If you clicked on this post you may be weighing the pros and cons of diving into this industry. I know I definitley did when it came time to either stay at my corporate job, or dive full into freelancing. Now that I have several years of experience under my belt, I feel like I can safely weigh the pros and cons.
PRO: Control of Your Time
10:30am workout? 12:00pm brunch? No problem. Something that may draw you into the virtual assistant freelance industry is the ability to work when you want. You are also able to work where you want. This offers amazing freedom that many jobs don’t have.
CON: Work Has to Be Done
Freedom is amazing, but work still needs to get done. Depending on the arrangement you initially set up with your influencer/content creator you may have a set turnaround time in which you have to get work done.
PRO: Set Your Own Pay
One thing that I realized quickly in the coporate industry was that the pay I recieved did not make me feel compensated well for the work I did. When jumping into this industry full-time I was excited to finally set a pay that made me excited to do work each day. This feeling is rare, and I am so grateful I found it!
PRO: Choose Who You Work For/What Services You Provide
Another incredible freedom is having the ability to choose who you work for and what services you provide. AKA you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do! Love to write blog posts? Then just stick to blog posts! Love running social media accounts? Then only offer that service! When it comes to choosing who you work for you are able to interview them just as they interview you! Don’t start working with someone if their values don’t align with yours.
CON: Manage Your Money & Retirement Investments
Working for yourself has amazing benefits, but one of the most well-known cons is having to manage your own money. You have to track your income and make sure you’re setting aside an appropriate amount for taxes. Having the ability to have write-offs is another super cool benefit, but make sure you are tracking and recording all your expenses. Taxes can be difficult, so if you have trouble managing it yourself you may have to hire out help from a tax service. Retirement accounts are also something that don’t often come with freelance jobs. If you’re looking to retire one day, I would recommend looking into setting up your own investment accounts! Personally, I use a financial advisor to manage my accounts.
PRO: Express Your Creativity
One of my favorite things about this gig is getting to express my creativity. Work also changes every single day! For someone that gets bored when doing the same things day after day, this freelance work is amazing.
PRO: Get To Experience The Industry
The influencer industry is unlike any other. There are constant changes and lots of oppurtunity. You can truly learn so much from the influencer/content creators.
CON: Have To Watch Your Back
If you are working as a freelancer you have to watch out for yourself. Be sure to actually READ contracts before you sign them. Get to know the person you are working with. Always make sure that payment methods are clear and set in stone before work begins.
There is no other job (that I know of) that pays you to scroll through tiktok and add items to cart. This line of work can give you your creatiivity back, your time back, and give you control of your income.
Overall I believe this is one of the best gigs if you love the social media industry. It is a booming industry now more than ever before. Back in July, Forbes came you with an article saying that there are over 50 million people across the world that consider themselves influenceres (Forbes).
As with any career there are going to be a few cons. That is no exception when it comes to the Influencer Virtual Assistant career. However, I think the Pros far outweigh the cons!
Have any questions or want to weigh in on the pros and cons? Comment it down below!
Thanks for reading,
Kate
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