In a typical Filipino family, children have always been given the mindset to work towards having a good future which is equal to having a regular job. It is then easily carried on until adulthood where one’s career is often defined by the company they work for, the consistency of the salary they’re getting, and sometimes, even by the number of work hours. This could also be the reason why in the present day, freelancing may seem like a foreign subject for most.
Freelancers are people who usually offer their services to multiple clients and do not have a commitment to a particular company. In contrary to the work setup that we were taught as kids, freelancers are considered self-employed since they work for themselves and as an independent company.
However, given the current times (hello pandemic and lockdowns), a lot of Filipinos have become more and more interested in freelancing. Here are some pros and cons to help you decide if the freelancing life fits you.
PROS
1. Flexible Work Schedule
One of the major reasons for burnout among regular employees is the long hours of work and overtime. This is not to say that freelancing would allow you to have fewer work hours. Instead, freelancing allows you to plot these work hours and overtimes according to your own will which in turn gives you time to relax and refresh yourself whenever you feel like everything is becoming too much to handle.
2. Freedom Over Workload
Aside from being able to choose your own work hours, freelancing also gives you the freedom to choose the amount and kind of work that you’ll take on. You have the chance to work on multiple projects at a time or focus solely on a single project.
3. Constant Variety
Most of the time, regular employees are limited to their jobs, position and company that their work becomes a regular routine. Freelancing breaks you away from that and opens up a variety of topics and projects you can work on. It broadens your horizon which can eventually lead to a more fulfilling career growth.
CONS
1. Lack of Government Mandated Benefits
Since freelancers are self-employed, they do not have a company that would provide government-mandated benefits for them. Freelancers would need to apply for these and take care of all the paperwork needed on their own.
2. Inconsistent Work Inflow
Despite being able to choose the kind and amount of work they can take on, one thing that freelancers cannot control is the frequency of their work inflow. Since they do not have a specific company that gives them a specified workload, most of the beginning freelancers’ time is spent waiting for work to actually come in.
3. Compensation Issues
Probably the most prevalent among these cons when working as a freelancer is the never-ending issue of compensation. Since most freelancers are a one-man team, they are solely in charge of everything when it comes to their services. It includes making sure that they are paid on time and that clients actually pay them in the first place which is more often than not, a very difficult thing to do alone.
Freelancing, just like any other work set up can be difficult. Its pros also come with their own cons. One can never find a job that’s truly free from stress or purely beneficial. One good question to ask would be, are you willing to take on all the cons to experience the pros?