I know a lot of you who simply disdain your day jobs but at the same time, in the absence of viable alternatives, are compelled to grudgingly go through the grind.
At the same time, I also know of a lot of individuals who have successfully made the transition from being in a full time job scenario, to working freelance and still managing to make as much or more than what they made in their full time job.
So what is it about this subset of individuals that actually manage to quit their day jobs and successfully freelance full time, free of all the perils that typically came with their full time job?
Well, if I am to take my own example, I did not quit my day job till the time I saw some REAL potential, REAL earnings in working freelance. And this would undoubtedly be my foremost advise to you, in case you are an individual who is seeking out freelance opportunities that would allow you to mirror the lifestyle that your full time day job proffers you.
Remember that things are a lot rosier than they appear from the outset. People will give you these larger than life impressions of working from just about anywhere, especially those images of working by the poolside or seaside, but trust me, things are really not as easy as they might seem.
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| Don't let these rosy images FOOL you! |
Essentially, freelancing is also a lot of hard work..it is really NOT an easy way of working as opposed to working full time in a day job but rather a DIFFERENT way of working, where you have no boss and no office politics to deal with, nor do you need to contend with rush hour traffic, or follow the same regimen day in and day out which would easily bore you to death (at least to me it did).
At the same time, you do need to manage workflow very well, which can be tricky, especially since there are periods of lull and boom, crests and troughs, all too often. What I imply is that while there might be times when you would be simply besieged with work, there would be other times when work would simply not come by at all.
Unpredictable Schedules
A major resultant of the unpredictable nature of freelance work is the fact that your own schedule can in turn get rather unpredictable. So while one day you could take it easy and relax the whole day without doing anything much, there could be another day wherein you may very well end up working the whole day!
For me personally, this kind of disorder works very well, but honestly, this may not work for you or at least for a lot of others whom I know. So if you are a person who likes way too much order and predictability in life, a full time job may suit you better.
Your Current Cash Flow & Debt Position
While determining suitability for quitting your day job and pursuing a full time freelance career, a major consideration is that of your current cash flow as well as your overall debt position, or perhaps hopefully, the lack of the latter. The better cash flow your day job offers, as well as the maximal debt repayment that it allows you to make, the more I would advise you to stick to your day job. On the contrary, if you are like me with a decent cash flow from freelancing, zero debt liability, then taking the plunge towards a full time freelance career would be that much more viable and feasible.
Running Expenses
Another important consideration before taking the plunge towards full time freelancing would be that of running expenses; if you have a lot of them, on an ongoing basis, I would recommend that you stick to your day job, while perhaps moonlighting as a freelancer. In this context, remember that my assertion is different from debt like mortgage or car loan. Rather, I mean expenses which are not mandatory per se but yet you end up incurring them, say as a result of the lifestyle that you lead or the kind of family that you have. An excellent instance would be when you have kids; there are regular expenses which need to be incurred, whether you like it or not, and yet, that is NOT what can be referred to as debt.
Passion for Traveling
If in case like me, you share a major, deeply ingrained passion for traveling, then I would certainly suggest that you run from your day job as fast as you can and take up full time freelancing immediately! Trust me, and take my word on this, a full time job will never really allow you to travel passionately, unless your job happens to be that of a travel show host! Essentially, there are limitations galore, even if your job happens to be one where you get to travel a lot. Often, you will be pushed and shoved to places you would not want to go at all in the first place!
With freelancing, you can choose where to go and when to go, so this is a power which most day jobs rarely offer, not to talk about jobs that offer ZERO travel options!
My own scenario is that I have seen a lot of the world around me, only AFTER I started freelancing full time. Prior to that, I had barely stepped out of my own country, though I had traveled extensively within it. Now, after having traveled abroad substantially, I feel much less like the 'frog in the well' which I clearly was in those days, when I had hardly stepped out and seen the world from so many different perspectives.
Summary
Summarizing my thoughts, I would essentially assert that you take a well thought out call with regard to quitting your day job and beginning to freelance full time. The following video I posted on my freelancing specific YouTube channel that answers the question - Should I Quit My Day Job And Freelance Full Time? will I am sure give you a very good perspective on the thoughts I have shared in this post:
Overall, remember that things often seem rosier from the other side - it is not for nothing that they say, the grass is always greener on the other side, yet I would emphatically state that the grass on the freelancing side sure is a LOT greener than on the full time job side....take my word for it!
