I love being a freelancer, and you might too. There are many reasons why it’s better, and I’ve tried to collect my 8 top reasons why it’s better.
Being a freelancer, you have freedom, and you decide your own clients your own working time, and best of all, you’re your own boss. You can work from where you want, you often earn more than a similar position in a 9-5 job, and then you just get so much more experience than in a job.
These are some of the reasons why it’s better to be a freelancer, but let me dive into each and add some context.
8 Reasons Why Being A Freelancer Is Better Than A Job
Now let’s get into my top 8 reasons why I believe being a freelancer is better than any 9-5 job. This will vary if you ask other freelancers, so this is my list.
1. You decide everything
You’re your own boss, so ultimately, everything is up to you. This both brings positives and negatives.
You decide what, when and who to work with. You decide if you work 10 hours one day and 0 hours the next day.
You decide if you work from a café, from your own house/apartment or in a co-working space. It’s all up to you.
2. You decide your work hours
For working hours, you decide when and how much to work.
People often ask freelancers how much they work, and it’s so different. Some freelancers work 10 hours a week and create generous revenue, whereas other freelancers work 50 hours to make ends meet.
It’s so different, but you decide how much you work and when.
If you want, you can start early, at 5 am, and know out a couple of hours, and then take the rest of the day off from 11 am if you’re done with your tasks.
As a freelancer, you have endless freedom as long as you make ends meet. It’s beautiful and the biggest reason why I became a freelancer.
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3. Remote Work
Another great benefit is you can work from wherever you want to.
Last year I went on vacation with my girlfriend, and we were both working from sunny Lisbon, Portugal. It’s entirely up to you where you work. You can also easily do this, and being a freelancer will open up many more opportunities.
If you like to travel, freelancing allows you to travel in the low season when it’s much cheaper, so you’ll be able to travel more often.
Some just want to be in an office and completely separate work from their private life. I enjoy creating a healthy work-life balance where I mix work and my private life.
4. Work With What You Love
Being a freelancer, you deceive what you work with. You can say no to assignments that don’t excite you.
Of course, in the beginning, you might have to take on some assignments that aren’t the funniest, but it’s only until you build a portfolio and attract clients relevant to your target group.
Then you’ll be able to figure out what you love to do and then say no to everything else or outsource it as another option.
I often see freelancers take in tasks and then outsource them while they oversee the tasks and take a cut. That’s another business model because your clients still want your expertise. They can’t manage outsourced resources.
5. Guide Your Own Future
You decide where to take your future. When you’re in a job, it’s often locked what your future looks like unless you change your job or your position.
As a freelancer, it’s entirely up to you what direction you take your freelance career. If you want to only work in a specific niche with marketing, then you can do just this.
Or maybe you’ve been doing marketing all your life, but now you want to change to video editing, and then you do that as well. You decide your own future, no one else.
6. Increase Paycheck
As a freelancer, when you start to build a portfolio that shows you have experience within your field, then you’ll also be able to charge more than you would in a 9-5 job with the same skillset.
Companies hire freelancers because of their expertise and are willing to pay more for it than when they hire a person.
Some of the reasons are that they don’t have to pay you for insurance, retirement or anything. That’s entirely up to you.
7. Build Experience
As a freelancer, you’ll build experience like no other job will give you.
As I mentioned earlier, everything is up to you as a freelancer. Doing bookkeeping, filing your taxes, finding new clients, and I could go on and on. Everything is on you.
But the positive of this is that you gain so much experience in so many areas quickly. You’re basically forced to do it if you want to thrive as a freelancer.
In a 9-5 job, you might not get the chance to try so many different things as you have a job description, and your company expects you to stick to it and deliver. They have other employees for other positions.
This leads me to the following and last reason.
8. You’ll never get bored
Now when you have so many positions to fill as one person, you’ll never get bored.
Speaking of my own experience, if I have to perform the same work over and over again, I get super bored. I need variety to thrive, and freelancing is giving me just this.
That’s also one of the most significant reasons why I became a freelancer.
Suppose you look back and think how many times you’ve experienced burnout. I guarantee one of the times, at least, was because you simply got bored working with the same thing over and over again.
This is why freelancing is so beautiful
Conclusion
Being a freelancer is not for everyone, and that’s the beauty of it. There is a place for everyone on this planet. If you thrive in a 9-5 job, where you go home and stop working, then you must stick to what makes you happy.
Suppose you want an in-depth analysis of the difference between being an employer and a freelancer. Then I’ve collected some pros and cons on the differences here.
If you’re freer and want to decide your lifestyle, set your own working hours, decide where you work and just be your own boss, then you need to start freelancing.
You don’t have to take the jump fully into freelancing. You can start slowly on the side, building up your client base, and then, in the end, take the jump.
I’ve made a guide to how you can start freelancing on the side without taking risks.
FAQ
Is it better to be employed or a freelancer?
This is entirely up to you. It’s so beautiful that we’re all so different. Some thrive in a job with a framework they need to follow. And others thrive in a bit more chaotic situations.
Obviously, being a freelancer isn’t all chaos, but you must handle every situation yourself. But with that, a lot of positives come. Best of all, you’re your own boss.
What is the disadvantage of being a freelancer?
If you don’t find clients, you don’t have an income. That, for me, is the most significant disadvantage. Next is that it’s all up to you. Everything that needs to get done, you need to do. Whether it’s bookkeeping, finding new clients or solving your client’s problems.
Why is Gen Z more likely to freelance?
I believe Gen Z uses freelancing as a side income, not their primary income. It’s always wise to spread your income, especially in an uncertain economy, and picking up freelancing on the side will give you some wiggle room with your economy.
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