Freelancing Is Fun, but Has Several Challenges, Essay Example

Research carried out on freelancers reported that freedom of choice was the major drive of the individuals who joined freelance and not financial reward. 44 percent of the integrated freelancers and 35 percent of the creative and design freelancers indicated that having the freedom to choose which projects to handle was the most appealing aspect.

On the other hand 29 percent of the integrated freelancers and 31 percent of the creative and design freelancers stated that their motivation was the increased experience they gained as freelancers (Writer, 2012).  However, a recent interview carried out with Jack Harrison who has been in freelance for over 5 years revealed the challenges freelancers undergo.

Leslie Heng who is a freelance writer said that the most frustrating part in freelance is the initial contact with a client especially since in most cases we are unknown to most of our clients. “How will you feel when you send emails and make bids for jobs but never get any reply like for a whole week, its frustrating right?” He reinstated with a feeling of frustration.

The freelance writing is considered to be a gold mine for the freelancers. Leslie Heng indicated that the money can be good yes but the most challenging part is that the payments in most cases are never guaranteed. I have had cases where I have worked for clients then after delivering the work, the clients decide to go underground, never pick calls or reply emails. “Would you work for someone who you are not sure is going to pay for the service?” he posed a question during the interview.

Freelancers are some of the greatest risk takers having to work with no surety of pay in most cases. Another challenge that comes with freelance is the issue of meeting deadlines. Most of the clients give short deadlines that are expected to be met failure to which there is a penalty in terms of reduced pay. The deadlines are not easy to meet especially when there are several tasks to carry out for different clients.

Anyway, despite the challenges there has been a growing population of freelancers in Singapore because of the pay that is involved.

References

Writer, S. (03, April 2012). What are the biggest challenges of a freelance career? The Drum. Retrieved on April 3, 2019 from https://www.thedrum.com/news/2012/04/03/what-are-biggest-challenges-freelance-career.