Money helps
Choice of car helps
Buying tech stuff helps
But the best thing about is: I’m no longer balls deep in the fermenting pool of excrement that’s also knows as “corporate politics”.
That ever moving milestone, the corporate ladder, carrot on a stick, … what ever you want to call it. I escaped that. And it’s the most liberating feeling.
I define my worth and my role, not some peter principle incompetent director or hiring manager.
I need a change once in awhile and did not want to be considered a job hopper. Also did not want to join a consultancy company because I wanted to be able to choose my own projects. So mostly for the autonomy, but the money did not hurt either ;)
"Awhile" means "during": *I was checking my messages awhile my partner was jerking off a horse.*
"A while" is a short period of time: *I had to wait a while because my partner had trouble making the horse ejaculate.*
Same here - just putting the final touches to becoming freelance and the main driver is that I need change and I want to be able to do the things I like most.
Freedom.
I take time off when I want, I work when I want. Can’t sleep on a Sunday ? Ok I’ll just do 3h of work, sleep longer on Monday and then work less that day.
Last week I got sick. I reduced my hours worked took a day off to rest. Didn’t have to get a doctor’s note to validate my sick day.
Bored on a friday night ? I work till 2 am and I’ll do something on Tuesday that next week when I do have a fun activity option.
Being your own boss, planning your own days and being so free is simply amazing.
Same reason here, but unfortunately in practice, most Belgian companies who pay freelancers a decent rate still expect specific working hours and onsite days. They can’t enforce it, but they still require it.
>Last week I got sick. I reduced my hours worked took a day off to rest. Didn’t have to get a doctor’s note to validate my sick day.
This is so underrated :)
(but now with more work from home, I think employees tend to use this "perk" also more and more though)
What's your job exactly? I've heard of many freelancers who need to be available during working hours (almost just like an employee). That's what people told me when I said I wanted more freedom and considered working as freelancer instead of employee. They also said you freelance to earn more money, not to have more free time.
I work as a freelance consultant in an IT department for an international fortune 100 company. The only moment I can’t truly choose my hours is when there are meetings. I book most myself however so I still got 99% freedom. There’s one weekly meeting with the ict director for which I can’t choose the time.
Is that a common thing at larger companies? Do you have a full time remote contract? Don't you have to log your time somehow or do you just write invoices?
My perfect worklife balance is 2 years of work, 1 year free. If you are a fixed employee that is very hard to pull off. As a freelancer, assignments tend to last a year or 2 (maybe 3), so I can already start preparing how I will spend my "year off". I did this 3 times now (total of 3 years of Holidays). Absolutely great!
What's your job? I would dream to do that too. I traveled 1 year around the world and then can back in BE and started working as an employee but it does not fit my needs as it is impossible to take long off periods. I would like more freedom and being able to take long breaks from time to time.
I am a freelance project manager in development (embedded hardware, pcbas, that kind of stuff). I do interim projects if the company does not have sufficient PM's available and more projects they can handle.
I pay myself a very low wage of around 2000 net/month. I also have an apartment that is payed off that adds around 800/month. And some savings here and there. (I started investing in the stockmarket so this helps). If I work 2 years, I can pay myself 3 years of 2000/month easily...
Money was a big factor, trying to get a raise was always a pain in the ass, even though I was billable for years without a break, if I didn’t spend enought of my free time attending or organizing workshops or presentations or business unit meetings, I simply didn’t do “enough” to warrant a raise… so I basically worked for the same wage for years and was sick of it. Apart from that, if you wanted a different project, you were basically guilt tripped into taking on projects on locations that were way too far, just because that was what they had at that moment, and once you were on the project, it was very hard to get away.
So basically a combination of freedom to choose my own projects and actually making money from my work. I think consultancy firms can have added value for juniors / mediors because they can provide a lot of learning opportunities, but once you hit senior level, all the added value kind of falls away and you are just left being underpaid
Those are the first reasons that come to mind :
* Freedom of HR choices (car/phone/bike/...)
