If you’re ready for a new opportunity, don’t limit yourself to the idea of a traditional career—consider freelancing! Firms are clamoring to find the best and brightest talent and are willing to blend consultants into their engagement teams to produce high-quality deliverables that exceed client expectations. In fact, contract work is more popular and mainstream than ever in the accounting and finance space.
Leaving a stable job can seem daunting, but many freelancers look back on it as the best decision they ever made. But whether you’re looking for a full-time remote finance role or ready to jump into freelancing, you’ll need to embrace the new normal.
How to Prepare to Go Freelance
Preparation is key to landing the perfect freelance role. First, it’s essential to practice your online interviewing skills and familiarize yourself with online communication tools. Zoom interviews are very common, so find a friend or family member to practice with to test your camera, microphone, and lighting.
When tailoring your resume, highlight your remote work skills and experience. Feature your seasoned ability to work remotely without sacrificing quality on your LinkedIn, and blend it in as a talking point during interviews.
Third, and often overlooked, spend time and effort growing your network. Building and maintaining a professional network both virtually and in-person are more important for freelancers. Referrals are often one of the largest sources of future work and keep freelancers from having unwanted breaks in their work schedules.
Lastly, even if you’re only passively looking, set up alerts on job boards for the positions you’re interested in, and take advantage of job boards geared towards accounting professionals. Profession-specific networks are a very hot trend in freelancing. The AICPA even offers a very robust job board with both permanent and contract work.
Rather than sifting through a sea of random job ads, save time by using a network that pairs you with companies that require your exact skill set for exclusive opportunities. You get the power back to say “yes” or “no” to only what interests you, and the invite to apply comes directly to your inbox.
Benefits to Launching a Freelance Career in Accounting or Finance
- Choose Who You Work With — Anyone with experience in the corporate world has dealt with a nightmare boss or coworker. As a freelancer, you don’t have to worry about getting stuck in a bad relationship. If a client is a good fit, you can work with them on a long-term basis. Otherwise, you can finish out your contract and move on.
- Expand Your Horizons — One of the most significant benefits of freelancing is being able to seek out new opportunities. For example, our network brings together clients from various industries, all looking for experienced accounting professionals. If you’ve been stuck in one vertical your whole career, you can explore the financial side of other sectors on a contract basis. You’ll be expanding your qualifications and might even find an industry you’re passionate about working in.
- Plan Work to Fit Your Lifestyle — Whether you dream of traveling the world while freelancing or just want more control over your schedule, the choice is yours. No more planning around the company vacation policy. As a freelancer, you have the freedom to schedule your projects around holidays and family vacations.
- Control Your Career Path — Freelancing doesn’t have to be forever. If you decide you want to move back into a full-time position, you’ll have a wealth of diverse experience and projects to add to your resume. Moreover, freelance experience shows that you can jump into a project and deliver impactful results without a long ramp-up period.
The traditional model of being stuck in an office for eight hours every day is obsolete. It’s time to take control of your career and embrace the work-from-home lifestyle on your own terms.
Ready to take the plunge and embrace the freelancer life? Join our network of financial professionals and check out our current client-matching opportunities today.