The Pros and Cons of Being a Freelance Developer
by Kyle Prinsloo Last updated Mar. 6, 2019
When it comes to freelancing, questions like...
- Can you make enough money being a freelance developer?
- What do I need to know to freelance?
- Will I just be coding all day?
...are great and very practical questions to ask.
The bottom line is that I think people get the wrong impression when it comes to being a freelance web developer or web designer.
It can be painted like someone working at the beach all day with cocktails.
While this lifestyle can be achieved through a lot of hard work, strategy, outsourcing, creating multiple income streams, etc. this is not what the average day looks like for most freelancers.
Freelancing is not for everyone and this article will go into more detail to clarify a few things so you can be more realistic of what to expect and to make better decisions.
This article has two major sections:
The PROS about freelancing:
- Your Earning Potential Can Be Way Higher Than A Job
- No More Peak Hour Traffic
- You Have More Control Over Your Schedule
- The Potential for Growth Is Massive
The CONS about freelancing:
- Freelancing Is A Business
- You (Can) Limit Your Earning Potential
- The Income Valleys (Financial Security)
- Dealing With Scammers and Difficult Clients
- Taxes and Boring Admin Stuff
- You Need Self-Discipline
4 Pros About Freelancing
Your Earning Potential Can Be Way Higher Than A Job
In the corporate world, every employee gets a fixed hourly rate that is stated on their contract. If you wanted to earn more, you’d have to work overtime or hope for a promotion/salary increase in the future.
A hired web developer can earn anywhere from $18/hr to $60+/hr depending on various factors.
Compare this to a freelance web developer who gets to decide how much he/she wants to earn per hour or per project.
Charging per project makes more sense (which I discuss at length here), but whether you want to charge by the hour or by project, your earning potential is only limited by YOU.
How good you are at negotiating your value and what you can deliver for the client are all factors which will determine your income.
Kai Davis sums it up well:
““The biggest challenge I overcame while growing my consulting business wasn’t convincing my clients to pay me more money or chasing after invoices. Rather, the biggest challenge was internal — convincing myself that I was worth the rate I wanted to charge and raising my rates from $25/hour to $100/hour, $1,000/day, and $5,000+/week.
And you know what? As I’ve increased my prices, the clients I’ve worked with have turned out to be better, more receptive to my advice, and see us as partners instead of viewing me as a laborer on their project.
So, dear consultant, know this: the easiest way to get paid more is to raise your rates. And the only person in the world who can stop you? That’s you.”.
As a freelancer, whether you’re earning a lot, earning just enough or not getting by each month, it’s on you to improve your income.
Charging more for your services requires strategy, knowledge and the conviction that you should be paid what you deserve.
No More Peak Hour Traffic
I did a calculation while I had my full-time job. It was something like this:
- 20 minutes to work in peak traffic
- 20 minutes to back home in peak traffic
That's 40 minutes per day, 200 minutes a week, 880 minutes a month and roughly 9,900 minutes a year.
Let's say I'm at the company for 3 years (which I was), how many hours is that in total that I WASTED of my life?
495 hours
That's 20 consecutive 24 hour days... gone.
Every hour you spend in traffic, you are:
- Losing money
- Losing chill time
- Losing time with your family
- Losing time to learn
This image sums it up well:
Freelancing not only allows you to skip the traffic, but you can decide if you'd like to work from home or a coffee shop (like I share on my Instagram) - this is an awesome freedom to have.
You Have More Control Over Your Schedule
When you’re an employee, your work adjusts to your life and not the other way around. When you're a freelancer, you can set up how each of your working days will look like.
Having control over your schedule gives you the opportunity to work when you’re at your most efficient. That means working at night or mornings. Sure, you may have meetings scheduled now and then, but that’s going to be occasional and you can still make it fit into your schedule.
I'll use a recent example for how this fits in with me.
In 2019, I went into partnership with my friend to grow our niche marketing agencies. Seeing as we both live in South Africa and our client target market is in the US, he makes sales calls after 7pm (for the time difference) and chills in the morning.
I would sometimes put a few hours of work in at night and then chill for the next few days.
So you can wake up at 8am, go for a jog, grab a breakfast, check some emails, work a bit, have a chilled lunch, and put in 2-3 focused hours of work at 4pm – there's no right or wrong way to do this.
But don't get the wrong idea here - you need to be focused when you work so that you won't be stressed out when you chill.
The Potential for Growth Is Massive
As a freelancer, you have the potential to massively scale your services.
Most successful founders of bootstrapped companies and agencies, all started as freelancers.
Of course, there's risk involved, but I'd personally try things on my own than work at a full-time job where I'm not working on my dreams and goals.
Things you can do to grow your freelancing business:
- Outsource Tasks
- Create Digital Products
- Diversify and Create More Agencies
- Re-invest Most Profits Back Into Your Business
- Sell Your Marketing Agencies
I can testify to the fact that you can earn a lot more, have more freedom and grow your freelancing business significantly.
