Why Freelance?

After recently moving to a new town I have often been asked what I do for a living after introductions are made. When I have said that I am a freelancer, I can not tell you how many times I have received that blank stare followed by the question, "what's a freelancer?"

For all intents and purposes, a freelancer, for those that don't yet know, is basically an entrepreneur. Of course, they are not an employee of any kind and are often referred to as a contractor. Not being an employee means that they do pretty much everything for the business. Business development, contracts, marketing, book keeping and accounting, HR, etc. The service that they can provide better than anyone else is only a minor factor in the part they play for their company or small business. And there are many types of freelancers with many variations of histories, experiences, interests, niches and rates. From graphic designers to accounting and everything in between.

What most people who are looking to hire a freelancer or contractor don't know is that even with our higher rates we are still considerably cheaper than it would be to hire in house. When a company decides to hire in house, they have to offer incentives like, benefits, medical, dental, 401k, bonuses, perks, etc. This is on top of what they are already having to pay for their new employee's salary. With a freelancer it is considerably different as we don't require all of these benefits and perks to work for a client in need of a specific service. Our rates are higher because we do need to pay for these things from our work but when you calculate the cost of all of these items by your cost of doing business, the project cost that you sign with a freelancer contract is still cheaper and overall more cost effective.

I had mentioned a specific client needing a specific service before, right? Well it you are looking to hire the project out, then as I said before, the costs are much lower and you are able to find a specialist in their field for the type of work you need. Take my writing and editing services for example. I write marketing, PR and advertising pieces for food and beverage, tourism, hospitality and entertainment companies. A lot of them are more B2B type companies. This is my niche and where my life experiences have taken me. So if a company were to look for someone that can write about the tech industry and that knew UX or design, then they might ask me for a referral but not for my services. I am an admittedly creative writer only and the tech industry is like speaking Swahili to my French. If they were wanting a good storyline for their website to showcase their CEO I could handle that with eloquence. But beyond that, I would be absolutely lost. Hence, the major appeal to outsourcing to freelancers. We specialize specifically.

So why would a person get into freelance? There is freedom in freelancing. Being your own boss, setting your own hours and knowing that whether you make money or not depends on you. You are not restricted to where you work or nine to five anymore. You don't have someone breathing down your neck telling you to change things the way you never would because they like it better right or wrong. No more having someone tell you to be creative in their designated working hours. If you look at some of my posts, they were written late at night and often at 2am. As long as the work gets done and you turn out a good product that is all the customer requires. And that is why they pay you the higher rates. Your talent, experience and the quality of the service or product.

Now knowing what freelance means, what would you choose? The seemingly stable yet truly unstable, job marketable, nine to five job? Or the occupation that allows you to follow your passion, allows you to work from anywhere in the world with an internet connection at any time and let's you pick and choose the clients you want to work with? Do you know which job has the better earning projection? Which would you pick?

Let me know what you think or if you have any questions about freelancing. I would love to hear from you and to address some of the more in depth topics in a post. So subscribe and stay tuned!

Thanks for reading!

The Scribbler