The Pros and Cons of Working From Home When You’re Freelance

The idea of working from home is a dream to many people. Working on your own schedule, without commute, and in your pajamas are some of the benefits of this arrangement. However, it’s important not to fall into the trap of believing that that working from the comfort of your own home is everything. There are plus points and downsides; just like with everything else. Read below as we outline the pros and cons of working from home.

The Cons: # 1 Professional Mindset

You’re not going to get too far in your freelance career if you’re not acting professionally. However, you might find yourself not acting as professionally as you might be if you were working in a traditional office environment. As such, it’s recommended that you put systems in place that’ll naturally make you feel and act more professionally, such as dressing smartly, dividing work and leisure time, and getting yourself into a working mindset before you sit down at the computer.

The Cons: # 2 Beginning the Day

Many people moan about their commute, having to get up early and out of the house, and so on. However, like many things in life, these processes, which don’t always seem positive, are actually good for us. During a forty-five minute commute, you’re slowly preparing yourself to start work, and the process of simply leaving the house gets our mind spinning. If you work from home, it is typically a good idea to go for a twenty-minute walk in the morning before you start working to make you feel more awake as your day starts. Without it, it could get to midday before you really feel awake.

The Cons: # 3 Ending the Day

If starting the day might sound problematic and inconvenient, ending the day can turn out to be annoying. As soon as people who work in a traditional office leave for the day, they can turn their attention to all the other things going on in their life. When you work from home, you don’t have the equivalent “I’m done for the day” feeling. You could find that you’re blurring the lines between your work and social life for longer than you’d like. If you’re going to work from home, therefore, it’s best that you have a definite cut-off point, and that you do something that’ll ease you out of your professional mindset.

The Cons: # 4 Too Many Distractions

If you have arranged your home properly, then it’s going to be a fun place to be. You’ll have a television, fast internet, books, relaxing spaces, and a fully stocked fridge all present. While these things are awesome when you have an open schedule, they can be a nightmare if you are trying to work. If you are one of these people who are prone to procrastination, then having plenty of distractions within easy reach might not be the best idea. Even if you’re not living in the adult equivalent of a fun house, you might find it difficult to get down to work without the feeling that someone is watching you. Seeing other people working motivates us to get down to work!

The Cons: # 5 Lack of Connection

It’s not just an incentive to work that having other people nearby give to us. They also provide connection. Humans are social creatures, and they’re not designed to spend too much time on their own. Alas, that’s just what happens when you work from home: you spend the day by yourself. If you find loneliness kicking in, it’s best to get out of the house. A dedicated desk at a co-working space can give you a place that feels like your own, and other freelance workers will surround you too. You can chat to the others as little or as much as you like, but even if you are just focused on your work, you will find that simply being around others provides a boost to your wellbeing.

The Cons: # 6 Added Costs

If you work for a company in a traditional office, then they will be responsible for the costs of running the office. The heating, the water, the, well, everything – it is all covered by the company. When you work from home, you’ll be responsible for the added costs. You will find that your energy bills are much higher, simply because you will be using energy throughout the whole day, rather than just the morning and evening.

The Cons: # 7 Always Available

One problem that many freelancers who work from home find is that people expect that they are always available. You could find that people who work in regular, 9-5 jobs do not take your working arrangement as seriously as they should. If they need someone to, say, look after their dog or pick their child up from school, then you will be the first person that they call. Now of course, it is true that you have greater flexibility than most workers do, but it is not as if you can just drop what you are doing as and when you please.

The Pros: # 1 Saving Money

While there are some added costs that you need to keep in mind when you are working from home, overall, you’ll find that you’re saving more money than spending. The biggest money saver will be on the commute. The costs of getting to and from work can be considerable, once you factor in gas, parking, not to mention the cost of simply buying a car. Takeaway coffees and food can also cost a lot, especially when you add all the costs up over a period of, say, a year. When you work from home, you’ll make your own food and drink. You’ll also save money on things like new work clothes too, which matter much less when you’re not going to the office.

The Pros: # 2 Saving Time

Even if we only added up the hours we spent at work, our jobs would take up a lot of our time. If we work for eight hours, then that’s a third of our day, and another one of those thirds is spent asleep. But then, our jobs take much more time: there’s the commute, the getting ready for work, the rest time when we return home, and so on. When you work from home, you’ll find that you’ll have more hours to play with. Moreover, if you can get all of your tasks done in four hours or so, you’ll find that you have more time than you know what to do with.

The Pros: # 3 As You Please

When you work in an office, you need to play by democratic rules. You might be too cold, but if the rest of the office is too hot, then the window is going to be open. When you work at home, the only person you need to please is yourself. You can create an environment that is tailored to your needs, and your needs only. That’s pretty liberating after several years of making sure everyone is satisfied.

The Pros: # 4 More Time With the Family

The longer working hours – plus the commuting time and time needed to rest and so on – often means that people spend less time with their family than they’d like to. Now that you’re working from home, you’ll find that you naturally have more time to spend with your loved ones. The added flexibility and ability to define your own working hours means that you’ll have the freedom to attend family events – like your child’s sports match – that you may otherwise have missed because you needed to be in the office.

The Pros: # 5 Creating Your Space

There are certain companies that allow their workers to create their own working space, but for the most part, this isn’t the case. Workers are just shown to their cubicle, and that’s about it. If you’d rather be seated by the window, then too bad. When you work from home, you’ll have no such limitations: you’ll be able to create an office that is entirely in your image. There are no rules to play by other than by the ones that you set yourself. If you want to have a fun office space that’s adorned with as many photos of friends and family as it can hold, then so be it.

The Pros: # 6 Eating Well

A happy consequence of working from home is that you usually end up eating better. When you’re in an office, the temptation is to just grab whatever is most convenient, because you don’t have that much time. When you work from home, you do have the time, and you’ll be able to spend some time cooking a healthy meal. It’s also worth remembering that the food you can just grab and eat straight away usually isn’t very good for you.

Conclusion: Which is Best for You?

Take a read of the pros and cons list above, and decide for yourself. You might find that one of a co-working space or home office is better for you, or split your time between the two.