Freelance Confidential - Amanda Hackwith [2]
Collis Ta'eed started freelancing in 2003, and he's the co-founder of Envato, the parent company of FreelanceSwitch, Rockable Press and dozens of other sites including the popular series of Tuts+ tutorial sites and the Envato Marketplaces. There's no doubt that Collis has established himself and Envato as a powerhouse in the web development and design community.
Amber Leigh Turner is a graphic and web designer from Nashville, Tennessee, focused in branding design and development. A full-time freelancer and full-time student, Amber spends most of her time doing what she loves to do, and nothing less. Amber is also the muscle behind studentsthatfreelance.com, a blog and forum community dedicated to all things student freelancing. Visit her website at amberturner.com.
N.C. Winters has been freelancing off and on since 2002, but made the jump to full time in 2007 after a move to Southern California. He works as a cartoonist, illustrator, designer, and all around creative guy. His artworks can be seen at ncwinters.com. He does a weekly comic about freelancing called Freelance Freedom which can be seen at freelanceswitch.com, and with the birth of his son, has recently launched a new website about the absurdity of parenting at NoodleKnobs.com.
Lea Woodward is a freelance business coach and runs a number of online businesses and communities, including Location Independent (locationindependent.com) and Kinetiva (kinetiva.com). She blogs at www.LeaWoodward.com and can be found on Twitter at @leawoodward.
The 2010 Survey: Portrait of a Freelancer
Freelance Freedom appears courtesy of the artist, N.C. Winters. http://www.ncwinters.com
This chapter will compare results between the 2007 and 2010 global freelancer surveys and discuss the changes in the make-up of the freelance market. In particular, we'll look at:
Changes in the basic demographics of gender, age, and location.
Differences in experience and background.
Tips you can take away from the survey to improve your own business.
Before we can dive into the attributes and behaviors that will give you an edge in your business, we need to take a step back and see where we are as a whole. To know where we're going, we have to know where we are and where we've been. Consider it our "You Are Here" map for the trip. (If the demographics of your fellow freelancers don't interest you, feel free to skip ahead to the Big Questions.)
Over 3,200 freelancers responded to our Global Freelancing Survey and provided a complete portrait on freelancing, which we can compare to the 2007 edition and see some interesting developments. It's been a big year (or three). 2010 saw a significant rise in self-employed individuals. Ed Gandia, freelance copywriter and founder of International Freelancers Day, thinks changes are here to stay:
I'm seeing a continuation of the trend that started gaining momentum about three years ago, where a growing number of organizations are less willing or able to hire full-time employees. Interestingly, the workload in many of these organizations has not decreased all that much. But because they're working with a leaner staff, they have to outsource projects and tasks to freelancers and outside vendors. This trend has only helped my business, and I truly believe that even when the economy rebounds, we will continue to see more of it. Organizations simply don't want the risk that comes with hiring more employees, and they're getting more and more used to paying for deliverables rather than for someone's time.
Elance reports that "contingent" or freelance workers have grown to nearly 40% of the workforce, and in the past year alone, 300,000 professionals chose to begin a freelance career on the job website. Likewise, Monster.com has seen a significant spike in contract job listings (42% in March 2010 alone). The media is fond of heralding