Having heard about the opportunity to make money on the Internet, hundreds of thousands of people begin to look for more detailed information and gradually “get involved” in remote work. Making money from freelancing is real real way make a profit while sitting at home, but not everyone is able to do such work.
Beginning freelancers have a lot of problems that they face when starting to make money remotely. As a rule, information about freelancing posted on the Internet is significantly embellished and talks about incomes of hundreds of dollars, but to get them you will need to work, just like in a regular job.
By understanding the 4 problems of new freelancers, you can avoid difficulties arising.
What problems do new freelancers face?
- Fears that nothing will work out. The main problem at the very beginning of a remote worker’s career is the belief that nothing will work out. Many people underestimate their strengths and that is why they do not begin to study all the intricacies in detail. Self-education is the key to freelance success. This activity is not taught in universities, however, on the Internet you can find a huge number of professionals who know their business and successfully earn money.
- Difficulty choosing a niche. The freelancing sphere is filled with mass various types activities. Designers, copywriters, rewriters, optimizers, programmers and many other types of professionals do all kinds of work and get paid for it. From the very start of your work, you will need to choose one of the directions in which you will develop. There is no point in giving advice here, because... Everyone must make their own choice in favor of the most suitable job.
- Tolerance for errors. After choosing a niche and even taking the first steps towards making money, all sorts of problems appear that gradually make you think “should I work remotely?” No matter what job you decide to do, you need to be confident in what you do right choice and be sure to achieve success. Absolutely everyone makes mistakes, and to reduce their likelihood, do not stop learning and applying knowledge in practice.
- Lack of discipline. What killed the overwhelming majority of new freelancers? This is a lack of discipline. Free work is, of course, good, but when choosing it you need to understand that now everything is in your hands and your income will depend on how much work you do. Remote workers cannot achieve stability using freelance income because they are not able to create a clear schedule for themselves.
Earning money from freelancing has led a lot of people to financial independence. Do you want to do the job you love and make huge profits? You will need to go from lower level, but decide for yourself whether you are ready for this.
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Hello, Igor Zuevich here. has a number of specific disadvantages associated with this profession. They have their own Negative consequences, but, fortunately, you can fight them.
It is the methods for solving these problems that will be outlined below.
What are the problems and how to deal with them?
1. Physical weakening of the body
A freelancer spends most of his time at the computer. Without a doubt, this causes weakening of the body. Lack of movement, fresh oxygen and constant posture are the main reasons for this process.
Fun fact: a freelancer essentially spends more time on the computer than a typical office worker. The reason for this is that he is constantly distracted by extraneous stimuli - social media, interesting videos, blogs, etc. Ultimately, a person spends about 10-12 hours in a sitting position.
In order to avoid negative changes in the body, you need to slightly adjust your lifestyle. It is enough to devote one hour a day to any physical activity (running, cycling, Gym) to keep the body in good shape.
It is also necessary to take regular breaks from work so that the body and eyes can rest. It is advisable to do some exercises at this time or simply hang on the horizontal bar.
2. Social phobia
Another typical problem of a freelancer is the lack of live communication. The lack of constant communication with employees and management in the office leads to the fact that a person communicates less with people. Ultimately, this makes him withdrawn and antisocial.
This can not only cause a certain loneliness, but also lead to mental disorders. Therefore, it is necessary to periodically get together with friends and classmates, go to cafes or exhibitions, and visit various institutions.
It is important that, despite the specifics of the work, there is constant communication with real people. This way you can maintain your existing skills and, at the same time, change the situation.
3. Financial instability
Working in an office means a permanent fixed salary. Freelancing is always an unknown amount of revenue. In some ways, this is similar to running a business when you don’t know whether there will be customers today or what kind of turnover awaits you next month.
The number and cost of tasks performed is difficult to predict, so it is always life in the unknown of what will happen tomorrow. Moreover, depending on the season, the situation may change, both in the number of tasks and in the amount of funds necessary for life.
