be more flexible with your location (if you have location-sensitive clients).

3. Choose What You Work On

The biggest drawback of working for a company or firm is you usually don’t get to choose what projects you work on. You design based on what clients are brought to you. But when you are a freelancer, you find your own clients. Thus, you get to choose what you work on. Notice the pattern? Freelancing is about choice – freedom.

4. Potentially Make More Money

If you have the drive in you, you can stand to make more money freelancing. You’re not throttled by working for someone else. You can take on more clients or more projects than if you were working for a company or firm. And more quality work equals making more money.

5. Fire Bad Clients

Similar to #3, if you get stuck with a bad client while working for someone else, you either suck it up or quit your job. And there goes all of your work and income. But with freelancing, each client is a separate source of income. So if you come across a bad client, you can freely fire them. Why waste your precious days working on something that’s annoying you? Drop that client like a bad habit.

Bad of Freelancing

1. Incoming Work Isn’t Guaranteed

At a company or firm, assuming it doesn’t go out of business, you’re pretty much guaranteed work. You come in, there is always work for you to do, and you’ll never be at a shortage. As a freelancer, since you’re finding your own work, it’s never guaranteed. Sometimes opportunities can be plentiful, and other times there could be less.

2. Inconsistent Monthly Income

With inconsistent incoming work comes inconsistent monthly income. Some months you can be rolling in a steady stream of quality work. Other months your clients might not need you, or you don’t find enough work. And your income suffers as a result.

3. Potentially Make Less Money

A continuation of #2. If you aren’t finding quality clients, you could potentially make less money than if you were at a company or firm. Ditto if you’re lazy. If you aren’t a self-motivating type and need someone else to kick you in the butt, then with freelancing you could potentially be making less money than at a company or firm.

4. You Have to Find New Work On Your Own

With freelancing, you don’t just spend time creating, you also need to spend time finding new clients and work. At a company or firm, the incoming work is taken care of for you. You just need to design and that’s it. (However, if you absolutely hate finding clients but still want to freelance, one remedy is partnering with someone that can find work for you – a designer manager of sorts.)

5. You Have to Do Your Own Accounting

Similar to #4. At a company or firm, you don’t need to worry about accounting. You design, you get paid, you pay yearly taxes, and that’s it. Not so with freelancing – since you are your own company, you need to handle your own accounting. (Again, if you hate accounting then you can use software to make it easier or hire/outsource to someone that can do it.)

Like to chose Freelance?

Is your car stolen? Pray to God the police never find it

My friend’s wife was recently the victim of a chain snatching incident when she was out for an evening walk. Fortunately for her the gold chain around her neck broke and fell on the ground and the thief tried to escape without the chain. She raised an alarm and managed to get the thief nabbed with the assistance of the passersby. Her first reaction afterwards was to let bygones be bygones (since she clearly had not suffered any loss) and the thief had also been thrashed by the on lookers. But as a good citizen she decided to lodge an official police complaint. 

That’s when the trouble began!

The police arrived a good 30 minutes later and took the thief to the police station and requested my friend’s wife to accompany them. She went and lodged a complaint and the process  took about 3-4 hours to complete. To make it worse the police asked her to hand over the broken chain as “evidence” for the case which would be returned to her after the case was over. She was very reluctant but had no choice so she handed it over to the police. It took 3-4 personal visits to the police station and a good 6 months before the chain was finally restored to her. 

Incidentally my friend’s wife discovered that the police had claimed credit for nabbing the chain snatcher and had even been awarded by Mumbai’s police commissioner.

You must be  wondering why am I writing about this incident in a column devoted to personal finance? 

I will connect up as to why the archaic and inefficient judicial/police system results in situations in the personal finance arena as well, that would be comic if they were not so tragic.  A friend bought the case of Ravi Kant to my notice. Ravi’s car was stolen from below his house and he filed an FIR with the police and then made a claim with the insurance company for the loss. Only then he realized he would have to produce a “not traceable” certificate which the police issues only around 3 months after the loss is reported to them and they are still not able to trace the vehicle. The insurance claim is payable only after the “not traceable” certificate is submitted.

In Ravi’s case the vehicle was (un)fortunately traced. It had been used for a crime and then abandoned in a faraway city. He had to take a few days leave and visit the police station where the recovered vehicle was kept to give evidence. Ravi had to do a couple of rounds with the police station and then told that his car was “evidence” in the case against the criminals. He had the insurance company send a surveyor to inspect the vehicle for any loss but the vehicle was in an okay condition. The vehicle has been gathering dust in the police station compound for quite a few months even as I am writing this article. Of course there is no chance of the insurance company paying him anything and he has had to take a car loan to buy a new car. Now Ravi is cursing his Bad luck” that the police actually found his stolen car”. If they had not found it he would have been paid the claim by the Insurance Company and would not have to go through so many hassles. Now he will get back the car after it has depreciated substantially.

Clearly a criminal judicial system that requires stolen items to be kept as “evidence’ till the case reaches a certain level must change or we will continue to have law abiding citizens wishing that the police are not able to trace their stolen car!