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The Great Freelance Boom
By Johnny Spence
Before the turn of the new millennia, freelancing in any field was thought of as being for those who absolutely do not want to deal with a boss, but who do not get paid squat. To an extent, that belief is still apparent today even though the whole concept of freelancing has changed completely.
These days, there are an abundance of freelancers in virtually any field, but the surprise is that there are even more jobs available to these freelancers than ever before. Plus, the demand for freelancers is increasing at a steady rate. This is also despite a rather sluggish economy and increasing layoffs constantly bombarding the news.
There is a rather simple explanation for this unusual trend: the internet. Before the age of the internet, freelancers had to rely on generating contacts on their own and usually locally within their area. Not to mention, there was far less demand for freelancers so basically they had to struggle to gain steady work and survive.
The internet today, however, provides the medium where freelancers and employers can exchange services from anywhere in the world. Online websites catering to freelancers and employers looking for contractors, known as freelance work exchanges, helped facilitate the exchange of freelance services from anywhere in the world.
Thanks to these exchanges, it is even common for the freelancer and employer to never even meet each other face to face since the majority of work can be done over the internet rather than in person. These exchange sites also offer the benefit of easing new freelancers into this type of work.
Most of them offer tutorials on how to obtain work, handling employers, plus their extensive job databases make plenty of work available for all skill levels, including entry-level. Some of the more well known freelance work exchanges are Elance.com and SoloGig.com.
Another factor is a cause in the freelance boom and that is some companies are turning and more to freelancers instead of hiring or retaining employees since it is significantly more cost effective. No longer do the costs of hiring, training and benefits apply when outsourcing to freelancers.
There is also the belief that since the freelancer is self-motivated and must deliver a high quality service in order to maintain business, they will deliver a better service than the employee, who still is paid the same regardless of the quality of his or her work.
Contrary to popular belief, we are witnessing the dawn of a new age in freelancing. As of 2006, the percentage of freelancers in the total workforce is estimated at 6% and is expected to rise up to 10% by 2010. A once feared career path is now becoming the hot trend in employment and will be here to stay. About the Author Johnny is a freelancer of three years and author of The Rookie Freelance Job Guide
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Some other articles by Johnny Spence | |
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