Freelancers: Should You Take a Full-Time Job? Maybe…
These days, everybody is cheering on the freelancers.
“Freelance is the future of work.”
“Work from anywhere.”
“Be your own boss.”
“Work the hours that suit you.”
But if you’re a freelancer, what would you do if someone offered you a full-time job?
Is it tempting to take that job? Why might you say yes? Let’s think about that.
Take a Job For Two Years, Then Return to Freelancing?
Think of it this way: you could take a job for a couple of years to turbo-charge your growth and then return to freelance.
Two years at an agency or in-house at a corporation gives you a chance to:
Grow your network
Learn management skills
Dramatically improve your craft
Understand how bigger clients operate
Upgrade your portfolio with prestigious names
Take the job, but keep freelancing as a side hustle (yeah, it’s a lot of work, but so what?)
Taking a job means you’re getting paid to learn. It might be just what you need.
When you go back to freelancing, you’ll start again with better connections.
Look at it as a chance to upgrade your clients and the people you work with when you freelance.
Would You Take a Job for Financial Considerations?
Maybe you just need to make more money. Perhaps a full-time job would give you that.
Right now, many freelancers are finding it tough to get enough work. So, a paycheck every two weeks sounds tempting.
Maybe you’re about to become a parent. Now you’re responsible for another life and more costs.
Or what if you want to get a mortgage to buy a house? It’s easier to qualify if you have a full-time job.
Want to stay a freelancer but aren’t busy enough? I wrote about tactics to find more clients.
Take a Job Just for the Health Insurance?
If you live in the USA, the cost of health insurance is significant.
This is especially true if you have a partner and children. That’s a lot of insurance every month. Many people work full-time just for the health coverage.
It sounds sad, but it’s a valid consideration.
Full-time Might Give You Better Work-Life Balance
The “happy talk” is that freelancers can work when and where they want—the “working in a Bali beach café” story.
For many freelancers, the reality is quite different.
When you combine client deliverables, 101 admin tasks, and constant new business hustle, you’re often working long hours.
You might be wishing for an easier, more predictable 9-5. Just do your work, let someone else take care of all the other stuff.
You Miss the Camaraderie
Freelancing can get lonely. It’s just you and the keyboard and maybe a few Zoom calls. Some people don’t function well in that environment.
In a job, you’re part of a team. You celebrate wins together. You can have lunch together. Go for Friday night drinks.
And if you’re in the market, the latest stats say that 43% of people met their life partner at work (more than on apps). So, there’s that…
Sometimes it’s the unpaid benefits that are most meaningful.
Maybe “Get a Job” is a Passing Phase
If you freelance, you know there are days when you wonder why you work that way. Why not just find a decent company and take a staff position?
But after a good night’s sleep, you wake up and think, hell no, I love this life.
It’s your call, your life. Do what’s right for you.
If you need a real change that could be solved by taking a job, do it. You can always go back to freelancing.
If you’re just having a bad day, let it go. You’ve had many great days, and they’ll be back again.
Or, Create Your Own Bigger Company
Maybe the answer is to grow from solo freelance to building an agency. That worked for me. I was a freelance writer for six years before I started my first agency.
Building an agency answered a lot of questions. It forced me to be a quick learner. (I had no business background) It allowed me to work with many talented people, both inside the agency and outside contractors.
Having an agency allowed me to work at a much higher level. Our clients included national and international companies and all levels of government—clients I might not have qualified for as a solo freelancer.
You can read more about starting an agency here.
There’s lots more about the benefits of getting a job before you freelance in my book, How to Start a Successful Creative Agency. It’s the essential business guide for graphic designers, copywriters, filmmakers, photographers, and programmers.
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