The Ugly Truths to Living the Freelancer Life
The freelancer life may sound appealing to working parents but there’s a lot to consider before quitting the corporate scene.
The freelancer life sounds so appealing, with the 6-digit payouts and absolute control over their time. Being able to travel and work at the same time has even earned a lifestyle name: the Digital Nomad lifestyle. But that’s only the glamorous part of living the freelancer life. There are a lot of ugly truths that most freelancers don’t mention about being one.
So before quitting that corporate job because of the stress and taking back your control to spend time with your family, here are some things to consider before choosing that life.

1. You’re a one-man company.
Every company has its departments: marketing, sales, finance, HR, and more. But being a freelancer means doing all the work that a 20-man team usually does. This includes declaring taxes to the BIR, paying your SSS, etc. It may be a struggle, especially when as a parent, you have young kids or teenagers who have you on-call 24/7.
More veteran freelancers even hire an accountant to do all of that for them.
2. You need to constantly upskill.
Upskilling means to “improve on your existing skillset,” meaning that some of the money you earn from your clients need to be invested in online courses that can help improve on what you have. This will take up 80% of your free time with the rest of it finding a way to slow down and relax.
3. Getting low-balled is common for Philippine freelancers.
The international scene perceives Philippine freelancers as a “cheaper alternative” and therefore, will often offer such low rates that it’s almost insulting. Online tutors are often the victims of this, especially among their countrymen. So before we try to haggle with online tutors for our kids to get them to charge us only PHP100/hr for X number of subjects, we have to realize that this makes them find “more clients” which may compromise the quality of education for your children. That’s why tutors offer free trial classes, to prove their worth.
4. Most of the high-paying clients are international.
Freelancers earn those appealing 6-digit payouts because of the conversion rate. With $1 (USD) currently converting to PHP 55.95, $15/hr immediately becomes PHP839.20 per hour which is a lot higher than the current minimum wage here in the Philippines at PHP570 in the Metro, and PHP340 in the province. Unfortunately, the exchange is that your body clock needs to adjust to the graveyard shift.
But for many low-income families, the graveyard shift is worth it so long as it feeds their children.
5. The struggle for landing clients is real, especially when you don’t have a portfolio!
Every client has a right to be wary of a budding freelancer, especially after they’ve dealt with many who oversell. Some freelancers “oversell” in order to beat the competition and get more clients, only to realize they’ve bitten more than they could chew. Those incidents lead to a lot of struggles and negotiations which is why some clients “low-ball” freelancers.
It’s why freelancers always build a personal portfolio that can cater to the industry of their choice. Most corporate places don’t allow you to use the work you produced for them as an asset to your portfolio because they paid you to make it.
6. You will miss that stability.
Corporate jobs offer security and stability that, no matter what happens, you’re getting paid at the end of the month (or whatever the contract says). As a freelancer, those disappear and there will be days you will want to go back to that stability because it can be so tiring to find clients who will meet your price. Unfortunately, some companies don’t care if you’re a working mom with a new baby. Some even see it as a con to hiring you because your hours will be dictated by the baby, not them.

The freelancer life is not for everyone.
As working parents, choosing between stability but low pay and instability but high pay is difficult when there’s no telling how the freelancer life will go. It’s why our millennial kids nowadays have multiple gigs, much to the chagrin of many traditional companies. But this also holds true for the many working parents — especially for OFWs — who want nothing more but to give their kids a better life than they had.
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