Therefore, the opinion that an insane amount of money is wrong.
This issue can be resolved in two ways - by developing a base of regular customers (which guarantees a constant minimum income) or by regularly setting aside part of the income in case of “lack of money”.
4. Lack of growth
Most freelancers get stuck in the activity they do without any further growth. The main reason for this is lack of motivation. This type of activity does not involve career and the maximum that can be done - as the necessary skills are developed - is to increase the cost of the work performed.
Therefore, try to make time for self-development. Learn new types of activities, software, work methods. This way you can discover new horizons and constantly train your brain.
Fortunately, most of it is indicatedThese problems can be solved one way or another. Of course, all these nuances must be taken into account when constructing the work.
It cannot be said that these shortcomings agitate against working as a freelancer. Each type of activity has its own – there is no ideal job.
As you can see, if you already know what the typical problems of freelancers are, then you must take into account that each job has its own characteristics and disadvantages, including freelancing. Fortunately, there are ways to solve them.It is better to act together and together with those people who already have experience and results. Come to our programs and earn more at the same time!
With you,
- Igor Zuevich.
Leave a comment on this article below
Why do some freelancers return to the office? How to avoid “burnout” and not turn working from home into non-stop work, or, as hosters write, 24/7?
When I left the office on maternity leave, for the first six months I enjoyed what a miracle freelancing is. Freedom, independence, the ability to work at any time of the day, to choose the most suitable for work interesting projects. I didn’t see any problems, only the benefits of freelancing. I didn’t understand why freelancers might experience decreased performance or motivation. After all, working is so interesting.
I managed to get more done in 4 hours than in 8 hours in the office. I didn’t take tea breaks or get distracted by social media. networking and chatting. No one interrupted me at the most inopportune moment to give me an urgent task. In general, everything was under control.
However, it soon turned out that it was impossible to work as before. Lack of sleep, a newborn baby, a loose schedule and chronic fatigue, which did not allow me to concentrate and do the work in 2 hours without distractions.
It turned out that a freelancer is influenced by no less external factors than an office worker. The freshness of freelancing and the drive from work slowly disappear when you have to cook, clean, entertain children or entertain relatives 3 times a day. Distractions and long build-up before work delay the completion of tasks, work is postponed until “later”, as a result, instead of the desired 4 hours a day, a freelancer often works all 12.
Many freelancers face the same problems every day. typical problems, which reduce labor productivity, reduce the amount of free time from work and create other difficulties and inconveniences. In this article I want to talk about the most common problems of freelancers and ways to solve them.
1. Problems with self-organization
When an angry manager or boss is standing over your head, your work may not be very good, but it is more difficult to miss the project deadlines. When you are your own boss, you have to be strict with yourself at times and learn to organize your time in the most efficient way.
Beginning freelancers believe that working from home is like heaven on earth. Firstly, you can work even in pajamas, even at the dacha. Secondly, the hated 9 to 6 office routine can be forgotten forever.
This is where danger lurks for us; instead of creating the most convenient mode of work, we are deprived of a schedule altogether.
Success in freelancing, as a rule, is achieved by well-organized people who know when to take a break and when to work, even if they are not in the mood.
2. Inability to concentrate
At home, it can be difficult to concentrate on work, both due to external interruptions and the lack of new ideas. On the list of the most frequent interruptions: social. networks, Skype, requests from household members, household chores, sudden calls and urgent orders. It’s especially difficult for freelance parents who combine work with caring for a small child.
3. Workaholism and constant overwork
In freelancing, more than anywhere else, it is important to be able to calculate your strengths. Freelancing often attracts people with great earning opportunities. Starting to earn much more than in the office, freelancers sacrifice evenings and forget about weekends. Some people have been doing this for years.
Of course, from time to time, everyone has emergency situations, but if you have been in this state for six months and there is no improvement, this is a serious reason to think about whether work has become the only meaning of your life?
