Increasing population led to the underemployment in the society. Jobs are scarce and applicants are limitless. Hence people were made to do freelancing works for living. Freelancing means being a free agent, but it doesn’t necessarily mean working from home via Internet. However, online freelancing plays a big role in the freelancing world, and thus this article only covers the online freelancing. Freelancing includes doing some gigs here and there and earning money from the jobs after completing them as opposed to get paid at the end of the month by doing a traditional job. With adaptation of technology, freelancing became even simpler as a person can do certain jobs whilst being at home and still earn money. This article primarily talks about the advantages, and disadvantages of both job types.
Advantages and disadvantages of Traditional Jobs
| Pros | Cons |
| Routine Lifestyle: A routine is set in your life and you have to look forward to it everyday. It also helps making plans with your friends and family as you already know your work timings. | Monotonous: Doing a job 9 to 5 for 5 days a week can become monotonous which causes one to work like a machine rather than a human |
| Clear job description: Doing a traditional job makes you understand what is expected from you and what the results should be. A clear job description acts like a guideline. | Sunday Blues: Sunday blues is a feeling of dread that one feels every sunday when they think of going back to their job on the next day, monday. Most of the people, if not all, experience sunday blues in different levels. If you experience it in a large scale then it’s time to bring a change in your life or in your job position |
| Work life: Having to go to an office everyday makes you interact with many people and gives you a social life at work. It gives you a chance to expand your social circles | Less Growth: Your growth as an individual decreases. You are working in your comfort zone and don’t test your boundaries. You meet the same people everyday and do the same job. Unless you push your boundaries there will be really slow growth. |
| Fixed salary: A fixed salary is paid at the end of the every month or week and budget planning can be done accordingly for your personal expenses. | Travelling: Getting up and leaving your home for work at times might seem like a task especially when it is raining outside. |
Advantages and disadvantages of Online Freelancing
| Pros | Cons |
| You are your own boss: You decide when to work, how to work and on what to work on. However, if you work under someone else, you won’t be able to enjoy this benefit. | Scammers: There are many scammers online who can cheat you, so choose your clients wisely. If you have any suspicions then do not work with them. |
| New experiences: With every job task that you do, you learn something new. Even your clients whom you meet online, have something to teach you. You take up different job tasks and push your boundaries. This makes you grow as an individual. | Job expectations: It changes from job task to to task, person to person. Sometimes the client tries to communicate something ,but it might be interpreted as something else. Therefore, we might not be able to supply what client really wants. |
| Work from home: The climate of outdoors doesn’t matter. No need to worry whether it’s a rush hour or will you be able to catch a taxi. Because all you need to do is to sit in your PJs with a computer and wifi and do your work. | Earnings: There is no telling that you would earn a specific amount in each month. Earning depends on the number of clients and the amount of works you receive. You might be doing good in this month but you might be compelled to save some of the earnings for the next months as it’s hard to predict the financial situation in the future |
Now let’s talk about the main reason why we take up jobs. Money. In a traditional job, you start with a low salary but as time passes, your salary increases as you are promoted. As an online freelancer, you cannot just promote yourself. Your earnings depend on the clients and the kind of jobs you do. Online freelancing is more like a start up. At first it is important to just survive in the market (as there is a huge freelancing market already established and many competitors) by earning little to no profit, but as time passes it’s quite possible to earn more than from a traditional job. However, this really depends on many factors such as the industry, work experience, the number of clients, how much they are willing to pay, amount of workload, efficiency of the works etc..
Most still believe online freelancing loses against traditional job as there is no financial security, no job tenure and no job guarantee either despite the fact that the earning might be good at times. All this is true, there are some risks involved with Online freelancing, so it’s better to do it along with a traditional job, as then it’s possible to have the advantages of the both sides, but the one has to learn to manage both, otherwise it’s quite possible that the stress might reduce the efficiency of both works. Some popular online freelancing websites are Peopleperhour, Fiverr, Freelancer ,Odesk (upwork) and Xplace. Remember, there are no guarantees in the life, higher the risks, higher the returns.
