7 Questions to Ask Before Going for Full-time Freelance Work
Although going full-time freelance may seem like a great career choice, there are still certain aspects that are need to be considered before jumping in. Here are some questions to be considered before making the decision to rely solely on freelance work as a main source of income and employment.
1. Is money an issue?
If bills need to be paid faster than a freelance check comes, freelancing may be a bad option. Freelancers often get delayed on their payment. Depending on the client, the money is usually paid within a month of the given date.
2. How Well Positioned is Your Portfolio?
Freelancers rarely depend on a resume. Having a strong portfolio ready at at all times can help land freelance jobs faster and give potential a quick idea of who is a good fit for the assignment.
3. Are you good at time management?
If you’re a freelancer the work you get may take up all your free time in order to get finished. So you must be dedicated enough to sacrifice your ‘me’ time in order to complete the work and at the same time you need to be a good time manager because everyone needs some kind of social interaction to keep sane. Also most of your clients will communicate during normal business hours, so if you have a job, this may interfere.
4. Can You Meet Deadlines?
Project completion is the main objective of freelancing. Your image solely depends on this. The client won’t tell you when and how to work, they’ll just tell you when they need it completed and you have to do it or else there’s a chance of losing the client. This may appear easy, but if you have other jobs to tackle, juggling the two may become challenging.
5. How Flexible are you?
While starting, you may have to get habituated to a flexible routine which may require you to work all night or may even render you without any projects for weeks. You have to be flexible in order to adjust to these situations. If you are a nine- to- five worker, freelancing is not your cup of tea.
6. Is there Enough Work at Hand?
If you’re considering a full time freelancing career, you’ll have to find jobs which are going to help you make your ends meet. For this you have to market yourself through websites and portfolios so that you are spotted by desirable clients. There are a lot of freelance jobs in the market but you have to search them.
7. Can you be your Own Boss?
When working freelance, there are no supervisors or managers who will push you towards completion or do the other necessary paperwork like keeping invoices accurate and in on time. So unless you’re up for it, don’t even think about going in this way.
Hopefully the questions provided in this article provided some information to select the path which is best for you. For further queries or suggestions please comment.