4. Losing boundaries between work and personal life
One of the most significant challenges of freelancing is that it can be just as difficult to sit down and work productively when you're interrupted.
A chaotic work schedule leads to both work and personal life turn into a kind of homogeneous mass. And it is absolutely impossible to determine where one ends and the other begins.
Many freelancers sooner or later come to the conclusion that it is necessary to create a certain work schedule and stick to it. Identify your activity peaks and valleys, consider your work preferences and favorite working hours, and structure your day taking this into account.
The advantage of freelancing is the ability to create your own ideal work schedule. What it will be depends only on you. It doesn't matter whether you work 2 hours a day in half-hour intervals or 2 hours of 4 hours with short breaks every hour, the main thing is that you know what time you should focus on work and when you should forget about the task and take time yourself and your family.
5. Self-isolation and lack of “live” communication with like-minded people
It’s no secret that remote work from home greatly limits “live” communication between freelancers. At first, this may be perceived as a long-awaited break from unnecessary fuss. However, over time, if you do not pay attention to this area of your life, communication will become lacking and this can become a real problem.
What to do?
- Visit the gym regularly and go for walks;
- Plan meetings with friends. One of the advantages of freelancing is that you can meet with friends and partners not only in the evening after work, but also during lunch or during the lunch break;
- Attend professional courses and seminars, attend exciting workshops based on your interests. This will help you keep your high professional level, as well as relax and communicate with interesting people.
What difficulties have you encountered when working from home? Share in the comments.
The biggest advantage of freelancing is the independence. There is no specific employer who would stress and control you. A freelancer works on the Internet in general, and not for anyone in particular. Such independence has one advantage, which can be expressed in the following words: “work on the Internet, travel around the planet.” When you are not tied to any specific territory, it gives you a free hand to be free in your geographical movement. But, due to the specific nature of their work, freelancers also have problems.
Brief introduction
Naturally, the given list of problems will be subjective; some may not have these problems. It may be the other way around, I may not mention the difficulties that other freelancers have in connection with their work. By freelancing, I mean a person whose main source of income is the Internet.
Common Freelancer Problems
1. Health problems. There is a good Russian proverb: “the legs feed the wolf,” in other words, if the amount of your earnings depends only on you, then why not work more. Because of large quantity Spending time at the computer may cause problems with posture, or more precisely with the spine, and problems with vision. Also due to sedentary way of life, there are prerequisites for the emergence overweight.
2. Problems of freelancers with motivation. When there is no external stimulus in the form of a boss or manager, problems with motivation may arise. Such is the nature of a person that for motivation he needs both a stick and a carrot, but not everyone will prescribe a stick for himself. I noticed in myself that out of 15 hours spent at the computer, I can only spend 30% on work, and the remaining 70% is not clear on what. It’s much easier to take time off from work on the Internet than offline. If you work in an office, then the admin can monitor your work through various programs, such as staffcop. If you work at a construction site, that is, the foreman who has you in full view will motivate you with different words. And if you work at home, at the computer, and in one click from you there is: a sea of videos on YouTube, a sea of witty jokes on Bash, and hundreds of friends on VKontakte, then your work may not withstand competition with these services. Basically, you know what I mean.
3. The “common sense” is lost. When you make a mistake in offline work, it quickly becomes obvious, and this mistake is pointed out almost immediately. If you, as a freelancer, make a strategic mistake in website promotion, then this may come to light when the problem gains scale. And in general, when you work yourself, then there is nothing to compare your work with in order to understand in the right direction are you going or not. Naturally, you can see the financial strip of another freelance blogger or compare his blog design with yours, but this is all a little different.
4. Family problems. If working from home, and there are still relatives at home, for example a wife, then spending too much time together can be a problem. To maintain a normal relationship, you need to take a break from each other. And in general, it’s normal when work and family life is divided territorially, and when there is no such division, the line between personal life and work is blurred. Naturally, with the right approach There may not be such problems, but still.
