Should I Get A Job Or Freelance?

[mirabdolbaghi]

I'm currently working as an Inside Sales Representative. I'm earning 2,000 which is enough to survive, enjoy a little, and save some. I'm living with my parents currently so I don't have to worry about rent and food is on the table when I get home.

I learned a few months in that my colleague who is younger than me is making 2,500 which is great for her, I'm not hating, but it made me think that I asked for too little. During the interview I said that I don't mind taking a pay cut if it meant I could improve my sales skill and earn a commission later on in my career path. I made my bed and I was okay sleeping in it. But I soon learned that this company does not have a commision for sales which has taken the motivation out of me.

Despite that, I kept calling. Sidenote, I did freelance copywriting before this but it did not earn me as much as I earn now. Feeling stuck was kind of the reason I looked for a job. So on my second month, I had a client call for my service. During that month I worked in the day and did copywriting at night. I also landed a tenant(my friend) for one of my mother's apartment. I was very happy that I had all this income streams coming in. It made me feel like I made progress. It was a lot of pressure and I got by with a little help from my family and girlfriend, but it was worth it.

I feel like I've learned quite a lot from the job even though I've only been working for a few months. I've learned:
- To not fear rejection from cold calling and how to persuade
- To grind. I'm quite introverted so I needed to really push myself to get out of my comfort zone.
- To not be so sensitive. Doing lead generation and customer service, I'm faced with all kinds of people and I have to be calm and collected.
- That I hate working in an office. I feel like I have a contempt for the slowlane path which really motivates me to keep taking action


Now, things have slowed down a little. I feel like I'm not making the progress I want. I want to leave the job but I'm faced with two options:
- Get another job. I'm confident I can get around 2,500- 2,700 which is the entry level basic for an office job in my country. I can either get into commissioned sales or copywriting. Both have their benefits, but I feel like working as a copywriter would give me the experience to get into freelancing later on.
- Go into freelancing immediately. I've been freelancing for a few years but I've only earned 1,600 max on a good month. But this was when I was action faking a lot and had a lot of fear. I feel like I have a better work ethic now. I'm certain that if I get into freelancing now I can hit the 2,500 mark in a few months.

I'm leaning towards freelancing but I want to hear some of your opinions first.

Thanks

 

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[Achieve_Bay]

Freelancing is very difficult when starting out. I've been a freelance for Mobile App Development and as much as I love programming and working on new projects that challenge me, the worst part of it is when people need to pay you lol

Clients usually love sitting back and telling you how they want their project with all the specifics all down to a tee, but when it comes to paying you for all your efforts it seems like I need to hire Jango Fett or any other bounty hunter to hunt them down and give me my money

Plus finding clients is a challenge too, I'm not saying all this to discourage you, I just want you to know what you're getting into.
As a freelancer my schedule is 100% free, I get to go to the gym early in the morning, hang out with friends whenever I want, go on dates on a Wednesday night, and so much more...you just run into a few speed bumps sometimes

 

[happiness2go]

Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?

The Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.

Alice: I don't much care where.

The Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn't much matter which way you go

 

[misiuq1]

Get another job. Then improve your skills in free time to such an extent that you will earn more than in regular work. Then quit the job, go freelancing.

Freelancing > regular job

 

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[happiness2go]

Freelancing > regular job

And why is that?

As an employee, you work full time for one client. As a freelancer, you split your time between a bunch of clients.

There is nothing inherently better with being a freelancer. Both trade their time for money.

 

[mirabdolbaghi]

For me, the appeal of freelancing is the independence of time and location. I want to be able to do what @Fox does. I'd like to be able to move to another place and still have money coming in.

That's where I want to get to.

I know it's slowlane and I'd like to build a business later on, but that's the true answer. To be able to live in other countries for some time.

 

[happiness2go]

For me, the appeal of freelancing is the independence of time and location. I want to be able to do what @Fox does. I'd like to be able to move to another place and still have money coming in.

That's where I want to get to.

Well, then you've just answered your own question

 

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[mirabdolbaghi]

Haha yeah you're right. Everything in my body is saying go full force into freelancing.

 

[mirabdolbaghi]

My plan is to keep working until October while building my portfolio and blog. Then I'm going to get small projects while building my long term clients. I'll join @Lex DeVille 's course and keep improving my skill and go for big clients after that

 

[happiness2go]

My plan is to keep working until October while building my portfolio and blog. Then I'm going to get small projects while building my long term clients. I'll join @Lex DeVille 's course and keep improving my skill and go for big clients after that

Awesome. All the best for the transition!

 

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[John D.]

To preface this, I personally have never held a real, proper job in my life and I exclusively freelance for a living. (To be honest, the low living costs in my country make this possible, but that's another topic.)

I think freelancing is better because it is closer to running a real business. Actually, you are running a business -- the business of YOU Inc.

Think about it.

1. You are doing outreach for clients and you market your services with the goal of making them come to you.
2. You are working with money on the table. This means you must deliver to the best of your ability every time in order to put food on the table -- and to leverage the awesome power of word-of-mouth marketing.
3. You are reinforcing an outcome-focused, entrepreneur mindset instead in the typical, hour-based employee mindset. Which one do you think will serve you better in your Fastlane journey?
4. There's no ceiling on your potential income except for the time you have in the day (and then again, you can outsource to multiply yourself).

