Pros and Cons of self-employment

I started my business, Writeo, back in August 2020.

What’s that, five months? Absolute veteran, mate.

So, with this wealth of knowledge and experience under my belt, this week’s blog comes in the form of a pros and cons list of going freelance, based on those five months.

Let’s start with the pros, or benefits, of going self-employed.

No Commute

The first benefit of going self-employed is definitely the commute, or should I say the lack of commute.

I’ve spent all my working life driving to and from workplaces, classing 25 minutes as an absolute win in terms of travel time.

Nobody likes a commute, and it generally adds at least an hour onto an already too-long day.

Now that my commute is about 6 seconds, I realise just how much better life is, and I’m sure this is the case for a lot of people after being locked in their homes for the past year.

Then there’s the planet, which was honestly nowhere to be seen on my original list of reasons to go self-employed. But not driving every day or using a bus or train is pretty good for the environment too.

So there’s that.

Freedom

Working in an office is fine, but I know for a fact the majority of employees spend the last hour or half an hour of their day easing into nothingness, doing as little as possible and thinking about what they’ll have for tea.

Not me of course! I’ve never done that.

And even if I did, which I didn’t by the way, that doesn’t matter now because I don’t have to as a freelancer.

That’s because now that I’m self-employed, I don’t really have a strict schedule to adhere to and I’m as free as a really boring bird who sits in a house all the time.

I get through the work I have at whatever time I want without a set working day, and although this approach doesn’t really work for a lot of freelancers, it suits me down the ground.

If I want to take a three-hour break in the middle of the day to go for a walk (to Greggs), I can. If I want to make my government-mandated walk last a day and work when I get home, I can.

I’ve heard people say that nothing is more valuable than your time, which I always disregarded primarily due to denial.

But honestly, it’s true, and I now have the freedom to do what I want with Writeo, as long as I get the work done, and I’m much happier for it.

Money

This is obviously a fantastic benefit of self-employment, but does depend on how well freelance life is working out.

I’ve been quite lucky in that my cold emailing campaigns have gone quite well, and I now have regular clients who give me enough work to keep me going without additional marketing.

I currently earn more than I have in any other job I’ve had, and definitely do less hours.

I’d definitely class that as a benefit.

No Bullshit

When you start your own business, things like brand tone of voice don’t apply unless you want them to.

Me, I’m not a sadist, so my brand tone of voice is you know, my actual tone of voice.

I write how I like in emails without worrying about how I sound or if I’ll offend. I obviously don’t go wild and swear at clients, but I don’t feel the pressure of representing a company when it’s just me.

I also know no sneaky boss is looking at my emails because I am that sneaky boss and I’m writing the emails.

No Boss

This one and the above kind of go hand-in-hand, but being your own boss is absolutely mint for the most part.

There are obviously drawbacks not having someone tell you what to do, but generally speaking, it’s proper good.

No Small Talk

Offices and communal office buildings are breeding grounds for small talk.

Personally, I believe there’s nothing worse than being caught in a lift with a co-worker, both awkwardly asking each other things you don’t care about.

Same goes for that random person you always see in the corridor.

You don’t know their name, so you’re both locked in the ritual of repeating that weird half-smile to each other as you pass. Oh, and God forbid you see the same person twice and you’ve already said hello once. Absolute nightmare.

When you work for yourself, the only ones you have to avoid are your pets and spouses. And to be honest, my spouse is pretty darn good to look at so I really do not have this problem.

The cat’s a dick though. Always eyeing me up suspiciously.

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And that’s about it! Well it’s not, but I haven’t got all day.

So, with the benefits covered, let’s have a look at the negatives of going freelance, AKA the cons of going self-employed.

Motivation

I always thought I was difficult to motivate, and felt I needed someone pushing me to get anything done. To be honest, I was half right, as I don’t see the point in a lot of tasks you generally need to complete at a workplace.

I’m sure self-motivation is a common issue among freelancers and some days I really do not feel like doing anything at all.

My technique when this happens is to simply not do anything.

I end up feeling like doing something after a while of inactivity and can then crack on to my heart’s content.

It doesn’t always work though so I’d class motivation as a tricky one to master for freelancers, but when you do, it’s cushty.

HMRC

Jesus Christ they’re annoying.

I’ve been trying to register as self-employed since August and they still haven’t sent me what I need. Their phone lines are too busy and they have a chat thing that is never, ever free.

I literally sat and refreshed the chat for a day once, in between work stuff of course, and it said it was busy at all times.

Actually, I tell a lie, it said someone is available at one point but by the time I clicked it and filled in my details they were busy again.

Big con, which could have a few meanings when talking about the government. Oooooooh. Satire.

Accounting

This one doesn’t really apply to me as it’s nowhere near as hard as people make out, but I say that as someone with a very simple business for accounting. I just write stuff.

For other self-employed people who have more complex businesses, sorting your own taxes can be an absolute nightmare.

Then again, if it’s that stressful you can just get an accountant to do it for you.

But then again (again), that costs money.

So yeah, accounting is a definite addition to the con column.

Marketing

I feel I’m being a bit disingenuous here as so far (touch wood) I’ve found marketing quite easy. Thanks to my cold-calling tactic I’ve managed to get plenty of work so I can’t really complain.

However, the process is quite boring and for lots of freelancers, marketing is one of the hardest things to get right.

I’ve found that worrying about it is often much worse than actually doing it though, so just crack on and see what happens would be my expert advice after my huge five-month stint in self-employment.

Concentration

It can be difficult to concentrate working at home, especially with a very needy cat who wants to sit in the gap between your lap and desk, which is getting thinner by the minute as we both gain weight due to lockdown.

It’s not that difficult though, thinking about it, as I have an excellent girlfriend who just leaves me to it, popping in with a coffee now and then and generally just making my life as easy as possible.

It can be a nightmare though, the owld concentration, especially when that book you’re reading is sitting right there, or when the PS4 is just in the next room.

But if you can master your own procrastination you will go far, padawan.

The End

I never know how to write a header for the ending of these blogs, so I’ve gone with a classic today.

Get in touch for any more advice on going freelance, or if you have any writing or social media requirements you need me to take care of.

I’m cheap and excellent so it’d be daft not to.

Email james@writeocreative.co.uk for more info.

THE END.