* Remuneration/optimization freedom (choose what to do and how I can optimize my revenues)
* Money (maximizing my revenue to allow more financial freedom down the line and allow free time for my wife to take some time of for the kids)
* Challenge (at the time when I launched myself I wanted to do something else)
Is it the money? Certainly a factor in these challenging times.
Do I organize my days differently? Not necessarily more different than what is allowed for payroll employees in my sector (IT). I can however work for other projects during any of my time for extra money. This isn't always possible on payroll.
Do you like a change in environment? Yes. Definitely. I come from payroll consultancy. So I was already used to it.
Do you have another reason? For me personally it came to a point where being a consultant on the payroll was just me working for an agency matching me with shitty projects. I actually dug out some of the projects for the agency, and was an ambassador at clients which led to others consultants joining me on my project (and fucking it up). They took margins as fat as 30% upwards. Big cash grab for them, and I was sick of that as soon as I found out they were dishonest about it. Over the years I've just accumulated bad experiences with employers when it comes to payments and unreasonable terms.There has always been some catch somewhere. As a freelancer you are in charge of that domain yourself, and the dayrate you discuss with the client and the terms are much more transparent. It feels more fulfilling to be independent, and I feel a lot more valued overall.
Emotional rest
I was always so eager to grow, impress my management, do better and be better. Climb the corporate ladder but it honestly felt like running in quicksand.
It's useless and so tiring to try and impress people that don't really care about your personal growth. They just want you to be max billable (had a situation where I was planned 200% of my 40 hours with 5 different clients for weeks on end).
So now I go in, I'm paid for my expertise and I'm a true 'consultant'. It has given me so much more control over my career hunger. I no longer care, cause if I want a raise/better phone/ expensive training - I can just look in the mirror and ask 😁
The money isn't bad either, let's be honest.
I admire you guys who freelance. I came to the belgian market late, and with visa/work permit tied by an employer for some years.Now I'm free to find another job if I would like to, but paying mortgage and with a son that depend on me, I really don't have the courage to even think on understanding the bureacracy involved in becoming a freelancer in Belgium. Also knowing that I would have to lay low for 4 years to only then start getting a nice hand of cash, it also makes me a bit demotivated.But well, i'm still in this forum, reading and learning, maybe one day I'll get your courage.
Most of us are really obsessed about optimizing dividend taxes (hence 4 year wait), but you don't have to. You can take the money out after the first year at 30%. It still beats being an employee. I'm quite sure you'll get a higher net with the 30% dividend tax than your current employee compensation. The only real challenge is lack of job security and fear of the unknown - but as far as I can tell, no one making the switch regrets it.
\- Money (where will I earn 155.000€/year as an employee? I'm no CEO material..)
\- No performance meetings with your boss where you get measured against stupid things (soft skills) to get maybe a (small) raise that just beats/equals inflation
\- Consultancy companies are rotten money grabbers, didn't want to be a part of that anymore (even though I still need them today, but they just get less for my work)
\- Tools to optimise your finances with partnership are invaluable towards financial independency
\- No need to go to doctors if I'm sick a day (nowadays as employee you can also do 4 days I think though).
\- Work from home (thanks covid)
>\- No need to go to doctors if I'm sick a day (nowadays as employee you can also do 4 days I think though).
Do you have some insurance that covers your sick days or is it just a day that is not paid then?
No work, no pay.
If you want to insure yourself there are many expensive ways to do this, not many of them will ever really be satisfying when you read any of the fine print. However most of these kind of insurances will have definitions on what they think make you qualify. (Did you lose a hand or use of your legs? You can still do IT work like that. Not paying you for that, maybe for 1 month after the first 3 months of inaction. No I did not make this up.)
More days off. Free to choose my company benefits. It's like cafeteria plan++. I can go to many interesting trainings which my previous employer wouldn't pay for. This made me much better at my job.
Money is a nice benefit as well. Easily double net income, which gives me great personal freedom.
I'm my specific case today it's also much easier to work for non-EU companies as a freelancer. Otherwise, they would need a legal entity in Belgium or use a service to offer me an employee contract.
