Recent surveys have shown that almost 30% of American workers consider themselves self-employed. Whether this is running a business, freelancing, or embracing a side hustle full-time, the image of the American entrepreneur has never been more prevalent.
There are many benefits to being self-employed, especially if you’ve never enjoyed the bizarre office culture and prickly politics. However, for every benefit, there are also plenty of challenges that self-employed professionals must overcome if they are to survive and be successful.
Whether you’re considering moving into freelancing or self-employment or are struggling to establish yourself in the early days. Here are some common challenges everyone faces to ensure you’re prepared to deal with them when they arise.
Establishing Yourself
Every self-employed professional must start from the bottom floor, which can make establishing yourself incredibly challenging. You must compete with more recognizable businesses and even other self-employed workers in the area.
You’ll also need to create your freelance portfolio or evidence of your skills, especially for manual work that you find in the trades. But, without any clients, this portfolio can be tricky to build. Few people are willing to take a punt on you because they don’t know the type of work you offer.
You can overcome this by working in your own time as an example of your abilities and using this to attract potential clients and build your reputation.
Marketing Yourself
Another common challenge for self-employed professionals is the marketing aspect. There is a trick to marketing that generates more interest in your business, but if you don’t have any experience with this, it can be difficult to identify the best approach.
A website and social media accounts are the minimum platforms you need to help get your name out there, while blog posts or other content is also useful. For tradespeople, you can also look at plumbing marketing firms to give your business a leg up while you focus on clients and project work.
Eventually, you may feel comfortable taking on marketing efforts yourself, but if you continue to operate as a sole trader, you may not have the time to do this, which is why outsourcing firms are essential.
Taxes and Charges
Traditional employment will arrange all of your tax charges for you, and money will be distributed to the appropriate channels each month. On the other hand, self-employed professionals are required to do all of this themselves.
This can be tricky if you are not sure about taxes, which is something that affects younger workers first starting. Besides this, you’ll also need to think about claiming back essential items, such as materials, energy, and gas, if you need to travel regularly for work.
It’s important to keep a detailed record of all earnings and expenses so you can easily reference it when tax season comes around. You should also use a separate bank account to ensure you have enough to pay the charge when it arrives.
Time Management
Many self-employed people work from home, making it difficult to master time management. At first, it feels like you’re not working at all, and you can take your time getting started. Suddenly, though, it’s half-past ten, and you haven’t earned a penny.
Everyone is unique in this approach, though. Some prefer to start work as soon as they roll out of bed, whereas others prefer to enjoy their morning and work later into the day. Still, many distractions come with working from home, and you can easily lose half an hour (or more) if you’re not careful.
This could cause you to miss deadlines or fall behind on projects, so make sure you work out an approach that benefits you.
Hills and Valleys
Many businesses go through high and low periods, but self-employed professionals do not enjoy consistent payment. If a corporation does not get as much demand, the workers will still receive a paycheck. If your self-employed company does not have enough demand, you have no wage to rely on.
Hills and valleys are found in all self-employed professions and many are due to the seasons. A self-employed landscaper is unlikely to do as much work during the winter as they do in the summer, for example.
Preparing for this is vital. Although you aren’t working as much, you can still keep busy. Take the time to improve your website or create content. You can also do general housekeeping and organize costs and other materials to stay occupied and ensure you’re ready for any work that comes through.
Expansion Potential
Many self-employed workers dream of becoming successful entrepreneurs after years of hard work, yet expansion is always a difficult element. There needs to be enough demand that you have no choice to hire others, but this demand must also be reliable and consistent.
As self-employed work can be volatile, you never want to push yourself too far, as there’s no guarantee the clients will remain there. Instead, take your time and carefully consider your next move before making anything official.
Loneliness and Isolation
Recent discussions about working from home and being self-employed have highlighted ways to avoid loneliness and maintain a healthy mind.
Unlike traditional office work, the self-employed usually only spend time with themselves. While some have families or partners, others don’t, meaning their only interaction is with clients for most of the week.
While it may not seem like a significant issue at first, prolonged loneliness can severely affect mental well being which will also impact the quality of work. If you feel isolated, allow yourself to get out of the house or identify co-working spaces that put you around other people.
Overcome
There are many challenges that freelancers and self-employed professionals must overcome if they want to be successful and grow their businesses. From marketing to mental health, these challenges can come and go depending on demand and the times. As long as you are prepared for this, you will make it easier to manage the myriad of roadblocks you encounter during your career and ensure a fruitful and successful experience.
