There is nothing wrong with wanting to create your own business and work for yourself. But there are plenty of things that you should know how to do and things you should be aware of when you decide to take that big step and start working for yourself. Here are just a few things that you should keep in mind when you want to become an independent contractor or a freelance worker.
Know your title
Before you can start this journey, you need to know the difference between an independent contractor and a freelance worker. They might sound similar, but there are a few differences. So at the beginning of all of this, you first need to ask yourself what is an independent contractor? And once you know the answer, you need to ask yourself what a freelance worker is. Find the differences and similarities and then decide for yourself what you want your title to be moving forward.
Figure out your schedule
When you are working for yourself, it can be very hard to find a schedule that works with your personal life. You would think that now since you are in charge, you no longer have to worry about scheduling conflicts. But since you work for yourself, you are going to take every possible job that you can get your hands on. This will only end badly for you and your body. Make sure that you take time for yourself and make sure that you come up with a realistic working schedule so you aren’t at work all the time.
Make sure all of your expenses are paid beforehand
If you are going to jump right into being your own employer, you want to make sure that you have all of your expenses taken care of. Your work car, your equipment, your bills, everything needs to be up to date and paid for so that you don’t put yourself into a hole that you can’t dig yourself out of.
If you want to start working for yourself on the side while still working at your normal job, you can put some of these expenses on a credit card until you make enough money independently to pay it off.
Have a backup fund
In case something were to come up and cause problems for you financially, you should make sure that you have a backup fund. Something that you are not allowed to touch unless it is an absolute emergency. And if you find that your self-starting business is working out fine without needing to touch any of the money, start adding to it. You never know when something might go wrong, but you can prevent disaster by having a solid savings pile hidden away somewhere.
Be prepared for the stress
When you are starting to work for yourself, things are going to get stressful. You might not see much development at first. People might not be asking for your help and they might not be looking to hire you right away. Don’t let the stress get the better of you. Just take a deep breath and remember that all good things take time. All you can do is continuing sharing the word and eventually someone will come around.
Be prepared to create buzz around social media
Make a page for yourself online. You will need to tackle as many social media sites as possible in order to get people to know that you exist. You can’t be afraid to get annoying with the self-advertising. If you want to be able to work for yourself and make money doing it, you need to let people know that you are open for business and they can contact you whenever they have a job that needs to be done.
Don’t give up on normal life and work just yet
When you are starting to work for yourself, make sure that you don’t completely throw out your normal job just yet. You should still try to keep up with your normal life and schedule until things pick up speed with your personal contracting business. This way, you have a safety net if things were to take more time than expected to work out.