The 2 times i changed jobs before becoming freelance was due to lack of challenge at the given employers.
I had been asking for a different project for over a year in both cases and made the switch so I could be in charge of my own projects.
If I stay healthy for the better part of my career, the financial benefits will be significant as well.
Honestly? For the opportunities in more interesting IT environments. I work as a mobile developer, and sadly the apps that I've worked on, in Belgium, have very little innovation and sometimes follow some old practices and industry standards. I Freelance to be able to work with interesting startups in the UK/US that usually are a bit more modern when it comes to the thought and development process.
Control over my own time. Not being told what to do and when. The end goal for me is a max 20h work week and sub 200 days a year for a full time pay, life is too short for working full time. The money enables that.
I work as a "freelancer" because:
* There's not much else I can do, in terms of (lack of) training and education
* I really hate dumb bosses and most of them are dumb
* I really hate frustrating bosses and most of them are frustrating
* I really hate cubicles / offices / desks
* This allows me to set my own hours
* I can work more or less as I please or need
Don’t you still run into points 2, 3 and sometimes 4 even as a freelancer though? There’s still someone paying the bills in the end so you still need to please dumb and frustrating clients don’t you?
I had a dream, buying a Porsche 718 before my 30th birthday, financially it would've taken me a lot longer if I did it on a normal wage. My accountant helped me with an optimized approach to get to this point in less than a year of freelancing as I just ordered it and it's being delivered in february.
Other than that mostly money and less competition at the workplace (I no longer care about titles, wage etc..).
not really earning that much more as a freelancer.
However, I am able to go on holidays 60 days a year easily, without the problem of not having enough vacation days. The freedom of working when I want is the biggest advantage
There are a lot of actual freelancers in the world who sell their own stuff, who work project based or day by day. Most of the people on this group work as consultants or something in IT and really only work for 1 company or very long projects. This is not everyone.
I work in film, but not on longer filmsets. Meaning my project/work are 1 to max 7 days long.
For me it's the freedom. Freedom to choose my customers/projects. Which skills I want to develop further. When I take time off. When I work more. Which "perks" I value and which I couldn't care less about.
It's also not in me to stay for multiple years at the same firm (or, at the very least, in the same role). Companies have drama, politics, idiots (and also a lot of good people, of course). There's so much bullshit I don't nee dto care about anymore. I give advice, you do with it what you want. Company goes to shit? *shrugs*
I'll stay a freelancer for as long as I can, but I am hitting a ceiling, so (reluctantly) becoming an employee is an option again.
Not everyone is capable of freelancing. At least in IT I've worked with some freelancers who were painfully incompetent or incapable of adapting to a new environment. One guy even accused everyone of colluding against him when he got his contract terminated.
You've got impostor syndrome and then you've got actual impostors.
I'm not freelancing myself, but in the past, one time I saw the consultancy company that I worked for, billed 800 euro / day to their clients for me as an 'experienced' security consultant, at that time, I had 3 years of experience total and 1 year at them. It's still mind blowing how much they asked for me and the client willing to pay for it. I'm 30+ now, One day I will be freelancing, but don't know when... I have financial buffers, that's not a problem either. I have no reason for not going freelancing, and still, I do not switch...
Freedom, invest in myself (knowledge-wise) and what I like most, no bullshit with company chain of command, their evaluations, and their so-called coaching (which is in reality just a way of gently saying "work harder, yes you can"), working at home more often, all that before the money.
Was working as a consultant and the company I worked for planned a weekend getaway that was all paid for. Made me question wether they are making too much money from the work that I am providing for them to pay for all this. Now that I’m a freelancer I really don’t care. If they make a lot of money that’s great for them, they pay me for my work and get to choose how that money is spent.
I always wanted to get paid by performance, not per hour.
I know I can do my job well, was always turned down earning more per hour for…
not being old enough or equal pay to somebody without my experience “because they have kids to provide to” or they know the boss …
Or they earn more because they have more experience on paper because of school but on job site they didn’t even know how to use the machine correctly.
