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Graduate Careers Advice

The Graduate Job-Seekers Guide

Managing The Study-to-Workplace Transition

Temping Tips for Graduates

Graduate Study Abroad

Careers in the Arts

Graduands

Personality Profiles

Professional Qualifications

Working Abroad

Going Freelance

Going Freelance

Freelance work is considered by many to be a great way of achieving a healthy work-life balance. Most freelance workers are based at home and, as long as it is financially viable, can generally choose when they want to work and for whom. They do not work for one single employer but rather undertake ad hoc assignments on behalf of a number of clients. Due to the increasing popularity of working from home, there are now a great many freelance workers so competition for assignments or projects can be rather fierce. The industries that are best suited to freelance work include writing, editing, administration, web design and management consultancy.

Advantages

• The flexibility of having nobody but yourself to answer to or report to
• The opportunity to make all business decisions including deciding when and where you work and when you spend time with your family or on other activities
• The ability to decide who you work for so that you can avoid working for or with someone whose principles or work ethic you disagree with
• Building up a client base means that you do not rely solely on one client for your business
• The potential to earn more money than permanent employees utilising your flexibility as a bargaining tool when negotiating contract rates with clients
• The opportunity to acquire a broader range of skills and experiences through working for different clients and in different industry sectors
• As are not responsible for sorting out your tax, they may be prepared to offer you more money in return 

Disadvantages

• It can actually be rather lonely working from home by yourself and you may find it difficult to motivate yourself, resulting in a lack of productivity
• Your income is not guaranteed so it is important to manage your finances carefully to ensure that your business remains viable even during lean periods
• You are not entitled to the same benefits as permanent employees, for example healthcare and pensions
• Freelance workers are not part of the formal company infrastructure and, therefore, do not have the opportunity for promotion that permanent employees do

Setting yourself up

The Inland Revenue can supply you with all the information you need to start working as a freelancer and can also provide information and advice on financial and tax-related issues.

The first thing you must do is to register yourself as being self-employed because you can face a fine if you do not. To ensure the success of your business venture, it is important that you do your homework to ascertain whether or not it is viable. It can take some time before you start to make a steady income from the business so it may be useful to have some financial security behind you. Before you are able to benefit from word of mouth recommendations you need to generate awareness of your business so networking is essential. Attendance at events and trade fairs will help you to build up contacts in the industry while simply distributing business cards can get your name known.

General advice

To help you make your business a success, it is important that you keep your work space separate from your living space otherwise you may not achieve the intended work-life balance that freelance working can give you. Organise relevant insurance cover and make sure that you set up a suitable pension scheme – remember that being freelance means no sick pay!  Ensure that you are making the required National Insurance contributions and that you have investigated your entitlement to benefits such as Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit.

It is important to remember that freelancing simply does not suit everybody. You may find that you miss the atmosphere of working in a busy office environment or the face-to-face contact with clients on a daily basis. But if it is right for you, then there is no reason why you won’t be highly successful and achieve a good work-life balance.