No automatic pension accrual, no insurance, no income if you don't work, and having to manage your own income and clients entirely by yourself. Freelancing feels relatively scary to many finance professionals. But working in salaried employment is often not the best solution either. Especially when you feel underappreciated in your job, have to do tasks below your seniority level, and the compensation no longer outweighs how hard you work.
You may have thought about going it alone before. About becoming a freelancer. For many ambitious finance professionals, that is a very logical step once they are done with the standard corporate world. And if you do it right, starting out as a freelancer is not scary at all. Fortunately, you have help with that now. In this blog, we explain the difference between working in salaried employment and freelancing, and we give you tips for when you want to start working as a freelancer.
The difference between salaried employment and freelancing
In some cases, there is barely any difference between someone working in salaried employment and a freelancer. At least, when looking at the work itself. There are freelancers who enter into long-term collaborations with clients and are expected at the office at fixed times. Just like an employee. These are often freelancers who work on an interim basis, or freelancers who have one large client and several smaller clients alongside.
There are also freelancers who work for several smaller clients at the same time, can plan their own time, and are never expected at the office. An outsider to the company often doesn't know whether someone is a freelancer; only the people the freelancer works with know that.
The differences between employees and freelancers are huge when you look at the insurance and benefits they have to deal with. Almost all employees automatically build up a pension and continue to be paid if they fall ill. Employees receive a number of vacation days each year and simply get their full salary after a vacation. They even get an extra: holiday pay. Freelancers have none of that. If they fall ill or become unemployed, they have to provide for their own income.
A major difference between employees and freelancers is that as an employee you often have to work in a certain role for several years before moving up to a higher (management) position. In salaried employment, you also end up on salary scales that go up every now and then. Freelancers determine their own seniority level, know which assignments they can or cannot take on, and decide for themselves when their pay (rate) goes up. With training, experience, and rate increases, freelancers can therefore grow very quickly.
I want to freelance. But how?
You want to deviate from the standard pre-planned path, stop working for one boss, work location-independently, earn more money, or gain more freedom for your family or your hobbies. Whatever your reason for becoming a freelancer, there is a reason you may not have done it yet.
We have put together these tips to make starting as a freelancer as easy as possible:
- Talk to other freelancers who have done the same as you.
- Search LinkedIn for like-minded people, connect with them or follow them, so you can learn from others.
- Look for platforms with assignments for financial freelancers and sign up already. Think, for example, of Freelancer.nl or freelance.nl. This way, you can already explore what working as a freelancer looks like.
- Get in touch with Auditworks. At Auditworks, you will find entrepreneurs who have exactly the answers you need. And we even have your first assignment ready for you.
- Now the real work begins: register with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce.
- Open a business account.
- Determine the location of your business. Do you prefer to work from home, or would you like your own office?
- Determine your hourly rate.
- Auditworks helps you with visibility at potential firms.
- Accept your first client. You're off.
These tips should actually start with one thing: courage. Do it. Of course you want to build in some security for yourself, but that is very simple: get in touch with Auditworks.
The platform for audit talent
Auditworks is the place for you if you work as a freelancer in the financial sector. Auditworks was founded with the goal of finding, engaging, and connecting audit talent. The audit community is central to what we do, to create synergy and grow together. Discovering, inspiring, innovating, and connecting with one another in a trusted way is what it's all about for us. After all, why should every individual reinvent the wheel? We help you make the move from salaried employment to self-employment. We guide you through coaching throughout the entire process. Think of registering with the Chamber of Commerce, finding your first (and second and sixth) client through our strong network, and making sure you know the do's and don'ts as a starting freelancer.