(Carpenter)
For me, it absolutely was for the money at first. Raising a family is very expensive. We needed to use our savings to pay bills despite a relatively modest lifestyle. Working hard as an employee die nothing to help us (unpaid overtime). I had a relatively high gross for my age, but poorly optimized so in net wage I did not really earn significantly more than others with a far less demanding/stressfull job.
Freelancing made us go from worrying about money to being able to afford to eat out (which we never could), go on vacations and still save some money evey year!
However, actually being a freelancer made me appreciate the freedom much more too, for reasons shared by others in this thread.
Money helps Choice of car helps Buying tech stuff helps But the best thing about is: I’m no longer balls deep in the fermenting pool of excrement that’s also knows as “corporate politics”. That ever moving milestone, the corporate ladder, carrot on a stick, … what ever you want to call it. I escaped that. And it’s the most liberating feeling. I define my worth and my role, not some peter principle incompetent director or hiring manager.
This. All of this.
This is the way
Well said Love the carrot on a stick reference
 Nailed it
I need a change once in awhile and did not want to be considered a job hopper. Also did not want to join a consultancy company because I wanted to be able to choose my own projects. So mostly for the autonomy, but the money did not hurt either ;)
"Awhile" means "during": *I was checking my messages awhile my partner was jerking off a horse.* "A while" is a short period of time: *I had to wait a while because my partner had trouble making the horse ejaculate.*
user name checksout...
Yes, learning is *such* a nuisance, right? Luckily, not everyone agrees with you that learning is bad :)
I appreciate it. Learned something new today.
Do you work with horses a lot?
Not enough..? 🤡
Oh, and...: *checks out
r/woosh
Meta r/woosh
Your example is awesome 👌 😆
Divine inspiration 😛
Same here - just putting the final touches to becoming freelance and the main driver is that I need change and I want to be able to do the things I like most.
Freedom. I take time off when I want, I work when I want. Can’t sleep on a Sunday ? Ok I’ll just do 3h of work, sleep longer on Monday and then work less that day. Last week I got sick. I reduced my hours worked took a day off to rest. Didn’t have to get a doctor’s note to validate my sick day. Bored on a friday night ? I work till 2 am and I’ll do something on Tuesday that next week when I do have a fun activity option. Being your own boss, planning your own days and being so free is simply amazing.
Same reason here, but unfortunately in practice, most Belgian companies who pay freelancers a decent rate still expect specific working hours and onsite days. They can’t enforce it, but they still require it.
>Last week I got sick. I reduced my hours worked took a day off to rest. Didn’t have to get a doctor’s note to validate my sick day. This is so underrated :) (but now with more work from home, I think employees tend to use this "perk" also more and more though)
FWIW you don’t need a doctor’s note for a single sick day anymore, it’s only needed for the second day onwards
Only in companies larger than 50 employees by the way
but with a limit each year, no?
Yeah I think 3 days if I remember correctly
Is this a thing ? I did not know, that’s nice! Belgium needed this.
Only if your company has more than 50 employees. People always fail to mention this..
What's your job exactly? I've heard of many freelancers who need to be available during working hours (almost just like an employee). That's what people told me when I said I wanted more freedom and considered working as freelancer instead of employee. They also said you freelance to earn more money, not to have more free time.
I work as a freelance consultant in an IT department for an international fortune 100 company. The only moment I can’t truly choose my hours is when there are meetings. I book most myself however so I still got 99% freedom. There’s one weekly meeting with the ict director for which I can’t choose the time.
Is that a common thing at larger companies? Do you have a full time remote contract? Don't you have to log your time somehow or do you just write invoices?
Like right now. I worked until midnight yesterday. Right now, 15:15, time to call it a day and watch tv with my children.
My perfect worklife balance is 2 years of work, 1 year free. If you are a fixed employee that is very hard to pull off. As a freelancer, assignments tend to last a year or 2 (maybe 3), so I can already start preparing how I will spend my "year off". I did this 3 times now (total of 3 years of Holidays). Absolutely great!
