Freelancing has been a part of life since my early professional years. I have also worked as a traditional employee, but to be honest, a freelancer’s life is more suitable for me. I get to arrange my own schedule, manage my time and working hours, and not have a “boss” waiting for me every day and micromanage me around the clock.

Life can be really free when freelancing.

However, as every profession has its pros and cons, the life of a professional freelancer can be quite tricky and not that awesome as it sounds. Over the years, I have had the temptation to leave my freelance life behind and get an office job so that my life gets a bit more organized and less complex. Because even if freelancing sounds simple, it is actually not; and there are a lot of challenges that freelancers face.

However, don't get my personal experience as something that should be an obstacle for your own aspirations. Every job has its challenges and difficulties but it depends what you want from life and how you want your life to be. Some are more of "free spirits" while other prefer the stability of a 9-5 job. In any case, you need to know both the perks as well as the caveats of each option.

Indicatively, some of the main challenges a freelancer can face are:

1. How to find clients.

Working in a company or organization is relatively more straightforward. If you work for someone else, you usually do not have to worry day and night about getting new customers; somebody else does—mainly their marketing or sales departments. But being your own boss means that to earn a living, you should definitely dive into driving some clients to sell your product or services. This can be hard, especially if you are an introvert and not very fond of socializing daily. However, it's important to keep the business running.

2. Periods of no work.

Until you manage to find the clients and keep providing them services on a regular basis, there might be short or long periods when you won’t have the desired workflow —freelancers have dry spells, too. Also, in some professions, the workflow depends on many factors. For instance, when I worked in translation, I had to go through some periods that were “low,” hence my income seemed like a far, far away dream. If you are willing to take that risk then you will be fine.

3. Financial instability/insecurity.

As a result of the no-work periods, your income may be diminished or zeroed. The good news is that nobody can be sure about what the future holds—even people with quite stable jobs. However, the chances are that freelancers will have some dry periods where the income won't be enough; therefore, this can cause serious financial challenges, considering that your bills have to be paid in a constant pace, and you also have to eat or feed your family. This instability may be ok for some people, but for others can be extremely stressful and end up ruining their quality of life.

4. Poor time management.

Working as a freelancer, especially in the beginning of your freelance career, you can easily get overwhelmed because the regular and fixed working hours are, actually, not fixed at all. There will be times that you will have to work all night or all weekend. You may lose weekends, drinks with friends, or even valuable time for yourself. This isn’t easy. And, unfortunately, you need to be sometime in the industry in order to be able to require more fair terms and conditions. Also, when someone starts their career, they usually don't charge a lot, so in order to make ends meet, they have to take on more work, hence less free time.

5. Staying productive.

Suppose you start your freelance activity and we still haven’t succeeded in managing your working hours. As a result, you end up working all day and night without regular breaks or time to relax. When work is running, it isn't easy to manage your time, I know. But, in addition to that, there are times that you cannot be productive as much as you should.

6. Finance & Accounting.

Being a freelancer is like running a business. And it requires managing a lot of paperwork, invoices, chase payments, submitting taxes, etc. This, especially, when you don’t like it at all, like me, or you don’t hire a good accountant, can be a headache. In order to actually make money out of freelancing, you need to be on top of things; and not only regarding your projects. You need to know personal finances, to be disciplined when it comes to your expenses, and in general to learn a lot about how taxes work.

Freelancing can be a great business opportunity, especially for those who do not like being in an office and working in fixed working hours. It has a lot of benefits, but it can also be very demanding. However, the correct organization is the key to avoid any pitfalls that will surely come along with your professional freelance life.