9 Reasons Why Being A Freelancer Can Be a Good Thing

For most people, living the American dream means running their own business. But for the average Joe like you and I who may not be able fund the finances to start up a brick and mortar business, the American dream always seems to get filed under the “someday” folder.

And so we go back to work in the cubicle hoping one day the American dream will come to pass.

Some folks imagine opening up a restaurant or a fix-it shop – something to call their own. I dreamed of buying land to lease out spaces for taco trucks to park. I even had a name for it – Taco Town. But when I found out how much a piece of land would cost that dream was pushed way, way back.

Truth is if you want to run your own business, a good place to start is to look at what you’re doing now.

When you think about it, you are actually using your natural, self-taught or trained skills to perform the duties in your day job – why else would your employer have hired you in the first place if you weren’t rock certain skills they were looking for.

When someone contacts me and asks my thoughts about starting a home-based business, the first thing I want to know is what he or she does for a living.

Freelancing For a Living Can Be a Good Thing

Yes, there are all kinds of businesses you can start but I think being self-employed as a freelancer would have more advantages. For one thing, you’ll already know what you’re doing.

For example…

If you’re in sales and marketing you can freelance as a social media manger. If you’re an administrative assistant you can freelance as a virtual assistant. Or if you’re a stay-at-home mom you know a thing or two about being organized and planning. You can freelance as an organizer or party planner to help other moms. You get my drift?

But if you were to venture off into something totally new, you’d have to take time to familiarize yourself with the ins and outs of it. If you don’t have that kind of time, the alternative would be to start a freelance business.

Besides being your own boss and working from home, there are other reasons why freelancing for a living can be a good thing.

Here are nine reasons I can think of to be a freelancer:

#1 – You create your own schedule. You decide whether you want to work part time, full time or on a project basis, it’s up to you. This is great for parents who have little ones in school or have after school activities.

#2 – Freelancing gives you control of your workload so you can spend time with your family, work on your hobbies or volunteer commitments, giving you total work-life balance.

#3 – You develop skills you otherwise might not have had in a regular such as writing if you work as a freelance writer, marketing because you’ll have to promote your business in order to land projects and even some sales know-how because you’ll have to sell your business to potential clients.

#4 – It’s one of, if not the most inexpensive start-up businesses. Since you’ll likely work from home you won’t need to pay for commercial property and there are low-cost recurring fees like paying for a self-hosted website.

#5 – You choose the clients you want to work with. When you work in an office you don’t get to pick who your boss is or who your coworkers will be. As a freelancer you decide who you want to work with. If you only want to work with female-based clients, it’s your call.

#6 – You benefit from tax deductions because you can claim things like your internet access, mileage when traveling, and office supplies.

#7 – Depending on what you were making at your previous job; you can actually make more money as a freelancer.

#8 – Unless you have a team to help you, you will be wearing many hats. Administrator, that’s you. Need tech support – that would be you again. The good thing about running your own freelancer business is that it will teach you firsthand how to run and manage a business from all aspects of it.

#9 – Another great reason to become a freelancer is that you don’t necessarily have to quit your day job. I know it’s important for some people to keep their job while their business takes off – that makes perfect sense. Plus it’s good to have a plan like that.

I know some freelance writers who still hold down a job and freelance in their spare time working toward the goal of quitting their job to freelance full time. You just have to want it bad enough to make time for it.

Getting Started

So now that I’ve given you all these reasons to freelance, you’re probably thinking, “Okay Cori, these reasons to freelance for a living are good and all, but how do I get started. Where do I find freelance work?”

I’m glad you asked!

My go-to freelance peep is Elna Cain. She’s got a great course for anyone who wants to launch a freelance business.

Check this out…

Write Your Way to Your First $1K

If you’re just starting out then proper training is a must. Since you’ll be responsible for landing clients and finding work, Elna created a 7 week course that will show you exactly what you need to do launch a successful freelance writing business and earn your first $1K and she guides you from start to finish.

I mean, can you imagine working as a freelancer and making your first $1k in monthly income? Talk about doing the happy dance. Click here to sign up for Elna’s course.

Follow Other Freelance Bloggers

Before I wrap this up, there’s one more piece of advice I want to share. To be a great freelancer it means keeping up with your skills and improving your craft. It’s always good to follow freelance bloggers to get your learn on.

Feedspot posted the top 100 freelancers and newsletters to follow. Check it out and make an effort to connect with them!

Closing Up Being A Freelancer

Like those late night infomercials about the latest diet fad say, results are not typical. But if you have the desire, the drive and you’re willing to put in the work, you can succeed as a freelancer and eventually quit your nine to five. Now how awesome would that be?

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