It’s expensive, employing people in Belgium. And freelancers are a great way of keeping costs down. From Marketing and Communications specialists to IT support staff, there is a lot to be said for hiring the support you need, when you need it. There are no extra-legal benefits to budget for, and when business is quiet, you only need concern yourself with your inhouse staff.
Life as a freelancer has its attractions too; from being able to choose when and for whom you work, to feeling part of a global community of people who have decided to ‘go it alone’, even being free to follow different areas of interest and expand your knowledge as you please – no company training day required. There are myriad reasons to be your own boss. But, as with most things in life, there are pros and cons to consider.
We recently surveyed our Freelance Members to find out how they experience life as an independent contractor. And while we used their feedback as the launch point for this article, our findings hold true for all businesses that rely on freelance support. We hope you’ll be inspired.
'As a freelancer, your fees should cover not just the hours you spend working, but time off too. Then there’s the invoicing, the quarterly VAT declarations, marketing yourself via social media, attending networking events… All non-billables, but essential to creating a steady pipeline of incoming work.'
1. Inconsistent Income
Unless you are among the lucky few, life as a freelancer means inconsistent income. Some days are busy, others are quiet. Which is fine, unless the balance shifts too far in either direction. It’s tempting to work 80-hour weeks when the work’s there, as you need to be able to bridge those lean periods. Similarly, it can be tempting to take on projects you’re less keen on during quiet periods or even be ‘flexible’ on price to keep income flowing. Although that’s a slippery slope.
Whilst the relocation industry has always been seasonal – lots of moves during the big school holidays – there’s no denying that the typical expat profile has changed. Longterm assignments, with the entire family joining the assignee abroad, are becoming increasingly rare. People are more self-sufficient, using booking platforms to find temporary accommodation in areas they’ve Googled and deemed right for them.
This means that the kind of services required are also changing. Compounded by restricted budgets, the housing shortage, and stricter immigration regulations, files are taking more time yet are less profitable.
Perhaps it is time to update your service delivery model? Managing client expectations by setting boundaries and defining scopes not only helps you as a business, but helps your field agents plan their work too.
2. Extra-legal Benefits, or Lack Thereof
Whilst full and parttime staff members are able to claim benefits like travel allowances and a monthly office allowance from their employers, as freelancers we are expected to cover our own expenses. Caught a bout of the flu? There’s no such thing as sick pay. Best break out the Lemsip or lose the income. Same goes for holidays, pension plans, and more. It quickly adds up.
As a freelancer, your fees should cover not just the hours you spend working, but time off too. Then there’s the invoicing, the quarterly VAT declarations, marketing yourself via social media, attending networking events… All non-billables, but essential to creating a steady pipeline of incoming work.
Corporate budgets may be under pressure, but the trickle-down stops on the freelancer’s desk. Ask yourself, are the rates you pay your freelance contractors realistic? Truly? Could you make it work if that was your gross turnover?
Is there any way in which you can help share the burden of their day-to-day costs, additional to their hourly rate? Can they, for example, claim back the coffee and cake they treated the assignee to between viewing appointments? Perhaps that essential company training could be invoiceable? After all, hours spent with you are hours that cannot be spent with another (paying) client.
3. The Importance of Timely Payments
We cannot stress the importance of timely payments enough. Years ago, I stopped working for a well-known fashion group because of their – frankly outrageous – payment terms: 60 days after month’s end of invoice receipt. In other words, I’d send an invoice on the 1st of June, it would get booked in on June 30th, after which another 60 days passed before payment was approved.
This meant it was the end of August or even the beginning of September before I saw money for services rendered back in May. Moreover, this brought me into the next financial quarter, which meant I had to front the VAT in Q2. As you can imagine, it was not a nice situation to be in, and I exited stage left (as did others). Suffice to say, they folded in 2022. Keeping your cashflow afloat by pushing problems down the supply chain is no way of doing business. But I digress.
Thankfully, our freelancers report they are generally paid correctly and on time. But with some immigration files taking months to complete due to government delays, is there any way in which you might improve payment terms?
Perhaps certain dossiers can be split in two or three payments, with a 30% part-payment upon initiation, a further 30% midway through the process, with the final 40% paid upon completion. Regular payments are a great motivator and show you are sensitive to your freelancers’ concerns.
4. Part of the Team
Working for yourself can be lonely. Even if you are spending half your day on the road ferrying expats around or having endless Zoom meetings. There are no spontaneous Friday afterwork drinks because ‘the sun’s out’ and you’re more likely to find yourself talking to the cat than having those all-important watercooler chats that HR experts and the C-suite rave about.
So yes, it does sting a little when LinkedIn tells you the ‘entire’ team had an amazing time during the company’s latest teambuilding outing. An outing you weren’t included in as – despite how essential you keep getting told you are – you work for other agencies too, making you an outsider after all.
Easy to implement actions such as introducing a buddy-system – matching similar inhouse and external profiles – make onboarding new consultants easier and go a long way towards freelancers not feeling quite so alone. Similarly, creating a shared Teams or Slack channel, where agents and coordinators alike can share questions, concerns, and advice in an informal setting helps people bond and feel like part of the wider team.
5. The Buffer Zone
I simply stopped working for aforementioned client. I had enough other projects going on, thankfully. But it’s not easy standing up to the people who pay our bills. As freelancers we’re well-aware we wouldn’t be able to pull in the kind of big-name clients that a larger organisation can. And even if we did strike it lucky, we likely wouldn’t have enough clout to negotiate solid contracts and decent payment terms, let alone be able to deal with conflict. We’re wholly dependent on the goodwill of the companies we work for.
As little fish in the big pond, we feel safe swimming with you. We rely on you to give us quality briefings instead of wishy-washy instructions so we can help you shine. And we especially appreciate it when you have our back when it comes to issues such as managing assignee expectations. An open company culture, where constructive feedback is both given and welcomed, makes us feel supported when we need it most.
Much as relocation agencies are the buffer between the field agent and the big corporate client, there is no buffer between the freelancer and the relocation agency hiring them. This is where ABRA hopes to play a more active role as the professional industry body.
As we prepare for our first dedicated freelance event, we look forward to finding out more about our freelance members’ most pressing concerns and how we, as an association, can help contribute towards better industry standards for all.
Interested in joining the relocation industry? Or already active, but not yet an ABRA member? Find out more about why you should join our network.
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