From Employee to a Freelancer: 5 Things to Consider

The thought of being your own boss through freelancing can be exciting. Finally, you will be calling the shots, work when you want from wherever you want, earn more, have time freedom, and other perks that come with freelancing. But you should know that freelancing has its own challenges. There are some important things you need to consider as you transition from being an employee to a freelancer.

1. Your Skills

Your skillset is the most important thing you need to consider as far as becoming a freelancer is concerned. Why? Because you’re essentially going to be selling your skills. You need to take inventory of the skills you possess and research to know if your skills are in demand and how much people are willing to pay for the skills.

You also need to assess your skill level and know if you need to undergo further training to hone the skills.

2. The Pay

You need to calculate how much you can earn as a freelancer to know if it will meet your financial goals before you make the transition from employee to freelancer. Resist the urge to be over-optimistic and be as conservative as possible. Remember, how much you will earn is not fixed and is going to fluctuate from time to time.

To discover how much you can earn, visit freelancing sites and check out how much freelancers are charging for their services for the current skills you have. Also, check agencies that offer the same services and check their pricing.  This should give you an idea of how much you can earn.

3. The Unpredictability

Being an employee comes with job security and a predictable salary from month to month.  When you become a freelancer, all the benefits and perks of being an employee are gone.

You can’t predict many things when it comes to freelancing. You can’t predict when clients will hire your services. You can’t predict how much you will earn in a month. And if you are sick, you won’t earn any income because you won’t be able to work.

You need to consider all these things as you calculating making the leap from an employee to a freelancer.

4. Legal Cover

As a freelancer, you are on your own. This means that you are open to litigation. How do you plan to protect yourself?

Depending on the services you want to offer as a freelancer, your job may not work as expected, or you could make a mistake that cost your client money and/or reputation. Your client can decide to press for compensation that you may not afford.

You need to prepare for this. One of the best ways to prepare is by having professional indemnity insurance. A professional indemnity ensures that legal fees, cost of compensation, and other expenses are covered in the event that a client sues you.

5. Operating Cost

Simply because you are working alone doesn’t mean you won’t have overhead you need to deal with. You need to pay monthly subscriptions for tools you will need to deliver a quality job. You need to pay for electricity bills, internet, communication, and so on.