Q3: Should I Quit My Day Job to Become a Freelancer?

idealmike Level X³

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August 8, 2016, 9:11 pm

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Q3: Should I Quit My Day Job to Become a Freelancer?

This is Question 3 of my 10 part series on 10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Becoming a Full Time Freelancer.

Your day job will likely come with a fixed income wage. Freelancing doesn't. And there's no guarantee that you will go on to earn enough money to replace your full time or even part time job with. Each month could be different in the amount you earn and you may find it tough to find new clients to work for. Plus as a newbie rookie freelancer, you will have to build up a clients list over time, people that regularly buy from you.

But this can take time and you'll still have to find new clients all the time. So you need to think about this and ask yourself if there is any risk quitting your job and going into freelancing full time instead? Especially if you don't know much about it and about getting new clients to work for and get hired by!

It really all depends on several things and situations. If you're young and live at home still and don't have to pay rent or have other bills. Well if you are then chances are you don't have a job! But for those that do have a job and don't have many responsibilities, they should decide if it's worth quitting their job for. But for those that do have to pay rent and bills and have other responsibilities and say for those that have children, then it could be a risk to you quitting your job for it straight away. So you'd have to ask, would it be a big risk to your family and is it something I can reasonably do and succeed in and make the best decision for you and your family.

Of course, you can still learn about freelancing and slowly become one whilst you are working. But this may mean working a lot on the evenings and staying up late at nights and not getting as much sleep. And if you manage it like that and don't know when to switch off and get enough sleep, you'll get burned out fast too! Your day job/work will suffer as much as your freelance learning/work in the evening will too!

So one should practice some good management when it comes to that and make sure to know how to juggle working full time with part time freelancing. Until you have learned the skills required to go on to become a successful freelancer and know how to get new clients and sales and make money guaranteed provided you do work on it. Then eventually when you start to feel confident in yourself, in your skills, abilities and are confident that you can earn enough money with it to quit your demeaning job and start living as an independent and up and coming freelancer / brand name!

So you have to ask yourself; can I afford to quit my regular job?
And do I have the skills/avenues to do so?

What about you? Did you take the plunge and quite your regular day job to become a freelancer? Or did you learn to become one while still working before you quit?

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Cristian

I currently earn a lot more from freelancing than I do from my day job. In fact is close to double. I know I have the skills to make it on my own long term as a freelancer, I did it before for a couple of years. Do you think I should quit my day job?

Well, the answer is: No.

I had my share of full time freelancing and it's not for me. I prefer doing it on the site when I get the free time but that's pretty much it.
I've found a great day job that I actually enjoy a lot, love the fact that I work in an office with other people, I learn a lot everyday because of that, helps me evolve on a professional level as freelancing would never ever do.

It's rock solid job I can probably have for years on the future, so why quit something good?

1 8 years ago

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Lynne

Cristian I think you have added a really valuable point there and that is about working with other people. Yes as a freelancer you "work with people" but it is done online so the most personal you can get is maybe a Skype video call.

I do sometimes miss the social aspect of going into an office, saying good morning to everyone face to face and having someone to have a quick chat with during a lunch or coffee break.

1 8 years ago

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Cristian

Exactly, social interaction is great and can be hugely productive! You can get tons of ideas over simple chats or even on daily meetings.

This is why I love my current job, I get all of the above, plus I'm not bored, home and alone. I also get paid pretty well so that's a nice bonus.

0 8 years ago

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Corzhens

I'm glad that you did not entertain the thought of quitting your day job. Freelancing is nice if you earn more but there is no security in terms of the earnings especially when the site you are on will suddenly close down. And you don't have benefits in online jobs unlike offline jobs that grant sick leaves, bonuses and retirement pay. Those are the reasons why I'm clinging to my office job.

0 6 years ago

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Lynne

In most cases I think you will know whether to quit your job or not to become a freelancer.

There are just a few things to consider and you have mentioned the financial aspect yes and whether you have other dependent on you or not which are important. I think another really important aspect is quality of life. If you are in a dead end job that you hate and that requires ridiculously long hours for little pay it might be best just to take that leap of faith.

That is what I did this year. I just shut down my main income source, my online baby store, for various reasons and persued full time blogging. This was a big time leap of faith and thankfully after a wobbly patch I landed firmly on my feet within a few months.

1 8 years ago

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Webguy2024

Actually, deciding whether to quit your day job should not be a big concern or over thought. I always say that you will know when it is time to take the plunge into fulltime freelancing. When you are saying to yourself that it doesn't pay to show up to work or my day job is getting in the way of me earning money then this is the right time to make the move. Again, don't over think it because it will be very clear when the time comes. Your decision will not really be a decision it will be a matter of fact.

0 8 years ago

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Topseoservice

I too think that deciding whether to quit your job is not very difficult. Before you can quit your job, I think you have to find out if -
1. You are making enough money to cover your expenses.
2. You love doing freelancing or not.
If both answers is 'Yes', then I don't think you have think about anything more.

0 8 years ago

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galegatling

Right. Because if you become excited about freelancing and suddenly quite your job, it might not be effective. Say you have this freelancing job and it's doing so well, but suddenly there are conflicts in that site for whatever reason we don't know. So it's best to have one or 2 online jobs that you can rely rather than one.

0 7 years ago

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CryptoGuru

So with me, I did not quit my day job right away. I have been building up my seoclerks clientele for almost 5 years now. For the last 2 years, I have been able to make enough money to pay all of my bills plus extra, consistently of Seoclerks while working my full time job. Once I was consistently making the same amount of money or more just with seoclerks, I then made the decision to let go of my day job. Now I have 3 different businesses, that both myself and my family help run and I am home with them all the time. So, I would not recommend jumping right into something like quiting your job to freelance because you never know what may happen!

0 8 years ago

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Everett

I am all for doing something that you love and making money at the same time.. why not? A lot of the times I hear about people complaining about their job, and hating this and that. What they never do is change their mindset or change their working environment. I understand most of them can't but if you truly hate your job then why are you there? If I hated a job I would be passionate about working there, and would probably quit.

If you earn more freelancing that you do at your day job then by all means you should consider quitting. However, if you need benefits you'll need to pay them, as an employer would do this for you. As a freelancer everything will come out of your pocket. Sometimes it's hard to prove your online earnings to get loans, or to even buy a car. So just note that if you do decide to freelance fulltime make sure you have a backup plan, and a backup for your backup plan.

0 8 years ago

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vinaya

If you have a high paying day job, you should never quit he job and start working as a freelancer. It is quite difficult to establish yourself as a freelancer and generate a good income. If you think you can earn more as a freelancer than from your regular job, you should have reserve funds then only get started as a freelancer. It takes time to build income with freelancing.

0 6 years ago

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Corzhens

I started my freelancing some 3 years ago and until now I haven’t established myself as a real freelancer because of my day time job in the office. With the big salary that I am earning from my job, I don’t think that I would go full time in freelancing before my retirement. At this juncture I am scared to think that I will be a freelancer when I retire from my office job and I couldn’t imagine how I could earn enough to feed myself. Freelancing is not very profitable for me.

0 6 years ago

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vinaya

I have been working as a freelancer long before I completed my university education. I was till in college when I started publishing on newspapers. By the time I completed my university education, I was already generating a good income fro freelance writing. Thus, after completing university program, I decided to continue working as a freelancer. Based on my experience, I can say it is quite difficult to generate full time income as a freelancer.

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Kakashi2020

It really depends on your needs. If you have a family to feed then don't quit your day job. But if your all settled then go quit and become a freelancer.

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