Then there are the obvious perks like flexible workdays, taking time off whenever you please to work on your own stuff, and others I cannot think of right now. (@Lex DeVille can probably do a better job selling the freelance dream than I can )

I think it ultimately comes down to deciding if you can handle the feast-and-famine cycle of freelancing and live without the safety-net of a nice, steady paycheck.

In my mind, freelancing is not for everyone but it's the better long-term option.

My $0.02

 

[solyom]

What is your long-term goal?

 

[Champion]

Freelance will take up all your time, I advise you get a job and use free time to hustle on business!

Best
Champion

 

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[mirabdolbaghi]

To preface this, I personally have never held a real, proper job in my life and I exclusively freelance for a living. (To be honest, the low living costs in my country make this possible, but that's another topic.)

I think freelancing is better because it is closer to running a real business. Actually, you are running a business -- the business of YOU Inc.

Think about it.

1. You are doing outreach for clients and you market your services with the goal of making them come to you.
2. You are working with money on the table. This means you must deliver to the best of your ability every time in order to put food on the table -- and to leverage the awesome power of word-of-mouth marketing.
3. You are reinforcing an outcome-focused, entrepreneur mindset instead in the typical, hour-based employee mindset. Which one do you think will serve you better in your Fastlane journey?
4. There's no ceiling on your potential income except for the time you have in the day (and then again, you can outsource to multiply yourself).

Then there are the obvious perks like flexible workdays, taking time off whenever you please to work on your own stuff, and others I cannot think of right now. (@Lex DeVille can probably do a better job selling the freelance dream than I can )

I think it ultimately comes down to deciding if you can handle the feast-and-famine cycle of freelancing and live without the safety-net of a nice, steady paycheck.

In my mind, freelancing is not for everyone but it's the better long-term option.

My $0.02

Thank you for the input. Do you mind sharing if you’re reaching your monthly income?

Freelance will take up all your time, I advise you get a job and use free time to hustle on business!

Best
Champion

Thank you for the input. Tbh i dont mind this option but i have no gameplan for starting businesses. I have no idea where to begin

 

[babyballer]

I'm currently working as an Inside Sales Representative. I'm earning 2,000 which is enough to survive, enjoy a little, and save some. I'm living with my parents currently so I don't have to worry about rent and food is on the table when I get home.

I learned a few months in that my colleague who is younger than me is making 2,500 which is great for her, I'm not hating, but it made me think that I asked for too little. During the interview I said that I don't mind taking a pay cut if it meant I could improve my sales skill and earn a commission later on in my career path. I made my bed and I was okay sleeping in it. But I soon learned that this company does not have a commision for sales which has taken the motivation out of me.

Despite that, I kept calling. Sidenote, I did freelance copywriting before this but it did not earn me as much as I earn now. Feeling stuck was kind of the reason I looked for a job. So on my second month, I had a client call for my service. During that month I worked in the day and did copywriting at night. I also landed a tenant(my friend) for one of my mother's apartment. I was very happy that I had all this income streams coming in. It made me feel like I made progress. It was a lot of pressure and I got by with a little help from my family and girlfriend, but it was worth it.

I feel like I've learned quite a lot from the job even though I've only been working for a few months. I've learned:
- To not fear rejection from cold calling and how to persuade
- To grind. I'm quite introverted so I needed to really push myself to get out of my comfort zone.
- To not be so sensitive. Doing lead generation and customer service, I'm faced with all kinds of people and I have to be calm and collected.
- That I hate working in an office. I feel like I have a contempt for the slowlane path which really motivates me to keep taking action


Now, things have slowed down a little. I feel like I'm not making the progress I want. I want to leave the job but I'm faced with two options:
- Get another job. I'm confident I can get around 2,500- 2,700 which is the entry level basic for an office job in my country. I can either get into commissioned sales or copywriting. Both have their benefits, but I feel like working as a copywriter would give me the experience to get into freelancing later on.
- Go into freelancing immediately. I've been freelancing for a few years but I've only earned 1,600 max on a good month. But this was when I was action faking a lot and had a lot of fear. I feel like I have a better work ethic now. I'm certain that if I get into freelancing now I can hit the 2,500 mark in a few months.

I'm leaning towards freelancing but I want to hear some of your opinions first.

Thanks

It depends who you ask. Both of these guys below say quit your job.

Why I Dig The “Michael Westin” Business Model - Ben Settle

A subscriber wants career advice. Oh boy... "Ben, currently I'm a freelance copywriter and have been offered a job at an advertising agency. What would you recommend should I take the job or keep freelancing what is better???" It just depends, dude. Personally, I always took the "Michael Westin"...

bensettle.com

How To Quit Your Day Job And Travel The World

It's not as hard as it sounds to drop everything and travel the world. Here are a few ideas to consider.

markmanson.net

I would think it is better for you you to get a good job with a lot of downtime where you can do your freelancing on the side. Once you get consistent freelancing income that outpaces your salary, then you can quit your job.

