Once upon a time, a gig – a one-time, short-term assignment or project – was something reserved for musicians or models.

But those days are long gone – a growing number of people are choosing to avoid the regular nine-to-five routine, choosing instead to work on demand for companies that employ them on a freelance or independent-contractor basis.

Thanks to technology, today’s workers can undertake freelance work for a wide range of industries, from just about anywhere. Mix and match your gigs, and voila – you have the ultimate balanced work lifestyle.

That said, before you shrug off salaried employment altogether, it’s always good to weigh the pros and cons of going freelance. Here are some of them.

1. Full-time benefits

There’s much more to freelancing than flexible hours and being your own boss. One of the biggest pluses of full-time employment are the employer-provided benefits, such as medical reimbursement, sick days, and paid leave.

Freelancers have to fend for themselves. Forget about calling in sick and claiming back your medical costs, or taking paid leave to go on holidays – clients won’t be paying you for no work done.

2. Flexibility vs security

The freelancing lifestyle can be liberating. You won’t be bound to a desk day in and day out; and, as your own boss, you don’t have to answer to someone else – other than your clients, of course.

But this brings up the challenge of getting work in the first place. With no one assigning it to you, you have to hustle to secure gigs yourself.

Most of these jobs can’t promise you a regular income, and many of them – especially those on digital platforms – will not pay much, anyhow.

3. Per-gig pay vs paycheck

One of the major advantages of full-time employment is knowing you have a regular paycheck, which is crucial for budgeting and saving. This isn’t the case in the world of freelancing.

As a freelancer, you bill as you earn – or are remunerated as the gigs are completed or products are sold – however frequently or infrequently that is. One of the biggest challenges is ensuring there are enough jobs lined up to generate the cash flow you need to survive.

How old you are bears considerable influence over the direction you take. If you’re a fresh grad, chances are you don’t have the financial safety net to risk relying on gigs, or enough experience and expertise to embark on a freelance career.

You would be better off exploring gigs and freelance opportunities on the side, in addition to a day job.

If, on the other hand, you’ve been in the working world for a couple of years or more, have acquired solid skills, identified a services niche, and established contacts with individuals or organisations, then you have the foundation to establish a solid gig workflow and a successful freelance career.

4. The loneliness factor

Freelancing can be a lonely profession. It generally lacks the social interaction and bustle of an office job, and you have no colleagues to speak of.

In fact, a laptop often becomes a freelancer’s best friend. You could consider sharing an office with someone else, or renting a space in a coworking site, but this costs money.

Then, of course, there’s missing out on gatherings like holiday office parties. Unless you throw one of your own, you can forget about these altogether as your clients probably won’t invite you to theirs.

On the flipside, if you’re introverted or antisocial, freelancing is a great way to work without being forced to spend hours with others in meetings, or trying to come up with something to say while you’re gathering around the coffee machine.

The bottom line

Young adulthood is the perfect time to take calculated risks such as freelancing. If you’re really good at what you do, you might be able to take professional leaps that would be much longer to achieve in a structured office environment.

If the freelance call is too hard to ignore, it’s possible to forge a great work-life balance, and even carve a lucrative career, with a lot of commitment and the right mindset.

However, unless you’re sufficiently established or have a big enough safety net to throw caution to the wind, it’s best to play it safe with a day job and experiment with a few gigs on the side.

This article first appeared in jobstore.com.

Jobstore is an online job site that specialises in providing jobseekers with the latest job opportunities by matching talented individuals with reputable companies in Malaysia. Find your dream job with over 40,000 job vacancies in Malaysia.