Dealing with the Social problems of Freelance Working

When you decide to start your career in freelancing, there are a huge number of factors that you need to consider. I remember thinking about whether I could financially manage as a freelancer and also how I was going to find work. However the one thing that failed to occur to me is the social side of this nature of work. You tend to forget that working from home means not seeing people in the way that you would in for example an office job. Fortunately for me I am not the most social person in the world and I have managed to cope with this aspect well, but if you need human contact on a regular basis then this might not be the career for you.

Choose your career wisely and give it a try first

Of course, the type of freelance work that you decide to undertake will also dictate how isolated you will feel. If you decide to become a freelance photographer then it is likely that you will have much more human contact then for example a freelance writer.

Sometimes the only way to gauge how well you will cope with the isolation of this type of work is to actually do it. If you feel that you might struggle then try freelancing part time and see how you get on. You may even decide to keep things this way and not go further and freelance full time. This way you will have the best of both worlds and will still be able to have the security and social contact that working in a ‘normal’ job brings.

Maintain a social life

If however you still wish to continue this into full time work then you could consider joining one of the many freelance communities that exist. Although not quite the same as speaking to someone face to face, I have often found that just having a conversation with someone even by this method helps to alleviate some of the feelings of isolation that you can experience. Obviously this also has the benefits of being able to learn more about freelancing and possibly build more contacts along the way.

Last but not least you should try to make sure that you have a healthy and active social life in your spare time. This is especially important if you live on your own and therefore will not have the company of others in the evenings or at weekends. Hobbies can take many forms, from being something more adventurous such as sky diving to something a little more relaxed such as entering a pub quiz with a group of friends. Or maybe you could try what I do and go fishing as you would be surprised just how social this can be! Pretty much anything that is going to get you out and socialising with others is going to be a good thing. Obviously I am not saying that you have to socialise but if this is a concern of yours, then there are ways and means of getting around this.