The pursuit of happiness is a fact
of life – but how well do we do as freelance professionals? The encouraging
news is we’re doing pretty well. A few niggles here and there that you’d expect,
but nothing too drastic.
What are the best things about being a freelance professional?
Flexibility seems to be the single
best element you love about being independent, with 40% of you rating this as
your number one smile creator. Nearly a quarter of you thought that independence
was another big bonus. Freedom also ranked highly, with 17% of freelancers
rating this as the best bit of the job. In a clear demonstration that the money
side of financial upside of freelancing didn’t buy you happiness a lowly 3% of
you told us that this was the element in freelancing you thought was best. The
ability to be your own manager was also well thought of, as was the challenge
of the job itself, but these were much less popular reasons to be happy with
this line of work.
But what about those irritants? No
job is perfect, but what were the things you liked least about going it alone?
Thankfully you told us what the problems were, which gives Network Freelance a
fighting chance of helping you address them.
What are the worst things about being a freelance professional?
Isolation is a big problem. We thought
it was when we first conceived the site following advice from friends suffering
the same problem. Nearly a fifth of you told us that being lonely in the job
was a real negative aspect and was the single biggest downside of the work. In
a way we’re pleased that this was the number one problem, as the whole driver
behind the design of the site was to allow freelance professionals to network
with each other and get the support and advice they need, from people in the
field already.
The next biggest problem identified
was that of winning business itself. It’s a time consuming challenge and one
which doesn’t put a smile on your face. 15% of respondents thought that this
was the worse aspect. Again, we’d be lying if we said that we weren’t a bit
pleased with the fact that we also thought this was a big issue. We’ve tried to
design a service where, in time, professionals will be able to offer assistance
and win genuine business from the comfort of their own home. We’re close to
having a site which can facilitate this, so just watch this space.
Running your lives as a business
also came across as a real challenge to overcome. Sorting out the Tax and Legal
aspects of contracts, and chasing the payment side of work wasn’t to everyone’s
satisfaction, with 15% and 12% of you respectively citing these as troublesome
areas. What was interesting was what you said about balancing the peaks and
troughs of work, and the work life balance you’re subjected to. It would be
interesting to hear whether these frustrations are felt just by the
inexperienced freelancers out there, or it’s an affliction of the masses?
Either way, get in touch – please let us know more.
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