(FinancialHealth)- Are you ready to break the barriers of office walls to become a gigster? With the growing prominence of better interactive technology, the gig economy is expanding like never before. Many people are quitting their jobs in favor of relying on the income that they get from all their freelance opportunities and side gigs. It’s out with the old and in with the new!
Though quitting your full-time job to pursue a life of self-employment may sound appealing, it might be a good idea for you to keep a couple of things in mind before getting yourself into this. Here a couple of tips that we have for you:
Take a Deep Breath
Diving into the gig economy from having a full-time job is a big step. You’ve got to make sure that you’re up to doing this. Therefore, make sure you have a list of committed clients or gigs that you can rely on to make the adequate income you need. Having emergency funds is also important! If your clients bail out on you, you’ll have the money to sustain yourself until you either get yourself more gigs/clients or find yourself another full-time job.
Know Your Strengths and Develop Your Weaknesses
The next thing you want to do is know your key assets and market them. If you’re good at writing, you can do promotional writing, translation (if you know another language), editing, or proofreading. If you are artistically talented and have an eye for the visual arts, you can do graphic designing, photography, photo-editing, and other things. Perhaps if your work gets to be well-known in an architectural or a fashion magazine, you might get a full-time position there. If you don’t have the skills that are needed, be sure to take courses, even if it means paying money to take them.
You’ll Have to Deal With Loneliness
The lack of an office environment entails the lack of colleagues to interact with. Some of them can be future friends and in some cases, they can be your future spouses. Being self-employed prevents you from associating with other people more directly. Be aware of how this might impact you psychologically before taking this big step.
Lack of Motivation
Let’s admit that the physical presence of other employees can motivate you to work harder and more efficiently since you are competing with other people to impress your boss. Although, there are also non-competitive elements to motivation. The general work atmosphere around you affects the way you work. A company that has a business culture of punctuality, diligence, and adherence to strict rules will affect the way you behave and how fast you can complete your tasks. If you don’t have all of that around you while being self-employed, then you’re going to have a hard time getting things done. However, if you are generally a person who tends to be self-motivated and you are passionate about doing the work on your own, then self-employment is right for you.
Taxes & Retirement
You can do taxes and apply for retirement benefits as an independent contractor (or a sole proprietor), but the rules and procedures of handling this are a little different.
- Pay Attention to Important Tax Breaks: As a sole proprietor, you can get tax breaks on certain business activities, such as promotional activities or business travel expenses. There also may be some tax relief for internet services and other things you might need on the job. It’s important to refer to the IRS website to get the details on what their policy is for each service. You can save a lot if you do this right!
Retiring Not As Easy:
You’re going to have to struggle a lot to build a retirement fund because being self-employed means your source of income can vanish at any moment. The best thing you can do is use your money to invest in small opportunities on applications, such as Robinhood. Other than that, tighten your belt and keep putting money aside to build your retirement fund.
Copyright 2021, FinancialHealth.net
