It doesn’t matter how or when the term first appeared. The more important issue is what does it define now.
It does define people who can work for multiple employers and are not tied up to each of them by longterm obligations.
A freelancer is a person who offers their services to employers without being employed by them. Which services?
This can be writing texts, design, page makeup, search for personnel, training, programming, translation, photo and video shooting, website creation, mailings, typing, information collection, accounting, legal services. This can be absolutely any work related to mental labor.
What kind of freelancer services do I order myself? These are website promotion, corporate souvenir design, makeup of handouts for seminars and trainings, making of presentations, design of publications for Instagram, layouts of my books, creating covers, designing my YouTube channel and its content promotion, translation of my books to other languages, creation of illustrations for books.
In other words, I am a fairly regular customer for freelancers.
Let’s take a look what are the advantages of working as a freelancer.
Independence
There are several nuances here. Independence from the office. No office squabbles and unnecessary talks. Freelancer is paid for the result. And he doesn’t have to attend meetings and other get-togethers; he does his job. He focuses on it and dedicates time to it. This increases productivity.
Independence from one employer. He has several of them. If something happened to one – closing, or delays, or a change in policy for example – he can switch to the others. Employees who work for one employer are more at risk.
You have a mortgage and loans, and you get a salary from one company. If something happens to it, this may be crucial for you and your family. And if there are 10 employers, this doesn’t mean much, right?
I have a cousin Vadim. He has been working at customs for more than 15 years.
We rarely meet – about once every 3 years. One day he asked me a question: “How do I make way to commercial structures»? «Why? – I asked. – You serve to the state, have a guaranteed salary on time, you have status, shoulder straps, career promotion.»
The answer surprised me: «We are unstable. Nobody knows what the state will introduce tomorrow and what new rules will be.»
I was in shock. I was sure that civil servants are confident in the future and trust the employer. But it prooved to be false. Well, we had a talk and a discussin; I suggested him options and introduced to the local business community. Nothing has changed.
Although he is not happy with the work, he remains there, at customs. Does it malke sense for me to influence it? No. Changes is a matter of independent choice.
I can help you change only if you’ve already decided that this is necessary for you.
What else can I say about independence? Here goes independent of the location. In most cases, mental work can be done from anywhere in the world.
What about independence of the work schedule? You are doing a job by the right deadline, not just working from 9 to 18.
Independent of the tasks. Yes, this is also interesting and unusual in the beginning.
Could I realy do this way?
If you work in an office, you have to implement all the tasks that your boss gave you. Working for yourself, you can choose projects, tasks, customers, and partners. You can easily refuse the work that is not interesting for you it is not profitable.
Since I’m an entrepreneur, for me the possibility to choose who I’m willing to work with is one of the main values.
A freelancer is in fact an entrepreneur, who works for himself and his family.
So what else can we do besides being independent!?
Saving time on the road
You don’t need to spend a couple of hours on the road and in traffic jams every day.
But! If you flew to Bali, then 11 hours of flight to Denpasar we will not consider a waste of time on the road, okay?
More time with your family and friends
You need to work. But you don’t have to rush to the office at 9:00. You can take the kids to kindergarten and school in the morning, and meet them after. Even if you are busy at home, then your homies see you and it makes them feel good. This is much better than staying late at work.
As a father of five children I know this, and it has been tested by personal experience and two divorces.
Ready to start freelancing? Doesn’t it sound great and inspiring?
What about the cons?
Yes, there are several. Let’s get into this.
At first glance, the most difficult thing is sales. Say, you used to do the design in the company, receiving technical specifications, implementing it, approving it with the internal customer. But now you have to start from finding the customer. Then agree on working conditions, sign off the specifications, get prepared, agree on the contract and sign it off, complete the work, sign the act of acceptance… Possibly to do the job of a courier and bring documents in person or send them by mail, then get paid, then pay taxes…
Isn’t it easier to work for hire?
Organizational, legal, and accounting issues look intimidating only at first glance. I know people who are afraid to start their own business because of the fact that they did not know how to solve all the bureaucratic issues. Even in 2019, one fellow admitted that he was afraid to start business because he didn’t know how to organize «protection». The guy is under 30. In the «dashing 90’s», he wasn’t even born. Why the fear of bandits, protection, kickbacks? Perhaps from parents or from internet tabloids?
Let’s talk about my experience. I started my company in 2000.
And initially everything was outsourced. Legal services – such as company registration, account opening, contracts with customers and employees. Accounting services – such as reporting, taxes. The only thing I did myself was signing payment orders. Yes.
There were times when you had to do it by hand and then take it to the bank by feet. Now I make payments to clients using my mobile phone’s Face ID. What bank do I use? The «Tochka» bank. I do recommend it to you.
Subscribe to its founder’s Facebook. His name is Boris Diakonov.
Creating corporate identity, business card design, website and office design, IT-administration, document delivery – all this was done by external contractors – companies, or individuals. They weren’t called freelancers then, but in fact they were freelancers. Now these tasks can be solved remotely, even the system administrator can be located in an other city.
In other words, my company only had recruiters on staff. All functions, except recruitment, were given to external contractors.
Now it is much easier to get income officially and pay taxes. In Russia, there is a special status of «self-employed». You pay 6 % tax on income received form corporate entities and only 4 % when payment is received from individuals. Everything is automated, Both from the point of view of registration and taxes. Physically you don’t have to go anywhere at all. In Europe, America, and Asia, there are similar rules, but taxes are higher there.
Let’s go back to the cons.
1. There’s a need to search for customers. This means – to sell. And this is loved not by all of us. As for me, I like to sell. I like to get into the problems and tasks of customers