Are you a professional with a specific skill set who would like to try freelancing? From the outside, freelancing may seem like the perfect career choice: it gives you the flexibility to work on projects that pique your interest and choose clients you feel comfortable working with, it allows you the freedom to explore your professional competence and diversify your portfolio, and also gives you the luxury of choosing your own work hours and working from the comfort of home to eliminate the stress of commuting to and from the office every day.
However, many people find it difficult to take the plunge and give up their secure and predictable full-time job to become self-employed. The reason: Self-employment can be a risk, especially if you don’t start with a reliable freelance portal that can safeguard your interests as a freelancer. But, on the other hand, if you’re smart and start off well, freelancing can be a perfectly safe and lucrative career option, considering that our current economic environment heavily favors outsourcing and freelancing.
The rise of the freelancer
According to a report published in the online magazine Forbes, the number of freelancers is expected to surpass full-time employees by the year 2020. The change is within the economy, as more and more people begin to understand and appreciate The True Benefits of Freelancing While there were an estimated 10.3 million freelancers in the US in 2005, today that number has grown dramatically and there are over 42 million freelancers working in the United States alone. United of America.
The story is not much different in India. Self-employment has become a popular option among professionals who want to supplement their income in their spare time, and also among college students who want to earn their allowance while helping with higher education.
What really helps is the fact that our economic environment is evolving; Most multinational companies and even smaller organizations are more than happy to hire contract workers to outsource specific tasks that can be completed within a set schedule, rather than going through the hassle of hiring a permanent employee on their payroll because that incurs additional administrative and training costs. . It works better for companies because they only pay for the work required, whereas the freelancer works from their own home and doesn’t demand equipment, a fixed salary, insurance, and other facilities that come with a regular job. As for the freelancer, the benefits of self-employment are too many to ignore. Not only does it offer a lot of flexibility in terms of the number of hours spent and types of projects completed, but it also allows you to build a more balanced lifestyle where you have more free time to explore your passions and interests, without jeopardizing your career. .
A full-time career is demanding. It doesn’t really matter if you have projects to work on and meetings to attend or not, you still need to spend 8-9 hours of your day at the office. For many full-time employees, not all of that time can be used productively, as there are too many restrictive career constraints to consider. However, as a freelancer, you can make better use of your time and skills. As a result you get more job satisfaction as your efforts are fairly rewarded and your free time is yours to decide what you would like to do with it. And isn’t that the perfect life for anyone?!
How to make freelancing a stable career choice?
While we have established that being self-employed could be quite a rewarding and fulfilling career option, can it be called a “stable” career choice? Yes, it can be, especially if a freelancer chooses to work with a reputable freelance portal.
Freelance portals are the perfect go-betweens: they give you a platform to find interesting projects, bid on them at a price you think is fair, and then come up with contract terms and conditions that both you and the employer are happy with. In addition, they ensure a constant stream of lucrative projects to choose from, so you don’t have to wait for clients to contact you, but instead have a ready platform where you can communicate with clients yourself. Simply put, these freelance portals eliminate wasted time, so you have projects to work on all year long.
They facilitate negotiations for both freelancers and their prospective clients, where you and the client can discuss payment terms, mode of payment, and payment terms before starting the project, as soon as you accept the job proposal . This not only ensures that you can find lucrative projects that appeal to you, but also ensures that your payments will be made in the way you prefer (cash transfers, check payments, money transfers, etc.) once you have submitted the project. and have met all deadlines.