Unfiltered

Avoid this subtle trap of freelancing at all costs

Don't fall quietly into the trap of overwork.

Paul Mah

Paul Mah

— 2 min read
Avoid this subtle trap of freelancing at all costs
Photo Caption: Unsplash/hdbernd

Freelancing, self-employment, or being a solopreneur can be an incredibly lonely journey, one prone to the trap of slipping unknowingly into overwork.

The death of a private-hire driver who reportedly spent 15 hours behind the wheel to support his family stayed with me all week.

This UnfilteredFriday, let's talk about being your own boss, a notion often romanticized by those comfortably employed in 9-to-5 roles.

The accidental writer

I've shared how I never studied journalism or arts in school. I loved tech, taught myself coding when everyone was studying for their "O" Levels, and went straight into IT.

And yes, I secured full-time IT roles right out of school.

But then I needed more funds, and an opportunity presented itself. Before I knew it, I was hustling a writing side gig before they invented the word.

After a year, I quit my 9-to-5 role and went into full-time freelance writing. In effect, I became an accidental freelancer. And oh, that was over 18 years ago.

Going freelance

Yes, there are many advantages to being your own boss.

  • Work my own hours.
  • Can take on a variety of work.
  • Purely focused on things I loved doing.

And I'll be honest; it's also the substantially higher income: I doubled my income within the third month of quitting my job. And it doubled again after some years.

The flip side

The downsides doesn't get much airing. But let me lay some of them out here:

  • When working more hours means more money, it's a slippery path to drawing the line, especially as costs creep up due to inflation and the demands of a growing family.
  • Income can fluctuate greatly. The danger isn't the fluctuation itself, but when we unwittingly use high-income months as the basis for purchasing decisions.
  • Becoming a specialist can yield greater income in the short term but often leads to neglected upskilling - and narrow roles are more vulnerable to sudden disruption.

The result? Working too long hours, overspending, and being locked into a spiral with no time left to broaden one's skills to stay relevant.

So why don't I start hiring and growing a company? It was many years later before I understood why that never appealed to me: I wanted to keep writing and not end up doing business development.

Advice to myself

What advice would I give myself 18 years ago? There isn't much space left to explain in detail, but it boils down to two things:

  • Consciously seek balance.
  • Constantly upskill.

I'll love to hear from you, both solopreneur and full-timer. How do you maintain balance and upgrade yourself?

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