Looking Ahead: Freelancers Feel Good About the Future
What the Freelance Economic Impact Report tells us about the state of independent work
As someone who loves a bit of data, I've been digging into the latest "Freelance Economic Impact Report," and it's got some fascinating stuff to say about the happiness of freelancers and content creators. The report was put together by Fiverr and Freelancers Union, and I recommend downloading and reading it at your leisure. The report highlights what 1,500 survey respondents think about the freelancing life.
It's worth highlighting what the report says about work, satisfaction, and the respondents' feelings about the future. I'm all for celebrating freelance successes, so it's great to see that many content creators are optimistic about where their careers are going.
A couple of quick caveats. Firstly, the report specifically covers the United States, but hopefully, the findings are generally applicable to freelancers elsewhere. Secondly, the report covers "independent professionals" generally, but given that a lot of these professions are in freelance and creative industries, I think the findings are applicable to what we do.
Let's dig in.
Three-quarters of independent workers are happy with their career
This is higher than I expected, but 73% of respondents say they're highly satisfied with their work, with only 1% being very dissatisfied. Even better, 78% are confident about their future success.
That's a great result. It means that most freelancers are finding fulfillment in what they do, and see a good balance between their professional career and their home life. That's important in a world that's increasingly monopolizing our attention and making it increasingly hard to switch off from work. Having clear boundaries in place really works well for freelancers.
Multiple income streams are important for financial security
Diversification is key when it comes to protecting your finances. The survey respondents agree. 84% say that it's better to rely on multiple clients for income, rather than the single income offered by a traditional employer.
Freedom to work with who you want and how you want are also critical. Almost 90% of respondents believe that freelancing gives them more flexibility to adapt to changing economic conditions, compared to regular employment.
That's also resulting in more technologically-adept freelancers starting their own business. Almost 80% of independent professionals in the technology sphere say they're seeing more of their peers striking out on their own.
One of the biggest advantages is location independence
Not surprisingly, the ability to work from home or on the move was listed as a key factor in freelance satisfaction. More than 40% of independent professionals would never work at a client location, and more than a third took up independent work specifically so they could work from home.
Travel is vital too, with almost three-quarters of respondents saying it was a major part of their career decisions.
The uptick of AI is creating more positive than negative feelings among freelancers
I've written about artificial intelligence and my predictions for how it will impact content writers before, so it's interesting to see what other independent workers think. Interestingly, three-quarters say they are hopeful about AI, compared to just a quarter who are fearful. While more than a third think their work may be replaced by AI, many are looking to use AI to complement their skills.
More than a third of freelancers have other jobs
It can be difficult to transition straight to freelance, and this is borne out by the survey's findings. A quarter of all the respondents have a full-time job in addition to freelancing, while a further 11% have a part-time job.
Almost half of content creators are more likely to work with individuals and families
45% of creative freelancers work mostly with individuals and families, instead of small, medium, or large businesses. That could be limiting earnings—personally, I find that rates can be higher when you're working with businesses, as they tend to have bigger budgets.
Referrals and reputation are important to finding work
When asked about how they get work, respondents to the survey listed, in descending order:
Word-of-mouth and reputation.
Social media.
Freelance third-party marketplaces.
Online job sites.
Advertising.
Marketing agencies.
This shows how important it is to start building a creative portfolio and to have a track record in your niches and industries.
We’re thinking pragmatically about the freelance future
Although most of us are feeling financially secure, we’re also taking practical steps to prepare for the future. The most common approaches to make ourselves financially resilient are:
Working on more projects
Boosting networking opportunities
Getting more clients into the pipeline
Building expertise
Increasing marketing efforts
Branching into more services
Inflation is driving us to increase our rates
I’m a big advocate for charging what you’re worth, depending on the value you provide to a client.
In 2022, 40% of independent workers raised their rates, and the total amount that they rose them by was almost 30%! The main drievrs that caused us to raise our rates were:
Improving our skills
Enhancing the value delivered to clients
Increasing our years of experience
Niching down into industries and specializations
Demonstrating a broad / deep portfolio of work
Interestingly, I think these reasons for increasing prices are similar to approaches we can use to make ourselves more resilient to AI.
The way we price is evolving as well. Almost half of us charge by the project, with a further quarter charging by the hour. The other 25% of pricing strategies included value-based pricing, day-rate pricing, and milestone pricing.
What’s your story?
All in all, things are looking good for independent workers, freelancers, and content creators. What do you think of how our peers answered these questions? Do you have insights or stories of your own to share? Let me know in the comments.
And don’t forget to download the "Freelance Economic Impact Report yourself, and take a look at Freelancers Union.
I’m grateful to Rafael Espinal of Freelancers Union giving me permission to cite and use the report in this article.