With freelancing being a work set-up that is everything but predictable, there will always be these things that add spice to an already challenging environment.
1. Distractions, distractions, distractions everywhere
Trying to sit down at your desk and finally start on that project becomes a little challenging when suddenly you notice your plant needs watering or it’s probably the time to rearrange your workspace. Suddenly, you have a long list of tasks you probably need to do more than work.
2. Work time is when your pets and the neighbors’ pets decide to have a screaming part
This is sorcery that almost happens every single time. It is all peace and quiet until all the animals within a 50-meter radius decide it’s time to let their voice be heard.
3. Your room is never too dark and the sun will always be too bright
Now, this is most probably a case-to-case basis but being inside the house for too long makes the sun seem like a foreign object. Your eyes burn at the slightest ray of sunlight.
4. You never know what day it is, only how long it is before your deadlines
Ask a freelancer what day it is and they’d probably look as if you just asked the most complicated math question in the world. Well, that is until they face their biggest enemy, deadlines.
5. Your email should feel like straight from heaven, only that is written by a freelance full of rage
You can only put so much context in an email and sometimes, mastering the art of sounding “nice” even when you’re a pit full of rage is a skill only the most elite of freelancers can accomplish.
6. Getting paid on time is almost, always a struggle
The real battle begins when the payment deadlines are coming up. Somehow, most clients suddenly turn real quiet after a week of bombarding you with revisions.
7. Clients think that you just zap projects/revised works into existence
There will always be that one client who gives you a project or a revision at 8:00 PM and expect everything to be accomplished by 9:00 PM.
8. People thinking freelancing does not classify as a ‘real job’
Working from home, unspecified work hours, and always facing their laptops/desktops makes freelancers seem unemployed to those who are yet to be familiar with this work setup.
9. Sudden client zoom/skype meetings when you are nowhere near “camera-ready”
Working at home means being able to work in your pajamas all day with your bedhead until your client asks for a meeting in the next 15 minutes.
10. Saying ‘Yes’ to every project because you never know when the next one is coming up
With jobs disappearing as fast as they appear, it can be quite difficult to say no to a project that’s being handed over in a silver platter.
Photos by Ketut Subiyanto, Vlada Karpovich, and Anna Shvets from Pexels