Are you planning on becoming a full-time freelancer? Then, you need to prepare. You should get your hands on these three things to thrive as a freelancer.
1. A Home Office
As a freelancer, you might have to work from home. Working from home requires more than a laptop — you’ll need a dedicated office.
Find a private room or corner of your home where you can move a top-quality desk and ergonomic office chair. Add décor that will inspire creativity and productivity, like a framed motivational poster or a potted plant. You’ll want it to feel like you’ve taken a sleek corner office from a corporate building and transported it into your home.
Why is a home office so important? It allows you to differentiate your workspace from your personal space. When you’re working in your professional office, you won’t feel tempted to drift away from your tasks to go watch TV, play video games or take a nap.
Plus, you don’t want to associate relaxing parts of your home — like your bedroom or your living room — with your workday. That could make it hard to unwind after you clock out.
2. An Emergency Fund
As a freelancer, you won’t have a professional IT team to call up when your electronics need repairs. You’ll have to bring your equipment to the nearest repair shop — and you’ll have to pay for the repairs, too.
To prepare for these tech emergencies, you should set up an emergency fund ahead of time. With a well-stocked emergency fund, you can pay for any urgent repair out of pocket right away so that you can get your electronics back in working condition.
Without an emergency fund, you might not have enough to cover an urgent repair out of pocket. In that case, you could try to apply for a same business day loan as a solution. One of the biggest benefits of same business day loans is that they are incredibly useful in emergencies. If you’re approved for one, you may be able to access your borrowed funds on the same business day. You can handle the urgent expense right away.
Same business day loans should only be used for emergencies. They are not meant to cover everyday expenses.
3. Healthcare
Unfortunately, medical benefits are directly tied to your job. When you don’t work for a traditional corporate office, you will find that you are on your own for healthcare benefits. You will have to provide that protection for yourself — otherwise, you could risk collecting medical bills without any coverage whatsoever.
So, what can you do? One of your best options is to apply for a plan offered through the ACA marketplace. Find the option that works within the boundaries of your budget. If you can’t find a plan that works with your budget, these are some alternatives that you can look into:
- Accessing coverage through your spouse’s healthcare plan
- Accessing coverage through a self-employed worker’s association
- Accessing Medicaid coverage
- Accessing COBRA coverage
Whatever you do, don’t go without coverage. You never know when you’ll need healthcare. You’ll want to have this financial safety net when medical problems arise. Don’t start your freelancing career on the wrong foot. Get these essentials first and then you’ll be ready to move forward.
