You have probably asked yourself how to start a home business online. Very simple; today there are many websites on the internet where you can work as a freelancer and generate an income without leaving home.
The term “freelance” is not new; it comes from the medieval period and it referred to those gentlemen who did not serve only a certain man, so his services could be hired by anyone.
Applying it to the current era is something similar. It is a person who works on their own, doing certain jobs for third parties, and they are paid for the result and not for the time that the project takes. A home-based business implies not having to adjust to a certain time or to a company policy and not answering an annoying boss, since you are your own boss and therefore you establish your own rules.
The freelance employment sector is having great success and demand because of the flexibility and decentralization in the employment market, the rise of technological and collaborative tools to work from home and the proliferation of freelance writing sites.
However, when you start working as a freelancer, you expose yourself to a series of risks, such as the unstable source of income, stress and lack of productivity, organizational problems or the lack of clients and good infrastructure to perform your tasks.
In any case, when it comes to starting to achieve your client portfolio, carry out your first projects and choose a niche. You should consider a series of mistakes made by the vast majority of rookie freelancers.
For this reason, in this article we will highlight some of the difficulties of working as a freelancer that you should avoid:
1. Work many hours
Although many think that being a freelancer means working less, this is very far from reality. The freelancer devotes many more hours to work on a daily basis, exceeding almost always beyond 8 hours a day, and when there is work you have to meet deadlines and when there is no work, you need to find it by the means that are necessary. Many freelancers have to work more to earn the salary that they require. Not enough rest can be harmful to your home business.
2. Lack of clients
Working as a freelancer is hard because there are no regular clients; sometimes there are more than you can attend to and at other times there are not any clients. When the first thing happens you have to delegate or dedicate many hours, but when the second happens you do not receive any income.
3. Variable income
Another problem, mainly related to customers, is the lack of fixed income, so that sometimes you will earn more than you think but in bad times the income will be lower than expected or even to what you need.
4. Customers who do not pay
Clients who do not pay not only make you waste your time, but also prevent you from devoting attention to other projects that would offer you a new source of income. This is one of the most important problems faced by freelancers.
5. The type of work
Many interesting companies and agencies look for freelance employees. But this is not always the case. We may have interesting projects in which we are excited to work on like as a freelance resume writer, in translations, graphic design, etc, as well as we may end up collaborating on a horrible project that does not motivate us at all. Obviously, this can happen both working in an office and working freelance.
6. The schedule
Because there is no need to be at a certain place at a set time, our schedules can be transformed. There are projects where you may have to stay up working all night and sleep during the day.
7. Stress
There are many factors that can lead to stress, from the lack of customers to having several customers and not being able to reach delivery deadlines, find new customers, having to do paperwork, attending meetings, lack of time to do pleasant activities, etc.
As you can see, there are many risks or disadvantages that a freelancer can have, but if you learn to manage them you can have a very satisfactory life working for yourself without having to attend job interviews or have a boss who underestimates you.
