12 days of considering freelancing

Have you fallen for the myths?

There are so many myths about freelancing - many of which are peddled by people with a vested interest in selling you the lifestyle (and eventually their product).

4 hour working weeks to make £100k? Work from anywhere? Be your own boss? Productise your passion?

Don't be too quick to believe an idealised picture of freelancing. Do your own research, talk to fellow freelancers, understand what self-employment is really like.

Check out our guide to some of the good, bad and ugly myths about freelancing here.

Can you afford periods of time without income?

Perhaps the most important question to be honest with yourself about. Income can be hugely irregular, and if you're not able to find work for an extended period of time, this can lead to financial challenges.

If you haven't already done a personal budget to understand your finances, your average monthly outgoings and what you'd need to bring in, factoring in costs like taxes - get that task done before making any key decisions.

Check out some of our signposts to useful tools for understanding the affordability of freelancing here.

Are you clear on what you want to offer?

Having a clear idea of what services or offering you'll be providing to the market is an important starting point.

Lots of people say you need to have a really clear niche - we prefer the idea of a 'focus' rather than a niche, so you're not going to spread yourself too thinly when you're starting out, and so people can understand quickly what you offer.

Not only does it help you communicate why people would want to work with you, it also helps you look at who else is providing this service, what types of clients you might want to attract, and how saturated the market is for this service (i.e. are there a million other freelancers also offering your skill - and will that affect your ability to find work?)

Do you have a sense of how people charge in your role?

Have you done your research to look at the day rates and benchmarks for the type of work you're looking to do, to understand what you might be able to charge?

Use the Salary and Day Rate benchmarks to understand what others might be charging, but also recognise that day rates are variable, are attached to years of experience, and have been pretty stagnant in recent years.

Also remember that day rates are what you charge, but not what you take home. You'll need to pay taxes and national insurance, and potentially other business costs like insurance, software and equipment.

Check out the day rate benchmarks as a good starting point here.

Do you have an existing portfolio of work?

Are you entering the freelancing world with an established body of work and demonstrable experience in your field - and are you allowed to use that work to promote your own skills?

Clients will want to see your work to understand what experience you've built up, and ideally with outcomes and results. Spend some time pulling together your portfolio so you're ready to share.

Are you comfortable with selling yourself?

Just because you've posted on LinkedIn that you're freelancing, doesn't mean suddenly be in constant demand. You're going to be responsible for delivering the work, but also finding the work.

This can mean lots of self-promotion and marketing of your services.

Not everyone is comfortable with this. Fortunately, you'll be able to find an authentic approach over time - but recognising you'll need to spend a proportion of your time finding work, not just doing work, is important.

Have you already started warming up some leads?

Before you officially launch your new business, it's sensible to start warming up your personal and professional network.

Start having conversations now about potentially working together - find out who has projects coming in the new year, and find opportunities before you leap.

Often, it can be the first client project which is the trigger for someone to make the decision to move into self-employment, or perhaps they're part-time freelancing outside of their employed working hours.

Conversations around work can take a long time to convert, so starting this before you go freelance helps you land some work on day 1, rather than day 30.

Have you researched the risks?

Take some time to understand the potential challenges and risks of self-employment.

It is a very different way of working to being employed, you do not have the protections and support of an organisation, and your personal finances, career development and wellbeing can be at risk, if you're not approaching it correctly.

Whilst some of these risks are less likely than others, it's really important to be aware of the potentially challenges and potholes.

Read our guide to the most significant risks here.

How well do you deal with rejection?

It's a fact of freelancing that you'll lose more projects than you'll win.

Being able to cope with being told "no" is an important skill to develop.

In fact, lots of the time, you won't even get a reply, as ghosting is also a problem.

There are lots of things you can do to reframe the feelings around not being selected for a project - but confidence can take a little hit if you're not putting good practises in place.

Have you got a good support structure in place?

Working for yourself doesn't have to mean working by yourself - yet 89% of freelancers said they felt isolated, disconnected or lonely as a self-employed professional in 2024.

Having a good support structure in place, such as professional advisors, mentors, friends, fellow freelancers, and knowing where to find good support as a freelancer is essential.

Mental health for the self-employed is often forgotten, and freelancing doesn't come with support in the box.

There's more about why mental health for freelancers matters more here.

Have you spoken to other freelancers?

Spending time with some folk who have been freelancing for a while is an invaluable source of insight and information on what freelancing is really like.

Join a few communities, ask lots of questions, and spend some time listening to the stories.

There are lots of free to join communities online, as well as local meetups - and most freelancers are more than happy to share and support those who are considering this way of working.

Take a look at our communities page to find some groups relevant to you and your work.

Are you still excited by the idea of starting your own business?

Even after all of my annoying questions? Fantastic, good for you!

Starting your own business can be a hugely rewarding experience - it's a steep learning curve, and requires you to unlearn lots of things you might think about work, but every success feels even greater, knowing you've acheived it by yourself.

It's an important mindset shift - freelancing is starting a business, not just a little thing you do on the side.

But if you've done the prep, and you're committed to the way of working - freelancing can be liberating, offering greater flexibility, greater motivation and greater control.

If you're looking to take the leap into self-employment in 2025, join Flightplan - the co-pilot for the first years of freelancing.

Understand every step of the journey, get connected to fellow freelancers, and access resources and support from across the ecosystem.