6 Benefits Of Being A Freelancer In 2022

The global Covid pandemic brought about a host of changes in the way people work around the world, and one of those changes is the drastic increase in the number of people who chose a freelance career over a regular 9-5 job. 

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There are currently over 58 million freelancers in the US, and a recent study concluded that by 2027, over 50.8% of our workforce will be freelancers, contributing a whopping $1.4 trillion to the economy. 

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With numbers that impressive, it is not surprising that a lot more people are choosing to work on their own steam instead of as full-time employees, and that a lot more businesses are hiring skilled freelance resources for projects.

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There are many reasons why people choose to start working as freelancers, including as a side hustle and to have more control over their lives. 

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We’ve compiled a list of the top 6 benefits of freelancing for those of you who are considering making that shift. 

The benefits of freelancing

Freelancing is pretty much like being an entrepreneur. You are your own boss, and you work entirely on your own terms. 

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Here are our picks for the top 6 benefits of being a freelancer in 2022.

Choose your projects

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We’ve all heard multiple successful entrepreneurs and celebrities talk about how a job doesn’t seem like a chore as long as you’re doing something you love.

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Well, that is one of the top freelance benefits: being able to choose what you want to work on.

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Being able to choose your projects is an advantage on multiple levels. For one, freelancers get to choose what industries they want to work in. In a full-time job, you’d have to work with whoever your boss asked you to.

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Then, you also get to pick and choose your clients within those industries. You can work with brands that align more with your interests if that is what drives you. 

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For example, if you do not want to work with the tobacco or liquor industry, you do not need to.

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And finally, you can choose to work on projects that you want to, and cannot be coerced into working on anything you do not want to. 

Flexible working hours

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Another freelance advantage is that, in most cases, you get to choose your own working hours. 

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Are you a parent that needs to drop off and pick up your kids from school? No problem, since as a freelancer, you get to dictate what time you need to log in.

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That means even if you need to take a day off in the middle of the week, you need no one's permission just as long as you’re on track to finish your projects on time. 

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Prio’s time tracker is a handy tool you ought to have in your freelancer toolkit to make sure you stay on top of your schedule. 

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This tool helps you break down the project you’re working on into tasks, how much time you spend working on these tasks, and add spent time on the project as a billable value when you invoice your clients.

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This way, you not only get to judge your efficiency, but you also get an idea of whether the time spent is justified by the revenue coming in.

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The best part is that this awesome time tracker is absolutely free! 

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All that flexibility notwithstanding, you will still need to make sure you’re available to your clients on the phone and via email during their working hours, even if it doesn’t align with your schedule. 

Control your revenue

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As a freelance gig worker, your choices are directly responsible for your income. This means you are in complete control of your revenue, unlike a regular job, where you get a flat salary irrespective of the work you put in.

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There are two aspects to this that you will need to consider. 

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One is the fact that you get to decide how much your work is worth, and charge your clients accordingly. This means no one can force you to work with lowballers or to take on projects at a pay scale that is not on par with your expectations.

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The other aspect is that the amount of revenue you generate for yourself is directly proportional to the amount of effort you put into your work. The more work you take on, the more you will get paid.

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Irrespective of whether you are a freelance software developer or a content writer, one standard practice is that you will need to generate invoices for you to get paid by your client. 

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We at Prio have an easy-to-use invoicing tool that you can use free of charge to automate generating invoices at the end of each project. 

Work with multiple ideas

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One of the biggest limitations of working a regular 9-5 job is that work often tends to get repetitive, monotonous, and downright boring. Well, that does not have to be the case if you become a freelancer.

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Since you are responsible for your work schedule and revenue, you can choose to beat the monotony by working on different projects with multiple clients simultaneously. 

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Of course, you will need to bring some very efficient time management skills to the table to ensure you do not lose focus and stick to your delivery schedules. 

Work from anywhere

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Another major benefit of freelancing is that, unless your freelance gig requires you to work from your client’s premises, you pretty much get to work from anywhere you want to. 

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In most cases, this means that just as long as you are connected to the internet and accessible by phone, you could be sitting on a beach or in a log cabin in the mountains doing your work.

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The important thing is to make sure you do not get carried away by the freedom at hand and still ensure you deliver your projects on time to your clients.

Manage yourself

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One of the biggest advantages of being in the freelance business is that you manage yourself and don't need to answer to anybody. 

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The upside is that no one gets to boss you around, and you decide who to work with, what hours of the day you want to work, with whom you want to work, and more.

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However, with freedom comes responsibility as well. You will also need to do everything by yourself. 

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You will need to land clients that pay you well enough, keep following up and building a rapport with them for referrals as well as repeat business, stick to a budget so you have enough for lean periods, make sure you are available to your clients at all times, and a whole lot more.

Disadvantages of freelancing

Everything has two sides to it, and having extolled the virtues of freelancing, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention some of the shortcomings that come with a freelance career.

Easy to lose focus

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Without the rigid discipline that comes with most regular jobs and without having someone looking over your shoulder all the time, it is easy for freelancers to lose focus.

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Considering that you decide when you work, how much work you take on, and whom you work with, it is easy to get distracted by things like social media and friends. 

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However, unless you rein yourself in and enforce a schedule on yourself, you may well find yourself falling behind on deliveries and without work before too long.

No employee benefits

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Part of being your own boss is that you no longer get employee benefits either, such as a 401K, yearly bonuses, health insurance, and paid vacations.

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On the other hand, you will need to pay for your own health insurance, put money aside for a rainy day, and pay taxes on your income by yourself.

Lack of stability

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Perhaps the biggest drawback with freelancing is that while you may be swamped with work for some time, there may also be lean periods without any work at all. This lack of stability can get worrisome if you aren’t prepared for it.

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There are two things you could do to remedy such a situation. 

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You could put aside money every month so you have a cushion to fall back on. However, the more prudent thing to do would be to build a good rapport with your clients, ask for referrals, and always have potential projects in the pipeline to look forward to.

Simplify freelancing with Prio

While having to do everything by yourself as a freelancer may seem overwhelming at times, you could simplify the experience for yourself by using Prio’s free-for-life freelancer tools.

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Our time tracker and invoice builder are sure to help you streamline your freelance business, allowing you to focus your energies on being more productive. Come and join the Prio family today!

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