5. Difficulties with education. Since a freelancer is a friend, comrade and food, then all the subtleties of the work have to be learned by yourself. Similar problem exists offline too, no one wants to increase the number of competitors, so this is a purely personal matter. But the fact is that offline, there is no such fierce competition, since you can work for different territories. And the Internet is like a big collective farm, if you rise in the search results, then someone else has dropped in the search results, and no one wants to “fire” their topics so as not to lose their position. You can formulate this point differently and say that this is not freelancer problems, and difficulties with the education of freelancers.
6. Social integration. I described the extreme extent of this problem in the post. This is a controversial point, someone may not have such a problem, but the prerequisites for this exist. Since many freelancers work more than normal, real world and there is less time for real people. And what we give little time to does not develop and degrades. To avoid being completely absorbed, you need to maintain contact with real people.
>I’m always glad to see reactions to my posts, including in the form of reply posts. I'll definitely read it.
Yes, there are many problems. But there are also enough advantages 😉
There are advantages, no question about it. When I worked as a sysadmin in one not very good organization, my nerve cells died much more often 🙂
There are still things that freelancers need to think about. For example, relations with the state: taxes, pensions...
Well, I think it’s worth thinking about when it becomes the main source of income and the income exceeds 200 USD.
Although I don’t know from what amount you need to start declaring your income
I agree with these problems (although some problems sometimes, on the contrary, are problems for the official one, anything can happen in life) But what about taxes? This is not something a freelancer encounters? And the experience is not officially recorded anywhere... but what about the future pension?
Apocalyptic
>I read the article by “a freelancer to the core” :)
Good example with Google and liked the position on the 5th point.
I’ve also heard the opinion that you need to share your knowledge in order to free your head for new knowledge :)
1. For example, that the problem of motivation is solved by the lack of money.
I work hard when there is really little money, and when I reach a certain minimum, and it is very low for me, my motivation disappears. It’s a matter of values; if for some people money is the highest value, then there are no big problems with motivation to work.
But this is a personal question, so there cannot be any clear advice.
2. And on the issue of social integration, I think Skype, etc. don't solve the issue. It’s like with correspondence, you write a letter not to a person, but to the image that you mean by a certain person. And relatives are a little different.
It’s just that if you are a freelancer, then you can come to the conclusion that you are in touch with all of humanity, at least in its digital version, and not with anyone in particular. It’s like F.M.D. said, “the more I love all people in general, the less I love a specific person.”
This is all IMHO, and I think that such a point of view has the right to be :)
The problem of paying pensions - yes, it really is a problem. Since there is no law regulating this activity. That is, a freelancer does not count on experience.
Further, I agree to pay taxes only when the expenses become open to the public and will not buy $1,000,000 buses for 10 administration people to travel out of town for recreational activities. Because at the moment I cannot blame anyone for the fact that my money was not spent purposefully.
I am ready to help orphans, children, doctors, teachers, and so on, but on the condition that my money actually reaches them. But it’s not like, for example, 12 million rubles were allocated for our school for a complete reconstruction, but only the roof was repaired, and the school director now has the same roof made of the same material, and the administration has been building a church for 10 years and still doesn’t have enough money, they only put up a cross, but There is still no foundation for anything 🙂 although according to the papers 12 million rubles have been spent. I don’t think that a wooden cross 1.5 meters high costs that much. But these are lyrics that are not related to the topic. By this I want to say that as a freelancer, as long as I have the opportunity, I will not pay taxes until general principle will not change towards people and tax waste.
So let's take the evolution of writing.
Previously, letters were written and the post office sent them.
Now I think no one will argue that we did not write less, but much more, because email has become much more convenient. The same goes for the phone. Previously, many people didn’t even have a regular one, but now almost every progressive person has a cell phone. The same will be current communication.
