The Instagram Lie About Freelancing (And the Corporate Lie About Jobs)

You’ve seen the reels. Laptop on a beach in Goa. “I quit my 9-to-5 and now I earn ₹3 lakhs a month working 4 hours a day.” Caption: freedom.

What you don’t see: the 6 months before that reel where they earned ₹12,000 total. The client who ghosted after a ₹40,000 project. The anxiety of checking your bank balance on the 28th knowing no salary is coming on the 1st.

Freelancing is a legitimate career. So is a full-time job. But both sides sell you a fantasy. Let’s talk about what actually happens.

Month-by-Month Income: The Stability Gap

Here’s what a typical first year looks like for both paths — assuming you’re a developer, designer, or writer starting out:

Full-time job (₹4.5 LPA package):

• January: ₹37,500
• February: ₹37,500
• March: ₹37,500
• …every single month, same number. Plus PF, gratuity, and a year-end bonus of ₹15,000–₹30,000.

Freelancing:

• January: ₹8,000 (one small logo project)
• February: ₹0 (pitching, no conversions)
• March: ₹22,000 (two website projects)
• April: ₹5,000 (one revision job)
• May: ₹45,000 (landed a decent client)
• June: ₹0 (client delayed payment)
• July: ₹60,000 (referral work kicked in)
• August: ₹15,000 (dry spell)
• September–December: gradually stabilizes around ₹30,000–₹50,000

Total Year 1 income — Job: ~₹4.5L. Freelancing: ~₹2.5–3.5L (if things go reasonably well).

The job wins on predictability. Freelancing wins on ceiling — but only after Year 2 or 3.

The Health Insurance Gap Nobody Mentions

When you have a full-time job, your company typically provides:

• Group health insurance (₹3–5 lakh cover for you, sometimes family)
• EPF contribution (12% of basic — your retirement fund)
• Gratuity after 5 years
• Paid sick leave (6–12 days/year)

When you freelance, you get: nothing.

You need to buy your own health insurance (₹8,000–₹15,000/year for a basic ₹5 lakh cover if you’re in your 20s). No employer PF means you’re responsible for your own retirement savings. No paid sick leave — if you’re down with dengue for two weeks, your income is literally zero.

This isn’t a dealbreaker, but most 22-year-olds don’t think about insurance. Then one hospital visit costs ₹80,000 and the math hits differently.

The Tax Mess: GST, ITR, and the CA You’ll Eventually Need

Full-time job taxes: Your company deducts TDS automatically. You file ITR-1, it takes 20 minutes on the IT portal. Done.

Freelancing taxes: Welcome to chaos.

• If your annual revenue crosses ₹20 lakh, you need GST registration. You’ll charge 18% GST on invoices, file quarterly returns, and maintain proper books.
• You file ITR-3 or ITR-4 (presumptive taxation under Section 44ADA if your receipts are under ₹50 lakh — lets you declare 50% as profit without maintaining full books).
• You need to pay advance tax in four installments (June 15, Sept 15, Dec 15, March 15) or face interest penalties.
• Every international client payment comes through wire transfer — your bank might flag it, you need FIRC certificates, and you must report foreign income correctly.

Most freelancers earning over ₹8–10 lakh/year end up hiring a CA (₹10,000–₹25,000/year). It’s a necessary cost that nobody includes in those “freelancing income” screenshots.

The Client Acquisition Grind

The hardest part of freelancing isn’t the work — it’s finding the work. Here’s what client acquisition actually looks like in India:

• Upwork/Fiverr: Brutally competitive. You’re bidding against freelancers from across the world. Your first 5–10 projects will be underpaid (₹500–₹2,000) just to build reviews.
• LinkedIn outreach: Works, but slowly. Expect a 2–3% response rate on cold DMs.
• Referrals: The real game. But referrals only start flowing after 12–18 months of consistent work.
• Indian clients vs foreign clients: Indian startups often pay ₹5,000–₹15,000 for work that international clients pay $300–$800 for. The exchange rate is your biggest advantage if you can land overseas clients.

In a full-time job, work comes to you. In freelancing, finding work IS half the work.

Year 1 Reality

Year 1 as a full-time employee: You join, go through onboarding, get mentored by a senior, ship small features, learn the codebase, attend meetings you don’t fully understand, get your first performance review (“meets expectations”), get a 7–10% hike. You build skills within a structure. It’s unglamorous but foundational. You have money for rent, food, and a weekend trip every couple of months.

Year 1 as a freelancer: You spend the first 2 months building a portfolio (earning ₹0). You land your first paying client through a college contact — ₹8,000 for a website. You spend the next month chasing payment. You question your decision weekly. By month 6, you have 3–4 clients but no predictability. You learn invoicing, contracts, follow-ups, and scope creep the hard way. By month 10, you’re finally earning enough to cover rent without dipping into savings. You’ve learned more about business than any MBA would teach you. But you’re also exhausted.

Income Comparison at Different Levels

Experience	Full-Time Job	Freelancing
Year 1	₹3.5–6 LPA	₹1.5–3.5 LPA
Year 3	₹7–15 LPA	₹6–18 LPA
Year 5	₹12–25 LPA	₹12–40 LPA
Year 7+	₹20–45 LPA	₹20–80 LPA+

Notice: freelancing has a wider range at every stage. The floor is lower AND the ceiling is higher. High-skill freelancers (senior developers, UI/UX designers, video editors with a brand) can out-earn most salaried professionals. But average freelancers often earn less than their employed peers.

Why Not Both? The Hybrid Approach

Here’s what actually works for most people in India:

Phase 1 (Years 1–2): Take a full-time job. Build skills, save 6 months of expenses, understand how businesses work from the inside.

Phase 2 (Years 2–3): Start freelancing on weekends and evenings. Take 1–2 small projects per month. Build your portfolio and client base without the survival pressure.

Phase 3 (Year 3+): When your freelance income consistently matches 70–80% of your salary for 3+ months, you have a real decision to make. Some people quit and go full freelance. Others keep the hybrid setup permanently — job for stability, freelance for extra income.

One important note: check your employment contract. Many Indian companies have moonlighting clauses that technically prohibit freelancing. Some enforce them (Wipro made news over this), most don’t — but know the risk.

The Honest Answer

If you’re fresh out of college with no savings, no client base, and no professional reputation — a full-time job is the smarter starting point. Not because freelancing is bad, but because starting with zero clients, zero savings, and zero experience is an unnecessarily hard difficulty setting.

If you have 2–3 years of experience, savings to survive 6 months without income, and clients already reaching out — freelancing is worth the leap.

The real mistake is treating this as permanent. It’s not. You can switch. Most successful freelancers started with jobs. Many go back to jobs for a few years and freelance again later. It’s a career strategy, not a personality trait.