The booming freelance economy
Every year, more and more people turn to freelancing, whether by choice or out of necessity, hence the growing freelance population worldwide.
Studies show that:
- 50% of Americans will be freelancing by 2020. (Source: Career Foundry)
- In a Payoneer study of more than 23,000 freelancers from 180 countries, freelancers earn more than average workers. (Source: Business News Daily)
- According to the Freelancer Confidence Index, “freelancers earned an average £30,000 during Q1 2015,” which is 20% more than what average employees earn in one year. (Source: BHP Chartered Accountants)
From an actual freelancer’s perspective
I’m nowhere near that £30,000 figure, but as a freelancer, I can confirm that freelancing comes with a lot of perks.
But it’s no walk in the park.
You can spend more time with your family. If you work from home, you need not stress yourself over traffic. You can choose your projects, the people you work with, your working hours.
If you’re an online worker and would rather not work from home, you can work at park benches, in coffee shops, co-working spaces, somewhere overlooking the beach – anywhere, as long as you’re connected to the Internet.
But while a lot of people have successfully painted freelancing as “working out of paradise,” freelancing has its own set of challenges, challenges you’re better off knowing how to hurdle before you even get started.
Or you might end up regretting the day you took the leap.
If you don’t end up regretting it entirely, you’ll definitely feel a little lost, out of your element, and wonder why you’re getting nowhere.
There’s no shortage of freelancing advice online – some good, some bad. But the infographic below by FreshBooks is an accurate representation of the freelance universe and how to navigate your way around it.
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If you want to get started freelance writing but don’t know where to begin, download a copy of my ebook How to Get Started Freelance Writing When You Don’t Know What You’re Doing here.
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Hallo there Maricel, it’s really nice to learn much about what direction people are moving towards. I myself have already started focusing on freelancing, as it gives me a lot of freedom. I can work on my own time schedule and do as i feel. thanks for sharing the insights.
Cindy
I agree, Cindy. The flexibility brought about by freelancing is what makes it really attractive to most people.
Thanks for dropping by and commenting.
Maricel Rivera recently posted … Reading List: On Success, Launching Like Steve Jobs, and the Aggregation of Marginal Gains
A nice article here with some useful tips for those who are not used-to comment that frequently. Thanks for this helpful information I agree with all points you have given to us. I will follow all of them.
wow really superb you had posted one nice information through this. Definitely it will be useful for many people. So please keep update like this.
hey Maricel
thanks for your great comment and all points are highly valid and make sense to me.
In the post I just tried to open the perspective that working with external support is an really important aspect to consider.
I can relate myself with this. I started working as a freelancer back in 2011 after working for 3 years in an MNC. Now many of my students are working as freelancers in digital marketing, SEO, social media, YouTube etc. And this is going to be good for them too.
Soumya Roy recently posted … Digital Marketing Training in Kolkata, Internet Marketing Course Kolkata – PromozSEO
Freelancing is the future. Not only USA but the trends all over the world is shifting to freelancing. You take a project, complete it within the stipulated time and as per the needs of the client, get your dues and move on to the next assignment.
It gives you financial freedom. You spend more time with your family and there are so many other perks.
You did a great job by writing this article…Bingo!