One of the exciting things about freelancing can be that you determine your own compensation by how much you charge, how many hours you are willing to work, the quality of your work, and so on. In a traditional job you could wait years to get a raise – as a freelancer you just make your own raise.

I certainly offer up my best wishes to those who are just getting started.

Mainly, I wrote this to help those who may be looking at freelancing as a “quick fix” for a desperate situation. It isn’t. (For some reason, those are the folks who seem to e-mail me most often for advice.)

Of course, freelancing is also a YMMV (your mileage may vary) based on the differing degrees of talent, effort, and determination.

Great discussion! Thanks to everyone who took part.

Robert, I have to join the chanting crowd when I say I earn far more as a freelancer than I ever did, or probably could earn in any similar corporate job.

I have been freelance now for little over a month, however have freelanced part time for many years. Going freelance on a permanent basis wasn’t really a choice for me (thanks to my day job disappearing – literally!). So far I have been incredibly fortunate and have loads of work lined up and more coming in.

For one thing, I too am making more money now, I’m enjoying the flexibility however your question you ask about family – well, that is becoming more of an issue for myself, and while I’m looking for new fulltime work, I can’t bear the idea of answering to a boss again – just another reason why I’m working hard to ensure the freelance situation becomes very viable.

I’ve been contacted by some amazing people and I’m very happy that I was able to secure some on-going projects, so for now (although early days) I’ve not had any major problems or bad experiences, but I am expecting them and trying to prepare for it.

I do miss my weekends though, I tend to slow down a bit at the weekend, but still don’t get a chance to fully switch off like when I was working in an office.

Great read, and another great article, thanks for sharing and bringing this up!

\r\nI dread answering this particular question because most people dont realize that moving to freel…

Consistency is very very crucial for freelance work. And to be able to finish anything with quality is a challenge, since accomplishment is usually the foundation of trust online. There are so many issues working at home too — even loneliness is a pressure.