6 Myths That Shouldn’t Stop You from Working Freelance Overseas

So many people work freelance, some even travel the world and work freelance to fund trips and you can too.

Why Go Freelance?

Do you find yourself day dreaming about handing over your resignation letter to your manager and starting out on your own? Do you feel that you would have been more successful if you could be your own boss?

There are many people out there who desperately want to break free from the rut of the office cubicle and wish they were their own managers, earning from the comforts of their home.

However, there are a number of stories associated with freelance career, which down the years have propagated to a large majority of working population and established themselves as myths hard to not believe.

While sometimes these myths are in favor of freelancing, sometimes they are against it.

Here are the top ten myths of freelancing that you need to stay clear of, in case of making it your fulltime earning option.

1. You are going to get rich quickly

Freelancing has its own perks. Getting rich quickly is certainly not one of them.

If you have got excellent negotiation skills, you can certainly extract greater price for your work than usual, however, freelancing doesn’t guarantees that you will be swimming in a pile of money.

It will take some time before you are known as an expert of your field and have a credible reputation. Your initial focus should be on building a good portfolio which you can use while reaching out to prospective clients.

2. You cannot start without savings

The biggest roadblock or better said as “mindblock” that people face while jumping guns from a regular job to a freelance career is the lack of confidence, and the lack of reserve funds.

Everyone has bills to pay, such as home rent, insurance, installments and no one wants to leave the comfort and security of their monthly paycheck. However, it doesn’t necessarily have to be like this. Getting started as a freelancer depends more on your mental preparation then financial state.

If you are inclined towards freelancing it only makes sense to devote your weekends or evenings to building a portfolio that you are proud of and at the same time try to reach out to some of your clients.

However, this doesn't have to require a large amount of money. For instance, you can find free web design tools or create your own advertising. Depending on what business you plan to run, this may not need a large initial cost. For instance, if you were doing landscaping, you could start with a battery leaf blower and simply clean people's gardens up during the winter then invest that money into more tools.

This will of course require sacrifice of your leisure time. The transitional phase is always tough, but with the efforts and work that you put in, you will soon realize that paying bills won’t be such a problem.

3. Freelancing is less secure than a regular job

In the corporate world, where more than 70% of the working population is employed, job security is a myth.

No job is completely secure and most of you must have realized this within two years of your professional work experience. By those standards, freelancing isn’t very different from your regular-day job. It surely is unpredictable and you will have to work really hard in the beginning, especially starting months could be very taxing emotionally, mentally and financially as well.

However, the feeling of being in command of the amount of money that you can make every month is quite inspirational and rewarding. Moreover, you will have to work equally hard, if not more, in order to keep your job safe.

4. You won’t be stressed at all as you are your own boss

It is easy to understand why most people want to freelance. You no longer have to deal with the highly detrimental office bureaucracy, form-filling, and pointless meeting spent either staring at your smartphone or playing footsie with cute girl in the next cabin. Sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it?

However, a freelancer is nothing short of an entrepreneur, running his own business. You are the person in command when it comes to important decision making, you are your own account manager, sales person, project manager and sales and marketing guy.

Plus, meetings will be an important part of your work schedule, and most of them will be with grumpy clients who want to squeeze the best work out of every penny that they are spending. By now you must have understood that the real picture is not as rosy.

5. Taxes and accounting will be a big headache

Freelancing is akin to running a small business, with you being your own accountant, or finance manager. You will have to put in your number skills at use while managing your finances when you go freelance.

If this is your first experience with money management, it will certainly end up teaching you a lot of things that you will be thankful for later on. Plus, you can take resort in various web resources that teach a thing or two about freelance money management.

6. You don’t need a resume

Technically a resume is a sales and marketing document whose sole intention is to sell your professional skills. Hence, those of you think that a resume is only for regular professionals are deviated from the truth.

To attract potential clients you need to have a good resume that comprise all your professional skills, experience and achievements. You can refer to some credible resume sample services online to get an idea about the in-demand skills of your industry and construct a CV and a portfolio around the same idea.

As you must have realized by now, freelancing is actually hard work, smart thinking and some essential skills put together to lead a blissful existence full of wealth, respectful clients and lots of freedom. Be generous with your efforts, and you will realize that there is not a better feeling on this planet then being able to pay your bills by being your own boss.