Freelancing is a really nice and flexible way to earn some extra money, while learning, upskilling and meeting people along the way.

But just as anything else, it has downsides and it’s not for everyone.

In this post, I’ll debunk some of the most common misconceptions I tend to see around freelancing.

1. It’s similar to working full time for a company

Actually it’s entirely different than working for a company, even a small one. I would say it’s more like owning your own business.

Overall, the main distinction basically boils down to the fact that with freelancing, usually you’re working short-term contracts/engagements with many clients instead of a long term engagement with one client (your employer). I talk about this tradeoff more here, where I dive into the pros and cons of freelancing, but the basic gist is:

With freelancing, you’re in total control. This means ultimate freedom, but it also means potential instability and risk.

Overall, I would say freelancing is more like owning a business than a full-time job, and you should think about whether that’s what you want and if you’re ready for that. OR – you can look into ways to minimize your risk, such as starting freelancing as a side hustle while working, having plenty of savings before going full-time freelancing, and so on.

Either way, just keep in mind that freelancing will be very different than working a full-time role, in both “good” and “bad” ways.

2. The best way to be successful is to have the best technical skills and the best portfolio

Especially in more technical fields like software development, web design, data analytics, etc., everyone thinks the path to success is having the best, most “eye-popping” portfolio.

The reality is very different.

Freelancing is very competitive, so having a great portfolio (which is still great by the way) is really just the icing on the cake, it’s not the cake itself. For example, I freelance in data analytics, so a lot of my work is creating reports and dashboards for clients.

I always include some samples of work I’ve done, but I’ve never, not even once had a client reach out and say “Wow! I was really impressed by your portfolio! I want to hire you!”. Not once. Sure, maybe my portfolio just sucks, but I also like to think that I’ve been pretty successful freelancing, and I think there’s a reason:

Clients simply don’t care that much about your portfolio

Most of the time your portfolio is not going to be relevant for the specific problem they want to solve, and if it’s not, it’s basically just eye candy.

But what do they care about?

In my experience, it’s usually these things, and usually in this order:

1. Can you do their specific job well
2. Can you do the job on time
3. Can you do the job for a reasonable budget
4. Do you communicate in ways they understand
5. Are you reliable and trustworthy

Here’s a post where I expand on each of the above five points:

My recommendation is to focus mostly on getting good at all of those, and communicating those when you apply for postings on Upwork, and when you talk to clients in interviews.

3. It’s easy or can be done half-heartedly

This is the biggest misconception in my opinion, and honestly one of the main downsides of freelancing.

You’re usually getting paid by the hour, or sometimes a flat rate, to churn out real work product for a client. Freelancing is a purely “service-based offering”, meaning that the client is paying for your services rendered to them.

So in other words, freelancing is about the furthest thing from “passive income” as you can get.

You need to be actively working on projects to make money, and at the same time, you also need to be actively seeking out new clients (viewing job postings, submitting proposals, working on your profile, etc.) to make sure you don’t have “drought” periods with no work and no pay. This can get tiring, especially at first when you’re still learning and building things up, so you really have to be invested in making it happen.

My only advice here is either:

1. Accept this upfront as the reality and forge ahead, or
2. If this isn’t what you want, then freelancing is probably not for you

Moral of the story is don’t expect freelancing to be easy, straightforward, or in any way “passive”.

Wrapping up

So there you have it, those are my top 3 misconceptions about freelancing.

Hope this saves you some time, effort and headache as you navigate the world of freelancing!