Whether you agree or not to pay taxes - no one will ask you... it’s one thing if you don’t pay them while working simply as a freelancer - then the tax office will most likely not see you, but if you are an individual entrepreneur (so that there are no problems with your pension))) ) - then fire me
I myself have been a freelancer for almost a year and a half, but I don’t agree with the last point - I have even more friends than I had before, and not only online ones, but also the most ordinary ones. And there are many more reasons to write than reasons to call or even see each other, so even very subtle connections are not lost.
Apocalyptic
The problem of pension payments - yes, it really is a problem. Since there is no law regulating this activity. That is, a freelancer does not count on experience.
It’s really strange that government officials, due to their stupidity, leave themselves without money. By the way, in Ukraine, you count for experience if you work in the field of “providing occult services.” This is of course stupid, but it generates income.
I am ready to help orphans, children, doctors, teachers, and so on, but on the condition that my money actually reaches them. But it’s not like, for example, 12 million rubles were allocated for our school for a complete reconstruction, but only the roof was repaired, and the school director got the same roof made of the same material,
Well of course big question, budget money is being cut left and right and I know it all. It’s the same with Zheks, you pay for utilities but the elevators don’t work, etc. Nobody wants to throw money away.
Everything will slowly but surely creep onto the Internet and it will be convenient to communicate. Everything is going that way. I pressed the button and saw my grandson, etc. Laziness is a kind of even a very big engine of progress.
We do everything in this world to do nothing, but at the same time to have everything.
Well, yes, the main thing is to remain human, and not like in the movie “Surrogates” :)
About back side There’s a lot more written about medals, but somehow it’s not customary to discuss the negative consequences, so well done to the author!
Thank you :)
I’ve been a freelancer for almost a year and a half, but I don’t agree with the last point - I’ve made even more friends
Well, all these innovations make communication easier. That's right, you need to be sociable :)
I disagree about motivation. To me, on the contrary, freelancing is closer to me because I get as much as I earn. That is, it definitely makes sense to develop and work more. The minimum is clearly not enough to meet growing needs. And in an ordinary job, a salary increase sometimes does not depend at all on the hours in the office. Even if you crash, you won’t jump higher than your place there. Or it takes too much time.
The problems raised seemed so interesting to me that I could not resist and also spoke out on each point. Of course, I am not a professional psychologist, and therefore my answers rather reflect the point of view of a freelancer. However, I hope that you will also find my comments useful.
Question 1: How to learn to defend your interests in a situation when your employer partners do not comply with agreements - not in terms of money, no, but in terms of deadlines and other things, when you have to, sorry, (there was not a very literary word here) work at night because of someone else ? How to acquire this calmness that will allow you to say: no, sorry, I can’t work at night, tomorrow, everything tomorrow? And not feel like a stick in the wheel, spoiling an already problematic matter? How to recover from excessive responsibility when you always need more than everyone else?
Psychologist's comment: This is not exactly a freelancing issue, although, I believe, in a situation with full-time work it would be much more acute. And this conversation is long. It involves either a detailed answer of almost a hundred pages, or an individual conversation. BUT, in short and at a strategic level, determine for yourself, first of all, the reason why you are forced to follow the employer’s lead; it has more to do with your opinion of yourself than with your work situation.
My comment: In freelancing, a person has irregular working hours, so if a job was ordered with a deadline of “yesterday,” he has to work at night. At the same time, no one forces you to work. As a rule, the customer only offers to complete the project. Although everyone understands that refusing him in this case means losing a client. And no one wants to lose a client. Therefore, the question is simpler: not in terms of how to avoid the feeling of being “stuck in the wheel,” but whether to work with a specific customer or not.
Question 2. How to remain a first-class specialist and then, if you want, easily go back to the office? Will there be problems with “falling out of the team”, will the skills of sitting in an office and managing real people be lost?
