Hello everyone in the wonderful hive blockchain. I hope you are all doing well. Once again, I’m thankful to the hive learners’ community for their amazing initiatives; it has really helped a lot of us.
The hive learners’ community has presented us with another amazing topic, I’m so glad to be participating in it.
Do you know the difference between a full-time employer and a freelancer? Have you ever worked as a full-time employee or a freelancer? Which one do you prefer doing?
Who is a freelancer?
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A freelancer is a self-employed or independent person who gets paid for work done or accomplished tasks. A freelancer, instead of being recruited or employed by an organization, uses his abilities to do things and complete tasks for clients.
Who is a full-time employee
A full-time employee is a person who works in an organization for a given hour and gets paid as negotiated by the employer.
I’m proud of myself because at my age I’ve worked as both a freelancer and a full-time employee (although I didn’t do this for too long). If I’m asked to choose between working as a freelancer and working as a full-time employee, I’ll gladly go for working as a freelancer. Although there are disadvantages to working as a freelancer, it is still much better and preferable.
Gone are those days when taking a one-time job or projects were reserved for bands (musicians who get hired by people to perform in a certain location for an agreed amount). In the world we are in today, a lot of people avoid the problems involved in working for so many hours for “the boss” they now choose to be independent and work as a freelancer. Thanks to the internet, today so many people can work as a freelancer and make enough money just from the comfort of their homes.
2 years ago, during the coronavirus pandemic, I’m sure a lot of people got to know the importance of freelancing. The lockdown made a lot of people lose their jobs, while everyone was at home, some wise people made good use of their time by starting up a freelancing business.
What are the benefits of being a freelancer
As I said earlier, I’ve worked as both a freelancer and a full-time employee. I prefer to work as a freelancer due to these reasons;
You get to be your own boss
There’s more to working as a freelancer than being considered your own boss; the CEO of your own company. If you’re one of those things working as a freelancer is only good because you get to be your own boss, you’re totally wrong. Although there are so many other reasons why I prefer working as a freelancer, I consider this the biggest benefit.
When you work as a freelancer, you can be considered your own boss. You make your own decisions without anybody questioning you, you get to decide what to do and what you shouldn’t, and when you’re your own boss, you tend to have a greater sense of satisfaction than when you work for someone else.
I once worked as a full-time employee in an elementary school, and although I learned a lot about teaching students and working with other staff, the school owner (also the school principal) was very harsh and rude, not only to me but also to other staff. The boss didn’t care about how her employees felt. All she cared about was her business. We have people like that everywhere. She also didn’t pay her employees’ salaries for more than 3 months. It got to the point that I couldn’t bear it and had to quit.
A freelancer on the other hand enjoys the benefit of not being ill-treated by someone else.
You get to work with different types of people
As a freelancer, you are not stuck working with just one person/boss for a long period. No! you get to work with different types of clients. In my years working as a freelancer, I worked with various clients; ranging from working for a known person to working for a client from another country.
If you work as a full-time employee, you may be stuck working with one company or one boss. Aside from the fact that it may get boring or difficult, it also may be very difficult to make good use of your skills, especially when you work for a big company with a lot of workers.
Flexibility
Flexibility is one of the important reasons why people choose to work as a freelancer. As you have control over your job; you choose when to work and when to rest. If you want to work in the morning and sleep in the afternoon, you can do that. If you want to take a quick nap while working, you can also do that. The main goal is just to get the job done, and doing it at your convenience is the best. The freedom and ability to set our own working hours can be particularly nice.
You don’t have to deal with mannerless/rude boss or colleagues
To be frank, most/some of the bosses out there are mannerless and rude. Just like the school principal I mentioned earlier. Just because you are in charge and you get to make decisions doesn’t mean you shouldn’t respect and be nice to people. Your employees are not slaves. I’m sure some of them wouldn’t be able to do the job better than the workers. Just like those rude and mannerless bosses, some colleagues are also like that; very hard to get on with.
As a freelancer, you don’t face these problems because you get to choose whom you work for, and if they start acting up, you have the power and right to stop working for them (something you won’t be able to do when you work as a full-time employee.
More motivated
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When you work as a freelancer, you are in charge of everything. You make vital decisions, take necessary steps, control your finances and income, and do everything a CEO does. At the end of the day/month, when you go back and take a look at all that you’ve done, then you’ll feel motivated, relaxed, and satisfied.
One of the biggest “tips” of working as a freelancer is the happiness you get from knowing you achieved great things yourself.
In conclusion,
There is no good or bad way to work. Working as a full-time employee has its own benefits too. While some people are very good at working as a freelancer, others feel more fulfilled and relaxed when they work as full-time employee.