20 Reasons You Shouldn’t Be a Freelancer

15. You Can’t Self-Motivate

This one is closely related to self-discipline, but takes it a step forward. Discipline is all about doing the things you have to do. Motivation is finding the wherewithall to do things you want to do.
There should be things related to your freelance business that you don’t have to do, but want to do or will make your business stronger or more enjoyable.
If you only ever do the bare minimum, you’re kind of missing the point of freelancing and being your own boss. Self-motivation means you can do things above and beyond what’s required to improve your freelancing business.

16. You Don’t Want to Maintain a Professional Image

When you work for a corporate design firm, you may never have to deal with clients directly. Clients might not even really know who you are. And that’s okay, because usually they’re more interested in the company than the individual designer.
When you’re freelancing, though, it’s your name that gets tied to your work. That means you need to keep a professional image for the best business results.
If a client Googles your name and all they find are drunken photos of you from spring break, it’s going to damage your reputation. You need to be willing to keep your private life private, and to act professionally in public. Hint: use the security settings on social networking sites to limit who sees what.

17. You Want Paid Vacations

As a freelancer, you don’t get paid vacations. You’ll need to either budget accordingly throughout the year to cover your vacation expenses, or make a big push right before a vacation to get everything done. Of course, the longer your vacation, the more advanced planning you’ll need. And in many cases, you might still have to deal with client emergencies while you’re away.
If you’ve become very accustomed to having four weeks of paid vacation each year, that can be a big adjustment to make. The main thing you’ll need to do is to notify your clients well in advance that you’ll be taking a vacation if you’re going to be gone for more than a couple days.

18. You’re a Workaholic

When there’s no one telling you to stop working at the end of the day, it’s easy for some people to just keep working. This can be just as detrimental to many as not working enough, though, as it can quickly lead to burnout.
If you’re not able to limit the hours you work, you’re probably going to have a short-lived freelancing career. Your work will suffer if you’re overworking, as will your family and personal life. It’s important to set limits to the number of hours you work, and to only take on projects that fit within those time constraints.
One possible solution is to let yourself be a workaholic for three or four days a week, but then not working at all on those other days. This can help to satisfy those workaholic tendencies while still allowing you enough time to recharge.

19. You Don’t Want to Keep Regular Hours

The freedom to work when you want to is one of the biggest draws for many freelancers. The idea of not having to work 9-to-5 is a huge plus. But that doesn’t mean you don’t need to keep regular working hours.
First of all, most of your clients probably do keep regular 9-to-5 hours. You’ll need to be available when they’re working and want to get in touch with you.
The other issue is that if you don’t have a set work schedule, you’ll probably find you have a hard time getting everything done. Figure out what time of day you work best, whether that’s from 6pm till midnight or from 3am till noon and then work those hours. But make sure you’re available during at least some regular business hours so your clients can get in touch with you when they need to.

20. You Don’t Like Being Alone

Freelancing can be a lonely business. In many cases, you’re not meeting clients in person very often. You don’t have coworkers around. And you’re probably working out of your house. If you don’t like being alone for long stretches of time, you’ll likely find you’re not well-suited to freelancing.
Of course, there are solutions to this. You can work out of your house some days (from a coffee shop or coworking space). You can foster non-work relationships so you’re interacting with people when you’re not working. Or you might want to set a regular lunch-date with other friends who freelance or work from home.

The Bottom Line

Freelancing is not for everyone. And there’s nothing wrong with that. So often in creative fields we feel like if we’re working in a corporate environment that we’re somehow not as creative as those who have set out on their own. But there’s very little truth in that.
Freelancing is a career choice and something that every designer and developer has to decide on in respect to their personal situation.
For some, freelancing is a dream come true. But for others, it’s like a prison sentence. Don’t feel ashamed to stick with your corporate job if that’s where you’re comfortable and it’s fulfilling to you.