Psychologist's comment: The problem with full time is precisely that the higher your level of qualifications, the worse you feel in the office. The office involves time spent organizing work that is not your own, or the right of colleagues to distract you at the moment at which they decide to distract you. Accordingly, with average and below average efficiency, working in an office is more profitable, and with high efficiency, freelancing is more profitable. Strictly speaking, “dropping out of the team” began the moment you started thinking about switching to freelancing.
The skills of sitting in an office and professional skills are effectively combined only by those who work at the reception. Everyone else is forced to choose between “professional” and “corporate” in their work. And managing real people in an office consists of two big layers: effective communication and effective workflow. Effective communication is a skill that, once you have it, is quite difficult to lose. An effective work process, it seems to me, does not require presence in a team as an indispensable condition.
My comment: I can’t agree, because I know a lot of people who are professionals the highest level working in the office. At a very good salary and interest. Every person has the right to choose whether to work for one company or carry out projects for different customers. And the question is not at all about the level of competence, but about people’s feelings. For some it is important to receive a stable salary, for others they prefer free living. There will definitely not be any dropout from the team. Because a freelancer also communicates with people, also works in a team (even a virtual one), and often manages projects, which trains team skills. So there's really no problem.
Question 3. Is it possible to effectively mix freelancing and/or remote work with full-time work? Doesn’t the mind go beyond the mind, to put it simply, and won’t it be bad from overwork if both there and there are interesting work?
Psychologist's comment: No, it won't work. More precisely, there may be three options to choose from: good, but very short-lived; long, but ineffective and unreasonable in terms of money; even less meaningful than just full-time and even more so than just freelancing. Moreover, the more effort is put into realizing the idea of sitting on two chairs at once, the faster this result will be achieved.
And all because two equally interesting processes consume twice as much energy. First the pleasure of interesting work(here you can say the terrible words self-actualizing activity) will seem to add strength, and then they will eventually end. And they will turn off the creative tap so that stupid consciousness does not drain the brain and nervous system. It will look and feel like a period of dullness and worthlessness that will end no one knows when.
My comment: Yes, you can, if you have enough time and energy. Again, I know people who successfully combine office work and freelancing. They receive a salary of one thousand to one and a half dollars and also make two salaries from remote work :) If they can do it, why shouldn’t it work for you?
Question 4. How not to be lazy? :)
Psychologist's comment: Guys, here you need to first of all take an adequate approach to planning your time and effort. There are 24 hours in a day, yes, but this does not mean that they are all workers or can become so. In fact, a freelancer has the same - according to the most rosy estimates - six hours of effective activity as full-time workers. And just like them, you don’t have these six hours every day.
You shouldn’t expect yourself to be able to produce the same result that you are able to give at the peak of your capabilities: your body and psyche will not agree to this, and don’t expect it. Your only advantage is that you do not waste time on the road, and also that you will not be torn away from the important task that you have planned and are doing at the whim of your boss or colleagues with “urgent” nonsense. And this is another advantage compared to office work: if work is not going well, you can not hang around the office, but do things that require your attention and which, due to the state of your mind and body, you can do. Therefore, taking into account the time in which you plan to complete this work, in hours, take into account the “technical breaks” that will inevitably be wedged into working hours.
It is a mistake to assume the number of days required for work based on the fact that you have eight working hours every day; there are them in a day... so do the math for yourself.
My comment: Think about the car, gas costs, a new computer. View the accounts of your wife or husband:) If you don’t have a girlfriend/boyfriend, get one urgently; if you have a girlfriend/boyfriend, but no wife/husband, get married urgently. Believe me, after your first walk together in the supermarket, you will forget about laziness forever :) Think about children, whoever has them, about your family. That it would be nice to go on vacation abroad. You can take out furniture, appliances on credit, or better - expensive car. It is dangerous to rent an apartment; the mortgage is still expensive. But seriously, just don’t think about laziness, but work, work and work some more.
Question 5. How to present your advantages for the organization, compared to a permanent employee? Or how a freelancer differs from a full-timer for management.