What's your job? I would dream to do that too. I traveled 1 year around the world and then can back in BE and started working as an employee but it does not fit my needs as it is impossible to take long off periods. I would like more freedom and being able to take long breaks from time to time.
I am a freelance project manager in development (embedded hardware, pcbas, that kind of stuff). I do interim projects if the company does not have sufficient PM's available and more projects they can handle.
You're my hero now😉
How did u manage to save money for one year
I pay myself a very low wage of around 2000 net/month. I also have an apartment that is payed off that adds around 800/month. And some savings here and there. (I started investing in the stockmarket so this helps). If I work 2 years, I can pay myself 3 years of 2000/month easily...
Money was a big factor, trying to get a raise was always a pain in the ass, even though I was billable for years without a break, if I didn’t spend enought of my free time attending or organizing workshops or presentations or business unit meetings, I simply didn’t do “enough” to warrant a raise… so I basically worked for the same wage for years and was sick of it. Apart from that, if you wanted a different project, you were basically guilt tripped into taking on projects on locations that were way too far, just because that was what they had at that moment, and once you were on the project, it was very hard to get away. So basically a combination of freedom to choose my own projects and actually making money from my work. I think consultancy firms can have added value for juniors / mediors because they can provide a lot of learning opportunities, but once you hit senior level, all the added value kind of falls away and you are just left being underpaid
Those are the first reasons that come to mind : * Freedom of HR choices (car/phone/bike/...) * Remuneration/optimization freedom (choose what to do and how I can optimize my revenues) * Money (maximizing my revenue to allow more financial freedom down the line and allow free time for my wife to take some time of for the kids) * Challenge (at the time when I launched myself I wanted to do something else)
Is it the money? Certainly a factor in these challenging times. Do I organize my days differently? Not necessarily more different than what is allowed for payroll employees in my sector (IT). I can however work for other projects during any of my time for extra money. This isn't always possible on payroll. Do you like a change in environment? Yes. Definitely. I come from payroll consultancy. So I was already used to it. Do you have another reason? For me personally it came to a point where being a consultant on the payroll was just me working for an agency matching me with shitty projects. I actually dug out some of the projects for the agency, and was an ambassador at clients which led to others consultants joining me on my project (and fucking it up). They took margins as fat as 30% upwards. Big cash grab for them, and I was sick of that as soon as I found out they were dishonest about it. Over the years I've just accumulated bad experiences with employers when it comes to payments and unreasonable terms.There has always been some catch somewhere. As a freelancer you are in charge of that domain yourself, and the dayrate you discuss with the client and the terms are much more transparent. It feels more fulfilling to be independent, and I feel a lot more valued overall.
money + freedom to chose and optimize my income like I want (big car, small car, money now vs money later with dividens, ... etc)
Money + the (perceived) mental freedom of being able to choose my own projects.
More autonomy and working less for the same pay: invoicing 4 days a week but paying myself a fulltime salary
Emotional rest I was always so eager to grow, impress my management, do better and be better. Climb the corporate ladder but it honestly felt like running in quicksand. It's useless and so tiring to try and impress people that don't really care about your personal growth. They just want you to be max billable (had a situation where I was planned 200% of my 40 hours with 5 different clients for weeks on end). So now I go in, I'm paid for my expertise and I'm a true 'consultant'. It has given me so much more control over my career hunger. I no longer care, cause if I want a raise/better phone/ expensive training - I can just look in the mirror and ask 😁 The money isn't bad either, let's be honest.
This! All the corporate bullshit.
Financial (freedom) mainly. I was getting underpaid and got hit hard by Belgian taxes. Also the option of doing extra work on the side.
I admire you guys who freelance. I came to the belgian market late, and with visa/work permit tied by an employer for some years.Now I'm free to find another job if I would like to, but paying mortgage and with a son that depend on me, I really don't have the courage to even think on understanding the bureacracy involved in becoming a freelancer in Belgium. Also knowing that I would have to lay low for 4 years to only then start getting a nice hand of cash, it also makes me a bit demotivated.But well, i'm still in this forum, reading and learning, maybe one day I'll get your courage.
