Everybody’s doing it – well, nearly everybody.  Happy freelancers from writers and web designers to tradesmen and environment scientists are certainly wondering why everyone isn’t doing it – but there are just as many who wonder how someone could be brave enough to ditch the security of their regular employment and go freelance.

Going freelance can be a very attractive proposition when you discover that you can earn much more per hour than your employer will ever pay you. Working freelance can be a wonderful experience too. It can give you the flexibility to work when it suits you and spend more time with your family or enjoying your hobby.

It can also turn into a disaster if you don’t do your research before you set out. If you resign and throw yourself into the world of freelancing without a solid plan you could end up much worse off financially than you were as an employee.

If you have a lousy employer, you might have a hard time coming up with a list of all the benefits of working for them, but here are some of the things they might currently be doing for you that they won’t be doing for you after you resign:

• Advertising and marketing their services to keep you working;
• Paying for advertising and marketing and running a website;
• Maintaining an office infrastructure including telephones, office equipment and secretarial assistance;
• Possibly, ensuring that tax is deducted from your income;
• Providing you with a work vehicle or office space to work in;
• Paying you when you are sick and on holidays, and possibly paying superannuation for you;
• Doing the company tax return and keeping up with any legislative changes that affect the work you do;
• Paying the relevant insurances;
• Making sure you turn up to work on time.

It’s easy to dismiss all of those things when you are keen to get away from your employment but to be a successful freelancer you’re going to need a lot of different skills. Not only will you be doing the work you’re good at, you’ll also be doing the work of the secretary, bookkeeper, marketing manager – and the complaints department!

You’ll be paying for a lot things you aren’t paying for as an employee. Essentially, you’ll be starting your own small business and you’ll have all the responsibility that goes with it.

It’s a risky proposition too – unless you already have clients lined up. While you may be able to charge more per hour than you’re earning now, can you guarantee that you’re going to receive a certain amount of work every week?

One of the best ways to switch to freelance is gradually. Do your research – find out what insurances and equipment you’ll need and work out how many hours of work you’ll need to do to equal what you’re earning now. If you’re not prohibited under a contract arrangement with your employer, and you’re not risking your job by doing it, consider setting up your own small business and advertising for clients while you’re still employed. When you’re certain freelancing is going to work for you, the time has come to consider resigning and stepping into your new flexible lifestyle!

In the age of the Internet many highly skilled and intelligent workers have departed the traditional employment market to become freelancers. Why wouldn’t they? They can choose their own hours, earn more per hour, take time off when they need to, and often work from the comfort of home, saving transport and child care costs too. With all those advantages for the worker, you might be surprised to know that using a freelancer can save your business money too!

There are many advantages to hiring freelancers –

• You cut down the amount of office space and equipment you need, and potentially on the amount of electricity and office consumables used;
• Having a few freelancers at hand can help work flow when it’s busy;
• You won’t be paying holiday and sick pay;
• Finding a freelancer online is fast;
• Freelancers can fill the gaps when you’re in between employees, or need more help but not regularly enough to hire someone permanently;

Now you might think that your savings on electricity will be minimal – but electricity costs are set to increase as end users have to pay the piper for their greenhouse gas emissions. The cost of other items will go up too.

You’ll now find a huge variety of freelancers looking for work online including typists, graphic artists, writers, administrative workers, sales and marketing people, engineers and architects, and IT experts of all kinds. If you’ve previously thought that what you do in your office can’t be done by a freelancer, it might pay to review the situation!