1. Job Opportunity.

With today’s economy there are many people who simply can’t find work or who are working less hours than they need to make ends meet. Becoming a freelancer will provide you with job opportunities as long as you are willing to go out and search for them

2. Financial Gain.

You can either work as a freelancer in your spare time which will help supplement your income or you can choose to work at home full time. Either way if you put in the time and effort you can actually gain financially over what you make at your day job.

3. Set You Own Hours.

You can set your own hours. If you choose to work 12 or 14 hour days for three or 4 days and then have a long weekend you can. If you prefer to work during the wee hours of the morning and then sleep during the day time you can do that as well. You can choose your own hours and work as much as little as you choose without worrying about getting demoted or fired.

4. Accept only those jobs you want.

When you work for a big or little company, you work for the clients they accept. Here you accept only the jobs and clients you want.

5. Be your own boss.

By becoming a freelancer you become your own boss. Which means not only can you set your own hours, your own vacation time, but your own rate of pay as well.

6. Saves Money.

Becoming a freelancer can actually save you money. You don’t have the expense of gas to and from work, or eating lunch out. You can dress anyway you please which helps to save on your clothing budget and you are not asked to put in for co workers birthdays, baby showers, weddings, and other celebrations which can add up to a big chunk out of your paycheck.

7. No daily commutes.

You no longer have to fight rush hour traffic or drive long distances to the office. You can simply jump out of bed, grab a cup of coffee, and you’re at work.

8. Less Work Related Stress.

When you work as a freelancer you can eliminate a lot of the work related stress that surrounds working in an office with other people who may have conflicting personalities or annoying habits. Since you set your hours and take the amount of work that you know you can comfortably handle there will also be less deadline stress.

9. Independence.

As a freelancer you have the independence to work from anywhere you please. You can work from home or pack up the laptop and do a bit of traveling while working on the road.

10. Personal Satisfaction.

There is nothing like the personal satisfaction you get from building your freelance career from scratch and becoming a success at it.

11.Doing Something You Love.

This last reason is possibly the most important. You get to do something you love. So much of our are lives spent working why not do something you truly enjoy?

What I haven’t really covered yet on this blog is getting your portfolio right. When you’ve spent all that time marketing your site, there better be something awesome to see when they get there.

So what makes a good portfolio?

Let’s start with the premise that your portfolio is your most important calling card.

I’ve been involved in both sides of the portfolio wall. Often times i’m exhibiting work to get more work. But there’s been many occasions where i’m checking people’s portfolios when we’ve been overloaded with work and need to outsource to other freelancers.

I’ve seen a load of portfolio and here’s my opinion on what makes the best ones…

1. Well designed.
This goes without saying, especially if you are a freelance designer. I don’t just mean pretty with some nice choice of colours. I mean make sure that your work is set out in a way that is very easy to scan through. Don’t over design and complicate the navigation either, just keep it simple.

Think of your portfolio like an art gallery. The walls never intrude with the work, which brings me to my second point.

2. Don’t try and be too smart.
I’ve seen some portfolios with some crazy ideas and navigation. I understand that the person is trying to stand out and be clever, but I haven’t got the time or inclination to guess how to find the work. I other words, don’t make me think.

3. Show it all!!
This is my personal opinion, but I think you should show off your work in all it’s glory and don’t get worried about being ripped off. I’ve seen some portfolios with tiny little thumbnails of work or short paragraphs of written work because they don’t want to be copied.

If people want to steal, they will.

4. How do you work?
Seeing what you do is great. What’s even better is when I can see the process you went through to get to the final result. What was the situation the client was in when you met them? Did you have to start from scratch? Was their a brief or did you have to research and help create a marketing plan? What were their goals for the project?

This is the stuff people want to know when they take you on. Some will be trusting you with their brand and they want to know you’ll be able to work with them and not in your own little world.

Here’s a video of one site that I personally really like. Please add a link to your portfolio underneath.