Freelancing Info

While Freelancing is in vogue since early nineties it is only in the last two decades that it has come up in a such a big way that certain areas as journalism, content development, software development, business documentation, coaching or creative services have totally or largely been taken over as freelancers. Freelancing today has become largest economic segment in many countries.



Freelancing can, in a small way, be compared with off shoring of your business requirements. Freelancing initially picked up due to high wage rate difference between developing and the developed countries, however today you can have freelancers from affluent countries as well. As the confidence index of buying on the net increased, freelancing has never looked back. Though there is no exact documentation of the extent of its business volume, a compilation of various figures as released by major sites suggest it to be any where upwards of US 100 million per annum.

With freelancing, gone are the days when each business house had to have every type of skill set in-house. A free lancer is just a mouse click away, ready to do your job at most reasonable prices. With freelancing, a business house no longer needs to invest money in discovering and training staff members.

The progress and advancement of this industry can be gauged from the fact that some companies like oDesk have developed software that can allow your employer to monitor progress of your work online, and even takes periodic screenshots of your desktop. This is very helpful development which has helped in developing confidence in bidders to offer critical assignments to freelancers.

Typically a freelancer is a one man show. He would lack expertise to accept all types of assignments. A new variant of freelancing is emerging where a group of freelancers work under one umbrella to pool in their talent to be one stop supplier of all services. However this typically does not fall under definition of freelancing.

Why Freelancing?

Compared to costs of a regular worker, freelancing is known to have cut operating costs by more than 60%. Today, in the competitive marketplace, many projects are simply not affordable with regular employees that are entitled to sick pay, insurance costs, holiday pay etc. Besides, with freelancers you can select from vast variety of skill-sets, have no permanent business liability and are easier to hire and fire.

Freelancing has many social benefits too as it has eliminated the racism, discrimination. Today nobody is bothered about the color of your skin or your sexual orientation.

How does it work?

There are many ways to float a job for a freelancer; however internet remains the most favorable medium. There are many sites on the net that allow floating of a job for freelancing at a small commission. If you are looking for a freelancer, you can ask for specimen of their previous projects. Both the parties can check the ratings earned by other party on previous assignments.

Remuneration Structure

Remuneration at freelancing job is at fraction of wages of regular worker and can cut costs by more than 60% compared to the salary of regular worker.

Payment for freelance work varies greatly. Depending upon the assignment and the skill set, Freelancers may charge by the day or hour, flat fee or even based on milestones or outcomes.

As credit history of a freelancer builds up, he may command a higher price but new entrants generally have to underbid to gain foothold in this industry. This circle goes on endlessly where sometimes even established players are also forced to cut their rates.

Some pitfalls in Freelancing

There is no entry qualification for a freelancer and any body with some talent and spare time at hand can work as freelancer. This has resulted in some pseudo-professionals who have scant regard for copyright violations or other legal issues. Such people often are unable to deliver the assignment to the satisfaction of their client which can lead to delay in completion of the project. For beginners, it does not ensure a steady stream of income.

Freelancing work is often on a project-by-project basis. If you think you have a talent and some time available, you may think of supplementing your income as a freelancer.