 

[Rabby]

Freelancing will teach you to be a little more independent than just staying at a job. It's "less stable" or "harder" on the surface, but if you make it work it will be because you've learned business lessons that directly affect your income. It's harder to make that happen in a job.

That said, sales jobs can be instructional. So if you're in one, learn everything you can while you're there. How to sell, how the marketing works, how the owners manage the place, how the customers make their businesses work (if it's B2B). Just be interested in things and try to figure out what you can apply to your business.

Ultimately, you're going to have to learn to turn things into repeatable processes. That's how you take just about anything - a job, a business, freelancing - and make it better.

 

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[Rabby]

PS: It's not about the money, either way. You just need enough to live. It's about what you can learn, and your ability to apply what you learn to something that is an actual input to your income, and/or to your asset value.

So if you keep the job, you need a sideline where you can apply lessons, and try them out. Because it's unlikely that the boss will scale your wages equal to your increasing business knowledge and contributions.

 

[solyom]

Freelance will take up all your time, I advise you get a job and use free time to hustle on business!

Best
Champion

My experiences are quite the opposite. If you have a job, it takes 8 hours from you + at least 1 hour for getting there / back. Not talking about situations when you have definite work hours, like 9-5.

The time before you start it is too small to get involved in any side hustle too deeply, while if you want to do side things afterwards, you might be too tired to think clearly / be effective.

I know, if you are determined enough, you can do it, but my opinion is that as a freelancer you have lot better chances for optimizing your time - in the long term, of course.

---

Why I am saying this is because I have done both. Now am a freelancer and won't go back to a job if I am not forced...

To be honest, freelance can realy take up all your time... in the beginning. I remember when I started it, in my first 1-2 years I was working a lot more with it (for the same amount of money) than now. The reasons were:
- too much time spent on finding my right clients
- in the beginning I had to work for smaller hourly rates to collect some reputation
- I was also less experienced, so things took more time to complete

Now, after 2.5 years of freelancing I can say that:
- I have 2-3 regular clients who give me enough work (no / minimal time spent on hunting for new projects)
- I gradually raised my hourly rates, which are cca. 2x as high as when I started it. So I have to work half the amount for the same results. And I can see even more possibilities upwards.
- Now I am a better expert, making less mistakes, so somewhat faster doing things

---

I asked the OP what his long-term goals are because if building a fastlane business, then freelancing might give better options for phasing into it - as you can decide to take on less number of projects, giving more and more time gradually to your REAL business. While with a job, if you leave it you'll suddenly have no income...

The only circumstances when a job can be a good option (in my opinion):
- If it's that kind of job where you are paid to be there (e.g. night shift receptionist). I know about a few people who built up a side hustle while they were "working" at these kinds of jobs. They just brought their laptop and did it...
- If it's a well-paying part-time job: if you manage to find one that covers your life costs, you'll have enough time to build a business on the side
- Flexible work hours: e.g. if you can do your job between 6-2, you'll have almost a whole afternoon for other things. This is how one of my former clients has built up his business.

 

[mirabdolbaghi]

Freelancing will teach you to be a little more independent than just staying at a job. It's "less stable" or "harder" on the surface, but if you make it work it will be because you've learned business lessons that directly affect your income. It's harder to make that happen in a job.

That said, sales jobs can be instructional. So if you're in one, learn everything you can while you're there. How to sell, how the marketing works, how the owners manage the place, how the customers make their businesses work (if it's B2B). Just be interested in things and try to figure out what you can apply to your business.

Ultimately, you're going to have to learn to turn things into repeatable processes. That's how you take just about anything - a job, a business, freelancing - and make it better.

Great points. Im definitely pearning how to sell and how to handle customers. Im learning how we work together with the marketing dept for running campaigns.

I like how we track data for cold calls. How many leads, how many rejections, how many interested etc. Im going to do that for my freelancing later on.

I like my boss she realy knows how to handle people. However I dont like the management. Its so segmented the left hand doesnt know what the right is doing. Theres no clear workflow which makes my work confusing and I find Im doing more customer service than lead generation.

 

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[mirabdolbaghi]

PS: It's not about the money, either way. You just need enough to live. It's about what you can learn, and your ability to apply what you learn to something that is an actual input to your income, and/or to your asset value.

So if you keep the job, you need a sideline where you can apply lessons, and try them out. Because it's unlikely that the boss will scale your wages equal to your increasing business knowledge and contributions.

I have two rooms for rent but no tenant yet. I can potentially earn 1,200 from this which is sufficient to survive.

I agree with you and will change my mindset from money making to value creation

 

[mattsteinman]

Freelancing = Time Suck

If you can't survive on your freelancing gig right now, get a "job" that'll cover your bills, stash some money away, and grind on your side hustle in the evenings.

Look at opportunities that will earn you money while you sleep. Some people snark at this, but affiliate marketing is my favorite. It does take work to get going, but it's the perfect business to start in your "free time" and has the potential to earn you a very comfortable lifestyle.