Freelancing has been a part of life since my early professional years. I have also worked as a permanent employee, but to be honest, a freelancer’s life is more suitable for me. I get to arrange my own program, manage my time and working hours, and not have a “boss” waiting for me every day. Life can be really free when freelancing.

However, as every profession has its pros and cons, freelance professional life can be quite tricky. There have been periods of my life that I have been tempted to leave my freelance life and get an office job.

Some of the main challenges a freelancer can deal with 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. 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.

2. Periods of no work. Until you manage to find the clients and keep them regularly, 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, in translation, some periods are “low,” and your income may seem far, far away.

3. Financial instability/insecurity. As a result of the no-work periods, your income may be diminished or zeroed. This can cause serious financial problems, regarding that your bills have to be paid every day, and you also have to eat or feed your family.

4. Poor time management. Working as a freelancer, especially at the start 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.

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. Accounting. Running a business 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.

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