A lot of people are starting to realise that working from home is the way forward. Whether they’re gaining employment through online means and getting the work sent to them to complete at home, or simply setting up a site to sell their wares and or/services, it’s a break from the routine that we have been conditioned to. No longer are jobs 9-5 with set holidays; we are now able to choose how much we want to work and when we want to do it. It can be the most liberating thing for some, but the most restricting for others - and here’s why. 

Finances

When you go freelance, you have to register as self-employed. It means that unless you are very good at managing your finances yourself, you will have to search for an accountant such as http://howladerandco.com/. Your tax return has to be completed annually, and any deviation from what should be put onto the forms can be rewarded with a hefty fine. This is enough to put most people who want to venture into freelance work completely off; when you are in employment, there is somebody working in HR who does all of this for you, and you only see the proof of all of the hard work on the payslip that you receive at the end of the month. If you are good at organisation and know that you will be able to keep your money separate to send off at the end of the tax year, then you should be okay. 

Expenditure

Getting yourself set up for working freelance can take a lot of time, effort and money in some cases. Especially if you have none of the materials to get you sorted, or the correct office space to give you the time away from home, it can be hard to stump up the cash straight away. In other situations, you may not even need a whole lot financially to get you going; simply a laptop and a sense of determination can tick the boxes for jobs like online writing and transcription. You need to make sure that you have a safety net of finance just in case things don’t take off immediately, so don’t put all of your eggs in one basket immediately; it’s best to build up over time while you still have some form of job security. 

Promoting Yourself Online and In Real Life 

Giving yourself the exposure that you deserve as a freelancer can be hard going. As unfortunate as it is, there are thousands more like you out there waiting to make their big break in this niche market. Going to events, interacting online and joining social circles and forums that have an interest in what you are doing is definitely the way to go. Joining in with debate on Twitter isn’t hard to do if you know the right hashtags to use and accounts to follow. Have a search around and see if you can click into a clique!