The Year of the Freelancer

A new revolution is sweeping America and it's fueled by freelancers. As "The Freelance Surge is the Industrial Revolution of Our Time" from The Atlantic puts it: "Today, careers consist of piecing together various types of work, juggling multiple clients, learning to be marketing and accounting experts, and creating offices in bedrooms/coffee shops/coworking spaces. Independent workers abound. We call them freelancers, contractors, sole proprietors, consultants, temps, and the self-employed. And, perhaps most surprisingly, many of them love it."

As a freelancer who has no intention of ever going back to the office, I am not surprised at all. Freelancers are mixing family and home life in with their own careers to arrive at a more satisfactory way than traditional, 9 to 5 employment. With our society increasingly mobile, freelancing offers more opportunities than working in an office, allowing mothers and fathers to stay at home with their children while contributing to the family income either part-time or full-time.

As the article states, the number of freelancers is growing by leaps and bounds: "As of 2005, one-third of our workforce participated in this 'freelance economy.' Data show that number has only increased over the past six years. Entrepreneurial activity in 2009 was at its highest level in 14 years, online freelance job postings skyrocketed in 2010, and companies are increasingly outsourcing work."

That translates into good news for freelancers of all professions.

Until next time,

Sarah

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Freelancers Union Wants Better Classification

Freelancers, or contingent workers, are a growing and vital part of the American workforce, but how to classify those who are not employed full time has been the subject of some debate. The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics hasn’t measured this group since 2005 because of lack of funds. The BLS has asked for the money to start counting again, but the Freelancers Union, an advocacy group, has asked the BLS to change the way these employees are labeled, according to a recent article in Bloomberg Business Week.


The government is “ignoring a crucial, and growing, segment of the economy that is transforming the U.S. workforce,” the union said. Contingent workers were defined by the BLS as workers who see their jobs as temporary.

Sara Horowitz, who founded the Freelancers Union, pointed out that the BLS numbers don’t portray workers who aren’t employed permanently full time. She said the agency needed to include independent workers, such as how the Government Accountability Office classifies this group. That would include self-employed, temps, contract workers, day laborers, on-call employees and part-time employees.

“What I find so profoundly unsettling is that the number one issue that human beings are having in America right now is the lack of work,” said Horowitz. “And to not have a clue about how people are really working, and that this isn’t a huge focus — why isn’t the Department of Labor making this front and center?”

Part of the debate is about the fact that contingent workers do not have much legal protection in the way of minimum wage, overtime, unemployment insurance and anti-discrimination regulations.

Until next time,

Sarah

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Small Businesses Hiring More Independent Contractors

The year 2010 is ending with some good news for independent or freelance contractors. Small businesses are hiring more such workers, as noted in "Independent contractors will bring top talent within reach for more small firms" from Crain's Chicago Business.

"It's the way of the world right now,” said Linda Darragh with the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, in the article. Companies just starting up like to hire freelancers. “When you're in that lean start-up mode, the fewer expenses and the more people you can talk to, you're better off,” she said.

One company outsources marketing, web development, bookkeeping and tech support to independent contractors. After the holidays, brush up your resume and start contacting smaller companies to see if your skills and abilities could be a good fit for short-term and long-term projects.

Until next time,

Sarah

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25 Million Freelancers and Counting

As a freelance writer and editor, I’m always interested in reading about how freelancing is growing in the United States. For instance, the U.S. Department of Labor reports that there are around 25 million freelancers in the country. Another recent survey finds that approximately 20 percent of employed Americans (one in five) work as freelancers or for themselves.

A recent blog on The New Entrepreneur (on Business Week’s Web site) talks about the “rise of the freelancer,” and how “freelancing is a permanent condition of our economy, not a temporary condition caused by the most recent economic crisis. … Freelancing has been on the rise for decades.”

The blogger writes that “these new freelancers have been celebrated for their independence and entrepreneurial spirit. They are the living example of Adam Smith’s economic actor. They live in the neo-liberal land of our new economy, beholden to no one and rising only by pluck and luck. There is no safety net, most labor laws do not cover them, and they have no benefits--only opportunities. They survive and thrive by their own wits.

“But freelancing is risky. The average freelancer takes no vacations, is scared of the future, and is always frantic to find the next gig. Freelancers do not balance work and family, instead they blend the two into a hybrid lifestyle. Much of the economic risk has been shifted to them and they feel it.”

I can personally attest to the difficulty in keeping my work life separate from my home life—and being a stay-at-home mother of four young children makes that a feat worthy of any circus some days! There’s the inevitable business calls around the lunch or dinner hour, especially since I often talk with article sources who live in different time zones. Nothing like a screaming toddler in the background to make you feel like a not-so-professional person!

But I’ve found most people have been very understanding of my work-from-home limitations, that sometimes there is that childish laughter or screaming when I pick up the phone (usually that starts after I answer, otherwise, I let the voice-mail pick up for me!). To me, this type of article is very encouraging, as it seems to point out the many opportunities there are for freelancers of every ilk and also how commonplace it is for a freelancer to call his office home, too.

Until next time,

Sarah

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