Solutions to a few self-employed struggles every freelancer deals with.
1. Having to work Holidays and weekends
This is one of the biggest self-employed struggles, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Try and set certain dates that you won’t work no matter what. Every self-employed independent contractor needs a day off and a little work-life balance.
2. Clients 24/7 work expectations
Whether it’s 6am or 11 at night, clients expect their contractors to answer their emails immediately. A helpful hint for this problem is to set a time that you won’t check your email after. This will also help you sleep better at night.
3. No PTO/ Sick pay
Unfortunately this is just how it goes; as a self-employed freelancer, when you’re not working you’re not making money.
4. Too many invoices/ bills
Invoices and bills can stack up depending on how many clients or jobs you have going at once. This is where ALOEwerx is a great solution for all of your self-employed accounting service needs. We can take care of your bookkeeping for $35 a month or less, and we help you use QuickBooks Self-Employed so sending invoices, getting paid, and paying bills is a snap!
5. The difficult decision of how much to charge someone for a service
Whether it’s a haircut or realtor fees, it can be hard to set prices especially when you’re starting out as a freelancer. Stay consistent and see what others are doing for a starting point.
6. Get distracted or get sidetracked with something not important
No matter how hard you try we all have those days where you just can’t focus. Try doing work in 90 minute segments, science has proven that this is the maximum amount our brain can be focused on something.
7. People think since we’re self-employed that we’re always available
This is in regards to friends trying to get lunch everyday or your significant other asking you to run to the store during the day. They don’t see how busy we actually are and just think that we’re sitting at home all day. Don’t worry you’re not alone on this one.
8. Working alone
Working alone can be nice in limiting distractions and not having to deal with some negative personalities around the office, but at times it can get very lonely. One thing to do is find a place in a local coffee shop or a library where you can get work done but be around other people. Just by being around others can help with this lonely feeling.
9. Tax returns
Tax season is the worst season – well that is unless you have ALOEwerx as your accounting services provider. ALOEwerx doesn’t just provide bookkeeping but also will prepare and file your taxes for you so you no longer have to worry about doing it yourself.
10. Going from no work to do, to doing 6 things at once for 4 different clients
This is just the way freelance work seems to go sometimes. Some months you will be just scraping by with odd jobs and then the next you’re swamped. The best plan is to plan your projects and try to not overbook yourself. It can be hard to say no to a potential client but you can get burned out real fast by overworking.