There are many people who would rather choose to avoid a typical 9 to 5 job by becoming a freelancer and setting their own hours. Working for yourself can be rather rewarding and has a large potential for you to become very successful.
Although the opportunities may seem endless when considering freelancing, you may not always know what the future holds. Freelancing often seems like the ideal lifestyle, but it takes a lot of effort to become a successful freelancer, so do not brush off working for a company just yet.
Security vs. Flexibility
Working for a company offers a certain amount of job security that does not necessarily come with freelancing. While established freelancers most likely have some stability in their workflow, when freelancers are just starting out, there can often be a lot of uncertainty about where their next gig is coming from. With a company, you know that you can expect a full workload and paycheck every week.
With that being said, freelancing offers a sense of liberation from the constant day-in-day-out repetitive work that can come from working with a company. You get to choose what projects you are willing to accept, and you get to set your own hours.
The flip side of this is that you will have no boss to assign that work to you, so you will have to hustle to ensure that you get the amount of work you need to maintain a sustainable income. While a company will provide a steady stream of income, many freelancing projects cannot be relied on as a regular income source.
Hidden Benefits
Companies often provide many “hidden” benefits for the employees that work for them, including retirement, holiday pay, maternity or paternity pay, and sick pay. When changing from company work to freelancing, you may forget to consider these very useful benefits.
All of these benefits, including sick pay, are now something freelancers will have to manage on their own. These benefits can be planned for, but it does take a lot of effort and discipline to organise your profits accordingly.
Another huge hidden benefit of working for a company is that your income tax is automatically taken care of. When freelancing, you will have to manage your income taxes on your own. Again, this can be easily managed with proper planning and budgeting, but it is something that many freelancers do not consider when starting out.
Consider the Pay Schedule
One of the major advantages of working for a company instead of freelancing is the pay schedule. When you work for a company, you will receive a guaranteed paycheck that is sent out on a steady schedule. This provides a sense of financial security and stability for many people.
Unfortunately, this is often simply not the case when freelancing. With freelancing, you earn as you go, most of the time on a per-project basis. Therefore, your income heavily relies on the frequency of the projects you take on.
As with the other issues, proper planning can help solve the pay schedule problem. While it will take more work as a freelancer to develop a stable income than it would if you worked for a company, it is possible to achieve.
Office vs. Working from Home
Working for a company often means you will be working in an office around other people. While some people aren’t huge fans of office life, it can be a good source of socialisation and camaraderie.
Working from home, which freelancers often do, can be very lonely and isolating. Many freelancers often find themselves bored and wanting to change up their WFH setup, the scope of work they do, the clients they work with, and more.
It can be hard to work on your own day after day with no real socialising. Sometimes, companies will also have their employees work from home, as well, so this is not necessarily a problem that only freelancers experience.
Co-working spaces and office sharing can easily combat the isolation of constantly working from home. There is not only that, but you can also join professional organisations to meet other people in your field of work.
Which Is the Better Choice?
After thinking over some of the major pros and cons of each option, we can try to decide whether working in a company or freelancing is the better option. In the end, it truly comes down to personal choice.
You can easily argue the better choice to be either of them, and it greatly depends on what is important to you. Both working for a company and freelancing are great options depending on your situation and the lifestyle you are hoping to achieve.
If you want guaranteed job security, financial stability, and company benefits, then you should choose to work for a company. Working for a company is an excellent choice for those who want to know they will always have another project coming their way, and there will always be another paycheck around the corner.
If you value flexibility, working for yourself, and the potential to become hugely successful, then you should choose freelancing as an option. Freelancing offers the opportunity to work on your own time from anywhere you want to, and with proper planning, you can easily obtain a steady paycheck and proper benefits for yourself.
Conclusion
Both working for a company and freelancing are great options in their own way. You should decide what is best for you based on your own needs and goals in life.
Working from a company provides a sense of security and stability that many people enjoy, but it can become monotonous. Freelancing offers flexibility and adventure, which some people would rather experience, but it can be risky and difficult to start up.
You should consider the lifestyle you want to achieve and think about the entire picture before making a decision.
