Freelance Confidential - Amanda Hackwith [29]
Median Gross Income by Expertise and Years of Experience
Gross Income by Expertise
† Values have been rounded to the nearest dollar.
‡ No persons submitted information in this category.
Gross Income by Years of Experience
† Values have been rounded to the nearest dollar.
‡ No persons submitted information in this category.
After expenses, do you make more or less than you did as a full-time employee?
2007 — Do you earn more as a freelancer than you did as a full time employee in your industry?
2010
Note: In the 2010 survey, respondents were only asked this question if they had previously indicated they had previously worked as a full-time employee.
Benefits: Do you have… ?
2007
2010
Do you exercise regularly?
Do you suffer from work-related health issues?
2010
Are you satisfied with your work?
2007 — Are you satisfied with your income level?
2010 — Are you satisfied with… ?
Do you feel you have more personal time since you started freelancing?
2010
Overall, are you happier since you started freelancing?
Do you feel secure as a freelancer?
What are your business plans for the future?
2007
2010
Why did you decide to freelance?
Conclusion
The Final Word
It's been a whirlwind trip: where we were, where we are, and where you can go from here. During the process of interviewing our experts and processing our bounty of survey results, I certainly was inspired, and I hope by now you're able to come away from this book with fresh ideas on how to expand your own business.
If there's one thing I've gained during my time as a freelancer and tenure as Editor for FreelanceSwitch, it's a deep and abiding respect for freelance professionals. Surviving those first lean years as a freelancer is hard, and growing once you've reached a comfortable level is even harder. Because, of course, just the tips and observations in this book isn't enough. It takes wisdom and thoughtfulness to define your own boundaries for success. It takes a fearless ability to continually press your skills and seek new clients to keep expanding. It takes an openness and engagement to keep open dialogues with your clients and followers. It takes patience and heart to cultivate strong relationships for support. It takes ambition (and a whole lot of coffee) to wrap all those together and plan for a future of growth.
So in the end, it's not the right statistics or expert quote that will grow your business. (Although I certainly hope we've helped!) At the end of the day, it's always you, your skills, your passion and plans. That's the freelance confidential, the secret to success. I hope you can take our tips and make them your own. And if you discover new secrets of your own, I hope you'll come back to FreelanceSwitch and share it with all of us.
Happy freelancing!
Amanda Hackwith
Editor, FreelanceSwitch
Thank You
I would like to thank all of our experts who took time out of their busy holiday schedules to answer interview requests and share their experiences with me. Special thanks goes to Chris Niemiec who has contributed so much time and care into the design of the book content and data. I am also deeply grateful to Naysan Naraqi, Collis Ta'eed, and Rockable Press for the opportunity to take on such an important project and make it my own!
I also want to thank our experts for graciously contributing their time, all the readers of FreelanceSwitch for their participation in the global freelancer survey, and the continued support of our readers. The amount of knowledge and expertise in our community is amazing!
Thank you, as always, to my loving parents, family, and friends who have encouraged my own career, and supported my passion even when they didn't quite understand it.
Above all, I need to thank my wonderful husband, Levi Hackwith. He not only lent all the family support typical in this kind of creative endeavor, but he was also vital in the task of analyzing the extensive data from the Global Freelancers Survey. Every useful chart, graph, or table in this book is a result