Freelancing is a type of work where we work independently, and self-employment is another term that describes Freelancers. This means we are not hired for someone, however, a Freelancer can work as a contractor for another company. Briefly speaking freelancing works in next way: in exchange for providing a service, freelancers accept payment. For example, if I hired a photographer to take new headshots for me, I would pay the photographer for the session and that would be it. Freelancers are sometimes paid to work a certain number of hours a week or month. As one of the simplest and purest forms of entrepreneurship, freelancers provide specific services or outcomes, and buyers actually pay them directly.
As a web developers we require the specific set of skills. From hard skills technical one are quite relevant, nowadays to being successfull freelancer you need next tech skills:
Another set of skills is related to soft skills. The communication with clients, solving problems, analytical skills, the managment of time and self-learning are crucial to work as a freelancer web dev. However for freelancing you need strong marketing strategy to promote yourself. First of all knowing your ideal client and developing knowledge how to self your products is a key of success. Also sharing your story by blogging or vloging by social media can help to promote your work and digital products. As I mentioned in blogs related to online presence and professionalism portfolio is must have because is a place where clients can leave testimonials about your work and building your reputation. Lastly networking could be very beneficial and allow to making advertisment by recommendation.
If you are intrested about Skills related to 2021 read here.
Does freelancing and indie development appeal to you? If so, why?
It is a unique privilege for freelancers to choose the clients they work with. Furthermore, they are able to work with many clients or only select ones. According to FlexJobs, 56 % of freelancers find work via networking; 47% via job boards like FlexJobs (Survey).
Freelancing also has the benefit of letting you choose your workload. The amount of work you do is up to you, and you can pick projects that mean something to you. With a part-time job, you're not distracted by meetings, office politics, office distractions, etc., that are part of a full-time job.
Having complete control over clients and workload, freelancers enjoy the flexibility most people only dream about. During the summer you can work part-time or full-time depending on your preferences.
Independent work is one of the benefits of freelancing. You do not only avoid cubicles and the 9-to-5 work life, but you also have the option of working alone, most often at a place that you are most comfortable with.
Freelance jobs provide a great deal of variety, but there are also a lot of different topics and projects to choose from. Experience in one industry may not translate to experience in other career fields or industries. Freelancing can expand your horizons. Morover variety can help and organize an environment that is less boring.
Uncle Sam gets a share of income whether you are a freelancer or an employee. Freelancers, though, have the responsibility of paying self-employment taxes and making sure to pay them quarterly. However, freelancers also have deductions that employees don’t qualify for. Taxes can be a disadvantage of freelancing, so be sure to carefully consider regulations and laws when setting your rates.
Whereas an employee is (for the most part) eligible for benefits, freelancers rarely receive benefits. Since freelancers are self-employed, they are typically responsible for finding and funding their own insurance.
Finding steady work is a real con of freelancing. Projects can begin and then get shelved. Clients may end a contract early. You may finish a project and find it difficult to find more work. The biggest challenge reported in FlexJobs’ survey of freelance workers was finding clients (65%). Using a job service like FlexJobs can keep you on top of finding your next gig.
When you’re a freelancer, you’re running a business. You’re in charge of business development, getting clients, managing your clients, billing/collecting, and paying taxes. You’ll need to make many decisions—how you’ll track and accept payment (QuickBooks, PayPal, check, etc.); which programs you need to purchase (Adobe Suite, Microsoft Office, subscription platforms, etc.); what promotional tools you need (business cards, a website, and even a logo) and more.
Not everyone is prepared and able to handle these tasks. You are the master of your brand, and you need to run your freelance career like a business.
When weighing the pros and cons of freelancing, one of the more worrisome issues revolves around cash flow. While freelancers can set their own fees to meet their income (and clients’) needs, they are also responsible for collecting payment. Unfortunately, there are some freelancers that have been faced with clients that don’t pay up.
Furthermore, freelancers will want to ask prospective clients about their expectations for the role and whether it’s simply project-based, seasonal, or ongoing.
Another common downfall to being a freelancer is that you will ultimately be isolated from a team or company. Unless you have people close to you to work with, more often than not, you will work alone. (For some though, this is more of a blessing in disguise!)
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In my opinion, freelance is the best when you want to earn extra money after working in web development. I think this form of work is not the best when you start your career, as a Junior you need more experienced colleagues to learn from. Isolation makes this quite hard, even working remotely as a Junior is not recommended by web developers because you will find could be very challenging to ask a question if your colleagues are busy, or they have flexible time off work, etc. Definitely, I prefer working as a team where constructive criticism and collective thinking are required.
Before we touch hot to start to build our own business we needed to make a comparison between large and small web agencies and freelance. Web studios rely on the model "two heads are always better than one" and working in an agency will give you peace of mind you have colleagues who will support you like graphic designers, UI/UX designers, or more experienced developers. Also, you don't have to worry about a project if you need a holiday or someone left you with all work etc. Larger studios are more expensive than the smallest ones and they have the best talents in specific areas. Moreover, also a specialist who has very deep knowledge in narrow specialization, for example, Large agency can have in UI/UX department specialist like UX Researcher, UI designer, UX designer, Copywriter, Content Designer, wherein small agency one person can be a charge for all these roles (Read more).
Back to the process of building own business, I think is good to start work in the Web Design Studio industry observe how it's going all process and workflow and start making business, however, everything depends on the person, and experience.