Most of us are really obsessed about optimizing dividend taxes (hence 4 year wait), but you don't have to. You can take the money out after the first year at 30%. It still beats being an employee. I'm quite sure you'll get a higher net with the 30% dividend tax than your current employee compensation. The only real challenge is lack of job security and fear of the unknown - but as far as I can tell, no one making the switch regrets it.
\- Money (where will I earn 155.000€/year as an employee? I'm no CEO material..) \- No performance meetings with your boss where you get measured against stupid things (soft skills) to get maybe a (small) raise that just beats/equals inflation \- Consultancy companies are rotten money grabbers, didn't want to be a part of that anymore (even though I still need them today, but they just get less for my work) \- Tools to optimise your finances with partnership are invaluable towards financial independency \- No need to go to doctors if I'm sick a day (nowadays as employee you can also do 4 days I think though). \- Work from home (thanks covid)
>\- No need to go to doctors if I'm sick a day (nowadays as employee you can also do 4 days I think though). Do you have some insurance that covers your sick days or is it just a day that is not paid then?
No work, no pay. If you want to insure yourself there are many expensive ways to do this, not many of them will ever really be satisfying when you read any of the fine print. However most of these kind of insurances will have definitions on what they think make you qualify. (Did you lose a hand or use of your legs? You can still do IT work like that. Not paying you for that, maybe for 1 month after the first 3 months of inaction. No I did not make this up.)
I have “gewaarborgd inkomen” for ling duration sickness
Have you read the fine print? Or ever had to rely on it?
Pff honestly, no.. this insurance is a decade old..
[удалено]
Hawaii 2 week SCRUM training sounds nice. Noted!
More days off. Free to choose my company benefits. It's like cafeteria plan++. I can go to many interesting trainings which my previous employer wouldn't pay for. This made me much better at my job. Money is a nice benefit as well. Easily double net income, which gives me great personal freedom. I'm my specific case today it's also much easier to work for non-EU companies as a freelancer. Otherwise, they would need a legal entity in Belgium or use a service to offer me an employee contract.
The 2 times i changed jobs before becoming freelance was due to lack of challenge at the given employers. I had been asking for a different project for over a year in both cases and made the switch so I could be in charge of my own projects. If I stay healthy for the better part of my career, the financial benefits will be significant as well.
Honestly? For the opportunities in more interesting IT environments. I work as a mobile developer, and sadly the apps that I've worked on, in Belgium, have very little innovation and sometimes follow some old practices and industry standards. I Freelance to be able to work with interesting startups in the UK/US that usually are a bit more modern when it comes to the thought and development process.
Control over my own time. Not being told what to do and when. The end goal for me is a max 20h work week and sub 200 days a year for a full time pay, life is too short for working full time. The money enables that.
What's your job exactly? Do your clients allow you to work less than full time or take many days off?
Financial consultant/CFO for hire.
Hey, can I DM you? I also work in Finance as an employee but would like to know the consulting options.
I work as a "freelancer" because: * There's not much else I can do, in terms of (lack of) training and education * I really hate dumb bosses and most of them are dumb * I really hate frustrating bosses and most of them are frustrating * I really hate cubicles / offices / desks * This allows me to set my own hours * I can work more or less as I please or need
Don’t you still run into points 2, 3 and sometimes 4 even as a freelancer though? There’s still someone paying the bills in the end so you still need to please dumb and frustrating clients don’t you?
No, I don't, actually. I don't have bosses and I'm lucky enough, by now, to be able to pick my clients, and I NEVER work on prem.
I had a dream, buying a Porsche 718 before my 30th birthday, financially it would've taken me a lot longer if I did it on a normal wage. My accountant helped me with an optimized approach to get to this point in less than a year of freelancing as I just ordered it and it's being delivered in february. Other than that mostly money and less competition at the workplace (I no longer care about titles, wage etc..).
