25 Reasons to Love Freelancing – Jillian Mikolaizyk

I think every freelancer has a day — or a week — like the one I seem to be having. I’m fighting off a stomach bug, my cat’s allergies are acting up, I have far too many things vying for my attention. Even with the nice weather outside, I simply don’t have the time or the motivation to go out and enjoy it.

On weeks like this, it’s easy to envy my friends who can just call in sick to work, or take a day off without planning weeks in advance to make sure that everything will continue to run smoothly in their absence.

However, I’m not really a grump by nature. My instinct is always to look on the bright side, which is why I started this list of everything I love about my personal freelancing career. Whenever I feel down, anxious, or doubtful of my path, I like to look at it and add to it.

Some of the things are sillier than others, but it never fails to cheer me up. I thought I’d share it here, in case any of you need cheering up, too!

You make genuine connections with your clients — they’re not just faceless entities, they’re real people!
As long as you get things done by the deadline, you can do them whenever you want. (No, this doesn’t mean you should do your work at 3 AM. Love yourself.)
You’re in charge of whether you succeed or fail. While that can be scary, ultimately it’s pretty great, because it puts you in control of your own destiny. (And, admit it, you’re sort of a control freak.)
Because you are in charge of who your clients are, you’re free to turn down any job that makes you uncomfortable.
You can work from anywhere — even if that happens to be home approximately 95% of the time, it’s still pretty freeing.
Plus, since you’re at home, you can do whatever you want. Talk to your computer, sing to yourself, make funny faces as you work through a problem. No one but the cats can judge you.
The cats deserve a bullet point all on their own, actually. They’re your coworkers, how cool is that?
At least once a day, one of your cats comes and sits on your lap while you work. It’s the best.
There’s literally no better feeling than seeing a big job through to completion, knowing that you’re the one who made it happen.
You have so many cool clients! They’re all so passionate and excited about what they do! It’s honestly so infectious.
Your kitchen is right downstairs. You don’t have to decide what you want to pack for lunch in the morning, you can just make whatever you feel like in the moment!
Sometimes, what you feel is cookies or cake. You probably shouldn’t eat that for lunch, but baking while working is excitingly easy.
You never stop learning. It’s great because you’re never stagnating or getting bored and complacent.
You’re writing. This is the thing you’ve loved to do since you were old enough to pick up a pen and you get to do it every day!
There’s something ridiculously satisfying about editing jobs. Helping people put forth the best finished product possible fills you with the sort of pride you didn’t know existed.
Social media is fun, exciting, and always changing. There’s never a dull moment!
No one is around to judge how messy your desk is.
You get to make your own rates. No one decides that for you.
You’ve come so far from where you’ve started! You made a lot of mistakes along the way, but you’ve also had a lot of victories. Remember to celebrate them.
Doing this has made you more confident. Putting yourself out there gets less scary every day!
Learning how to market yourself has helped you to figure out what’s really important to you — how you want to be seen by others, and how to become that person.
Writing from other points of view has made you more empathetic and understanding.
You’ve never been more accountable and dependable than you are now. Deadlines don’t stand a chance against you these days!
You’re learning patience. You’re learning organization. It’s going slow, but you’re doing it!
You’ve connected with so many wonderful people who are passionate about the same things you are. Your life wouldn’t be the same without the people you’ve met as a freelancer!