6 Cons About Freelancing
Freelancing Is A Business
A big reason why freelancers fail is because they fail to see freelancing as a business.
If you’re a freelance web developer, your job doesn’t only include coding websites. It also includes the following:
- Looking for new clients.
- Improving your social presence.
- Communicating with existing clients.
- Learning new courses to improve your skills.
- Finances: accounting and taxes.
- Other things like health insurance.
As you grow, you’re going to have to hire a few people, train them, establish systems and more.
Don't view this as a big negative though. It’s a chance for you to take yourself to the next level.
If you just want to code and not handle marketing stuff - that's cool, but you need to be realistic as well.
Consider getting a partner to handle the sales and marketing or hire someone part-time if you can to handle the tasks you don't like. Use software tools as much as possible to eliminate your time as well.
You (Can) Limit Your Earning Potential
I said earlier that you ultimately determine how much you can earn… but what naturally happens is most freelancers lower their fees to get clients.
Some freelancers charge premium rates shortly after starting their freelance business and other freelancers charge 'market-related' fees - even though their knowledge would be almost identical.
What’s the difference between them?
It’s simple: The ones charging low amounts don’t see the real value of their services.
It requires a different way of thinking.
Web developers don’t simply make a website – we create or improve on an effective marketing tool that will help our clients generate more sales.
Social media marketers don’t just make a few posts and comments – they are building brand awareness.
If you want to start charging more, you need to start seeing the real value of your services.
If your website can get your client $50,000+ in additional sales for the year, do you think they’d mind paying $5,000 for the website even though it only took you 2 weeks to create?
It's not a time factor, it's a value factor.
Getting paid more as a freelancer is not a time factor, it's a value factor.
Stop thinking about an hourly rate and start getting paid what you're worth based on the results you deliver!
The Income Valleys (Financial Security)
In freelancing, you're not guaranteed your full salary each month.
If you're sick for a week, you don't get paid for it. If you want to take maternity/paternity leave, you don't get paid for it.
Clients come and go - this can significanly effect your cash reserves. I've seen SO MANY freelancers fail because their top client didn't continue with their services.
This problem is made worse when you're charging low amounts just to compete with other freelancers.
Always remember this:
When you charge low amounts, you’re saying that the value of your services is low and your clients will not see your value in their business. If your value is low, you can be easily replaced.
So here’s what you should do:
Start (for 2-3 months) with lower rates as you try to get clients and make a name for yourself and then gradually increase it with your existing clients as you add value to their business and start charging premium rates to new clients.
I'm not going to go into detail about per hour / per project billing as I cover that a lot in previous articles.
One simple way of getting more income is to offer additional services that complement your specialty.
As a web developer, you can offer additional social media management and SEO with a monthly retainer.
This increases your value to the client and ensures a monthly recurring income. I breakdown this process in more details here.
Dealing With Scammers and Difficult Clients
Scammers and difficult clients are all over, but there are a few things you can do to avoid them:
- Get Payment Upfront
The best way to avoid getting scammed is by receiving payment upfront. If it's a big project, 50/50 is fine, but you have to agree to a date you get paid, because if you wait until the project is 'complete', getting paid can drag on. Learn how to get payment upfront here.
- Google Your Client’s Name / Business
Googling a client’s name will often give you enough information to figure out if they're going to be difficult or not. Check out their social links if you can - this can help a lot.
- Have A Contract In Place
Having a contract doesn't guarantee things without hectic clauses in, but it's much better to have something formal in place, rather than not having anything at all. You can get a free contract here.
- Keep Records of All Conversations
Just file your email/Skype communication and get sign-off on completion of work that states they're happy with what you've delivered.
Last year, I did a project for $5,500 and the client paid via PayPal. He was very happy with the work, but for some reason (and without going in too much detail) he wanted a refund and he got 100% of the money back due to PayPal's policies.
The reason I'm bringing this up is because I didn't have a contract in place. I do use it for larger projects, but it's something to keep in mind if you're going to use PayPal as a payment method.
Taxes and Boring Admin Stuff
Depending on where you live, filing taxes as a freelancers can be a breeze or headache.
Same with healthcare and retirement annuities. You’ll have to search for the plan that suits your needs and handle all the admin that goes along with it.
Some countries still don’t have proper laws in place for freelancers, making it difficult (if your income is low) to apply for bank loans, car loans or mortgage loans - this is really unfortunate and something to consider.
You Need Self-Discipline
When you're surrounded by things that make you comfortable, it doesn’t incentivise you to work.
What you can do about this is to set up a private office somewhere in your home. The goal is when you step inside your office, your focus should shift to being productive.
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I hope this brief breakdown on the pros and cons of freelancing will help you make a better decision.
To find out more about freelancing, read this article.
