When I left full-time employment to become a freelancer over five years ago, I never imagined how wonderful it would be. With freelancing comes a lot of freedom and a much bigger paycheck than I could ever make with a full-time job. I also save a lot of money by not having to drive my car every day or eat out for lunch. However with that freedom also came a lot of costs and expenses I never anticipated, and not all of them monetary. Here are a few things you’ll have to consider when deciding whether to make that leap or not.

Monetary Costs

The biggest costs will be monetary. There are a lot of items you’ll have to purchase on your own that an employer would normally buy or help with:

  • Health insurance (if you’re in the US)
  • Tax preparation (even if you do it yourself like I do, you still have to pay for something like TurboTax)
  • Digital purchases and subscriptions. Here are just a few of the apps I’ve had to purchase. While some of these can be offset in client invoices, not all can:
    • Photoshop Cloud subscription
    • Illustrator Cloud subscription
    • Coda
    • Billings
    • Sketch
    • Advanced Custom Fields premium plugin
    • Stock photos
    • Portfolio hosting & domain
    • Client testing server hosting & domain
  • You’ll also have to buy your own equipment, which is no longer simply a computer and it’s accessories. In these days of responsive design, you’ll also need a couple of devices to test on (which you can get cheaply used from eBay). Some of the equipment I’m currently using:
    • MacBook Retina
    • 27″ Thunderbolt
    • Apple Bluetooth mouse & keyboard
    • iPhone
    • iPad
    • Old Android phone
    • World plug kits for international travel
    • WD My Passport external HD
    • 1 TB Time Capsule for backups and wireless internet
  • Your utility bills will also go up (if working from home, otherwise you’ll have rental office costs!). This wasn’t a big deal, but you’ll need something better than the minimal internet, plus your electricity and water bills go up since you’re at home all day.
  • Credit card costs – if you hit a slow period of work (mine is always the beginning of the year!), you’ll need an emergency savings AND a credit card for advances to pay bills. With those comes bills and stress! (More on *that* below).

And these are just a few of the monetary costs I’ve come up with in the past day or two! Let’s move on to the costs on your own person.

Physical Costs

The biggest physical cost of being a freelancer is simply that you’re more sedentary. While you’re moving from one computer desk to another when going from full-time to freelance, simply being in an office makes you a bit more mobile. You’re more likely to get up and walk around the office, to go out for lunch and to take breaks. When freelancing from home, you’re more likely to stay in your chair from wakeup to bedtime, skipping lunch breaks and walks. I try to take a quick break every hour or so, and use walking my dogs as an excuse to step away from the computer for 15 minutes every three hours or so. I also try to workout almost every day. Sitting is literally killing us!

Mental Costs

The mental costs of freelancing can be even more taxing than the physical ones. You go from a crowded office of coworkers to a quiet, lonely place in your house. You lose physical interaction with other people and you can often go for days without talking to anyone, especially if you live alone. This can definitely take a toll on your mental health, which is why I try to take a day or two off for myself during the week if I’m feeling particularly lonely – or I’ll take the laptop to a coffee shop or someplace with wifi, as even having the background noises of strangers can be comforting. The best way I’ve combated loneliness is by having scheduled weekly outings. Once a week I attend a knitting group, and 2-3 times a week I go to a group workout. This is especially important if, like myself, all your friends have moved away and you need some like-minded people to talk to about something other than work!

Another big mental cost is the stress that comes with being self-employed. You’re overscheduled and worried about meeting deadlines. You’re underscheduled and worried about paying your mortgage. You have an angry client screaming at you on line one, and another on line two who wants to chat for two hours.

You have to learn to breath through these times and roll with the ups and downs of freelancing. I travel a lot, as well as having a ton of hobbies (knitting, reading, running, zumba, crafts…) to offset the stress. It helps me remember the freedom that comes with being self-employed. I remind myself that this slow period will pass and I’ll soon be up to my eyeballs in work wishing I had a slow week again.

Cost vs Benefits

With all these costs, you’d think that going freelance would be a bummer, but I still wouldn’t change it for the world. I can take off whenever I want, work all day in my pjs, work from Starbucks, work from London, or NYC or SF. I get to choose the projects and the people I work with, and I get to make a lot more money than I could in the Nashville market. I get to work with people all over the world and have even made some wonderful friends afterwards, who I’ve been able to visit on my travels. That definitely beats out all of the stress and monetary costs. I’ve also ran several races and gotten several medals in an attempt to beat out the physical costs. Freelancing is definitely worth it!