The pros and cons of freelancing vs full-time work

How will you know if staying as a freelancer is better than accepting a full-time job offer?

Becoming a freelancer means you are not tied to just one company, and you can work for other organisations or brands if you want to. Basically, freelancers are self-employed, and they provide service to organisations for a certain fee.

On the other hand, working full-time means you are employed under a contract, and you can only serve one company or organisation. Full-time employees typically work 40 hours a week and receive a monthly paycheck, regardless of their performance for that month.

The advantages of working as a freelancer

What are the pros of working as a freelancer? 

• You can earn thousands of dollars for a shorter amount of working time. Ed Gandia, a writer from Atlanta, earns $500,000 annually by working 30 hours a week writing business articles and teaching co-workers how to create a flourishing writing practice. He only works from Monday through Thursdays and rests for three days a week.

• You don’t have fixed hours. You can work any time of the day and you don’t have specific hours to do it. There are no surprise tasks because you can manage the tasks you have for the day. You can finish your deadline whenever you want.

• You can go on a vacation whenever. As a freelancer, you can stop taking clients for a period and then return to work after you take some time off. You don’t have to ask permission from anyone and what’s more, you are not bound by a particular number of days for vacation.

The disadvantages of working as a freelancer

• There is no stable income. When work is plenty, money comes plenty too. But when work is hard to come by, money is hard to come by too. There are months when you can work continuously, but then time comes, and no project comes at all. It all depends on your client’s needs.

• You will not receive company or government benefits. Most full-time jobs offer benefits like social and medical insurance, but a freelancer does not have any of that, unless you purchase insurance yourself.

• You are working alone. As a freelancer, you are working all alone. You won’t have tasks that require brainstorming. Additionally, sometimes it helps to have colleagues as a support system, but that does not exist for freelancers.

The advantages of working as a full-time employee

• You can still work wherever. With companies switching to remote work because of the pandemic, you still have the freedom and flexibility to work wherever you want, as long as you log in and out of work at the appropriate time.

• You will have a stable income that will help you support yourself or your family. The amount you receive from your full-time job may not be the same as that from a freelance job, but you will certainly receive the amount you worked hard for.

• There is an opportunity for career growth. As you learn from other people’s experiences, you adapt skills that you can use to innovate and improve your company’s success. You will become an asset for your team, and you will receive the opportunity to climb up your company’s career ladder.

The disadvantages of working as a full-time employee

• You can’t choose your tasks. If you’re a freelancer, you have the power to choose which tasks you need to do for a day. The opposite is true if you’re a full-time employee. There are already deliverables scheduled for the day by your manager and you don’t have a say in what you will do.

• You can’t change your routine. If you’re a freelancer, you can also create a special routine for yourself which you can follow as a way of creating momentum. But if you’re a full-time worker, you will have to follow the scheduled routine for the day, such as when there are meetings in which you are required to be part of.

• You can’t have a fulfilling social life. Lastly, a full-time job can be too time-consuming, and you will neglect your social life. It can leave you exhausted to do other activities.

The decision to work freelance or full-time is up to you but consider all the factors and always think long-term. In the end both styles of working can help support your way of living and support you or your family.