The Hidden Perks Of Working As A Freelancer

When you think of freelancing, what are the first benefits that come to mind?

Depending on how much time you spend on freelancer LinkedIn or Instagram, I imagine some of the following benefits spring to mind:

• The ability to charge as much as I deserve for my work!

• The ability to control my work schedule!

• Getting to be my own boss!

• Sleeping in every single day and having no stress ever! (OK… this one may be a lie…)

And yes, there are tons of real monetary and lifestyle-based benefits of becoming a freelancer — but in my experience, they are not the only positives of choosing this line of work,

(And there are also other, lesser-known perks that are worth putting in the work for)

It’s not all about money and schedule freedom, y’all

It’s no secret that pursuing a career as a freelancer is hard.

Like being on a small boat in the ocean, sometimes you are riding the wave up, and sometimes you are crashing down.

But, despite the natural ebb and flow that comes with this line of work, there are many, many, many hidden benefits that come from choosing to be a freelancer.

Here are just a few of my favourites:

I’ve met amazing, like-minded people

When I was a bedside nurse, I met plenty of hard-working, kind, generous people.

I made work friends that I enjoyed being around — but I could never escape this feeling that I didn’t quite belong.

I assumed this was just how all workplaces and industries were — that I was just not giving it enough time to truly click and bond with my colleagues.

Flash forward to now, over three years of freelancing under my belt and my LinkedIn account active, and I am genuinely blown away by the sheer number of like-minded people I have met.

During many of my intro calls with other writers, we could immediately blow past small talk and get into real conversations about our lives, work, and experience as freelancers.

I’ve never felt more heard and seen in my entire life.

Because I chose to become a writer, I now have a go-to group of people who I am in contact with every single day, cheering me on, editing my work, and sharing pictures of their pets.

For me, pivoting into freelancing helped me find my community and my people, and I get a warm and fuzzy feeling every time I think about it.

I’ve become financially literate

Before I started my own business, my Dad did my taxes for me (thx, Dad!)

I had no investment accounts, had a very small amount of savings coming out of university, and truly was quite lost when it came to managing my own finances.

But, as my business started to take off, it became incredibly clear:

If I wanted this to work, I needed to take the money part seriously (or I was going to get myself into trouble).

So, by choosing to be involved in my own finances (and by reading I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi, which I truly cannot recommend more),

I now have a much stronger grasp on and understand how to best use my freelance income.

I’m still learning, and there are lots of areas I can improve — but freelancing has taught me the valuable lesson of taking my financial health seriously, and I am so, so, so grateful for it.

I’ve learned how to advocate for what I want

Finally, it is truly a skill to know what you want — but it is another, even more difficult skill to know how (and when) to ask for it.

While in the operating room as a new grad nurse, I did not get the opportunity to flex this muscle.

In most cases, it was actually the opposite — I felt trapped and scared, unsure of when I should stand up for myself against a particularly mean surgeon, or when I should just let it go so the procedure could flow more smoothly and I wouldn’t cause a scene.

Freelancing helped me break through this pattern because I was the only one able to decide who, when, and how I wanted to work with someone.

In the beginning, I, of course, struggled with self-advocacy, taking on projects or prices that were what I wanted or deserved for my skills,

(Freelancing is a never-ending learning curve, and you have to make a few mistakes to get better at running up that hill).

But, as I have continued on in this industry, my self-advocacy skills have only gone up:

• I know how to state my rates without flinching (mostly)

• I can confidently say no when a client is lowballing me

• I don’t feel like I have to say yes every time someone asks for a quick turnaround

I am by no means perfect (we all must continue to learn and grow), but the amount of improvement in this area of my life over the past three years is truly astonishing.

Freelancing has made my life so much better

These are just a few of the things that I have gained since deciding to become a freelance writer.

(And yes, it’s not all about money and schedule freedom after all).

How has freelancing improved your life for the better? Reply and let me know 💕