The Differences Between Dropshipping & Freelance Businesses

The internet enables millions of people to make money working from home, and while many of them choose dropshipping as a way to earn a living, others use their various skills and talents to work as freelancers. A freelancer is someone who is self-employed, and usually hired for a particular short term project. It can be a good way to make money use the training and skills you have developed, without all the downsides of being a full-time employee for a company. But while freelancing may offer earning potential with flexibility, could a dropshipping business be a better, more profitable opportunity?

It can be much harder to ‘sell’ a service
Many freelancers make a living by providing a certain service. While a client’s project may need a fairly specific service, the quality of the work provided by different freelancers could vary enormously – so many clients don’t know if the freelancer they hire is going to do a good job until the project is finished. If you’re a new freelancer, it can be difficult to get hired because the quality of your service is unknown.

However, because dropshippers are selling a tangible product that is the same from one seller to the next, with the right pricing and marketing, it can be a lot easier to to get new customers for your dropship business – because they know what they are going to get.

Freelancers often struggle to be competitive
Building a successful dropshipping business is relatively simple, if you get the basics right. Dropshippers need to find dropship products that are in demand, for the lowest price possible, and then market them in a way that makes them easy for customers to find. Because there is a certain cost for manufacturing these dropship products, most dropshippers are able to compete by sourcing good dropshipping suppliers, and marketing their products effectively.

However, freelancers are effectively selling their time, which has whatever value they want to put on it. Because of this, it can be difficult for some freelancers trying to make a decent living, to be competitive in a market where freelancers in less developed countries will charge a lot less in order to win the business. A Dropshipping Business provides a much more level playing field to do business on.

Fewer difficult clients to deal with
When a freelancer takes on a new client, they have to make sure they have a really good understanding of what it is the client requires, otherwise they could be heading for problems down the line. Even so, a freelancer may feel that they have done a good job, exactly as they were briefed, but the client might have other ideas. Whether reasonable or not, if the client isn’t happy, a freelancer has to do there best to put it right, or risk damage to their reputation, as well as not being paid. A good dropshipping business shouldn’t have any of these customer service hassles. Dropshippers who choose good, reliable dropshipping suppliers, should find that their customers are usually more than happy. Plus, because the customer knows what they are buying, there shouldn’t be any problems with them not getting what they wanted.

A freelancing business isn’t easily scalable
Another area where a dropshipping business can prove to be better than freelancing, is when you want to start growing your business. If you’re a freelancer, there’s only one of you, and you can only do as much work as you can fit into the time you have available. A dropshipping business is different. Dropshippers can scale their business very easily, once they have found the right dropship products that sell and make money. Using a variety of tools, a dropshipping business can continue to grow, without any of the restrictions that would hold a freelancing business back, which means much more profit potential.

Becoming a freelancer can be a great way to use the skills you have developed, to make a living on your own terms. However, a dropshipping business is also easy and inexpensive to start, and offers just as much flexibility, but without some of the challenges of being a freelancer. A dropship business can be a more enjoyable business, not too mention more profitable in the long run.