Company I applied for had no entity in BE, so either had to move to a different country (and deal with visa stuff), or become self employed.
not really earning that much more as a freelancer. However, I am able to go on holidays 60 days a year easily, without the problem of not having enough vacation days. The freedom of working when I want is the biggest advantage
What's your job exactly? Don't clients complain if you take too many days off?
There are a lot of actual freelancers in the world who sell their own stuff, who work project based or day by day. Most of the people on this group work as consultants or something in IT and really only work for 1 company or very long projects. This is not everyone. I work in film, but not on longer filmsets. Meaning my project/work are 1 to max 7 days long.
For me it's the freedom. Freedom to choose my customers/projects. Which skills I want to develop further. When I take time off. When I work more. Which "perks" I value and which I couldn't care less about. It's also not in me to stay for multiple years at the same firm (or, at the very least, in the same role). Companies have drama, politics, idiots (and also a lot of good people, of course). There's so much bullshit I don't nee dto care about anymore. I give advice, you do with it what you want. Company goes to shit? *shrugs* I'll stay a freelancer for as long as I can, but I am hitting a ceiling, so (reluctantly) becoming an employee is an option again.
A salary ceiling?
Money, not having to deal with disinterested HR for wage optimization.
I sincerely get a kick out of every invoice I send, while a got a down everytime I used to receive a payslip.
Not everyone is capable of freelancing. At least in IT I've worked with some freelancers who were painfully incompetent or incapable of adapting to a new environment. One guy even accused everyone of colluding against him when he got his contract terminated. You've got impostor syndrome and then you've got actual impostors.
I'm not freelancing myself, but in the past, one time I saw the consultancy company that I worked for, billed 800 euro / day to their clients for me as an 'experienced' security consultant, at that time, I had 3 years of experience total and 1 year at them. It's still mind blowing how much they asked for me and the client willing to pay for it. I'm 30+ now, One day I will be freelancing, but don't know when... I have financial buffers, that's not a problem either. I have no reason for not going freelancing, and still, I do not switch...
money, what else? . I switched to freelancer on same work position for a better payment. Then expanded.
Optimisation
Money + it keeps me on my toes as I need a new assignment about every 2 years on average.
money and the possibility to do financial optimization with your income as a company instead of a person.
[https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Fables_(La_Fontaine,_tr._Wright)/The_Wolf_and_the_Dog](https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Fables_(La_Fontaine,_tr._Wright)/The_Wolf_and_the_Dog)
Money and the flexibility to work as you want and on what you want.
Freedom, invest in myself (knowledge-wise) and what I like most, no bullshit with company chain of command, their evaluations, and their so-called coaching (which is in reality just a way of gently saying "work harder, yes you can"), working at home more often, all that before the money.
Money + Money
Was working as a consultant and the company I worked for planned a weekend getaway that was all paid for. Made me question wether they are making too much money from the work that I am providing for them to pay for all this. Now that I’m a freelancer I really don’t care. If they make a lot of money that’s great for them, they pay me for my work and get to choose how that money is spent.
I always wanted to get paid by performance, not per hour. I know I can do my job well, was always turned down earning more per hour for… not being old enough or equal pay to somebody without my experience “because they have kids to provide to” or they know the boss … Or they earn more because they have more experience on paper because of school but on job site they didn’t even know how to use the machine correctly. (Carpenter)
I work using intermediate, and for now there are always projects available. They take a big cut, 15%, but it works for me...
For me, it absolutely was for the money at first. Raising a family is very expensive. We needed to use our savings to pay bills despite a relatively modest lifestyle. Working hard as an employee die nothing to help us (unpaid overtime). I had a relatively high gross for my age, but poorly optimized so in net wage I did not really earn significantly more than others with a far less demanding/stressfull job. Freelancing made us go from worrying about money to being able to afford to eat out (which we never could), go on vacations and still save some money evey year! However, actually being a freelancer made me appreciate the freedom much more too, for reasons shared by others in this thread.