Share this infographic on your site!
Embed this infographic on your site!
The editors at Graphic Design Degree Hub decided to research the topic of:
The Pros and Cons of Being a Freelancer
There are 42 million freelancers in America.[2] Lets see how freelancing is viable, or not.
Some do it by choice. Others do it because there is no choice
Pros
- Compensation:
- The Average freelancer makes 45% more than your normal worker.
- $46,800 vs. $68,000[3]
- And 75% of those who work from home making over$65,000 per year.[1]
- (80th percentile earnings)
- 49% of freelancers make $20-$59/ hr.
- 33% earn $70+/hr
- 15% earn $100+/hr
- Balance:
- Freelancers have great work life balance.
- (Yoga breaks, whenever!)
- With only 29% of N. American freelancers working 40+ hours a week.
- Flexibility:
- 65.5% of freelancers are full time
- 13.7% are part time with a day job
- 15% are part time with no day job
- 5.7% are full time with a part time day job[4]
- With a full 25% of freelancers saying flexibility of work schedule is the best thing about their position.
Coffee shop community
- [4]26% of organizational workforces are contingent/contract based and telecommuters.
- Estimated to rise to 30-50% in the coming decade.
Optimism
- %90 of freelancers are happier than before they went solo[4]
- %77 of freelancers are optimistic about business in the next year.[4]
Recession proof
- %49 of freelancers felt little or no impact from the recession.
Entrepreneurial
- with 71.7% of freelancers saying they're entreprenuers.
Cons
- It's not for everyone:
- 2% of freelancers say they are moderately or very much unhappier than at a traditional job.[4]
Top complaints
- Finding Clients: 20.8%
- Feast or famine cycle: 16.3%
- Maintaining work life balance: 10.1%
- Managing time/staying productive: 6.8%
- Getting Better fees: 4.5%
- Getting Afordable health insurance: 4.4%
- Not recession proof: 50.7% of freelancers were moderately or significantly impacted by the recession.[4]
Stability
- Finding clients is cited as the biggest challenge for 21% of freelancers.[4]
- 21.9% of freelancers moderately or strongly believe their job is less secure than a traditional position.
Benefits
- Healthcare, 401k, flexible spending accounts can be hard to find in freelancing.
Where? Even though it doesn't matter.
- In 1/4 of the nations 20 largest metro areas:
- More people telecommute than use public transit to get to work.[1]
- --20 largest metro areas
- New York-Newark-Bridgeport
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside
- Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City
- washington-Baltimore-Northern VA
- Boston-Worcester-Manchester
- San Jose-SF-Oakland
- Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland
- Dallas-Fort Worth
- Houston-Baytown-Huntsville
- Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Gainesville
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach
- Detroit-Warren-Flint
- Pheonix-Mesa-Scottsdale
- Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia
- Minneapolis-St. Paul-St. Cloud
- Denver-Aurora-Boulder
- San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos
- Cleveland-Akron-Elyria
- St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington
- Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
- Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario (CA)= fastest growing telecommuting community
- San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos = highest concentration of telecommuters (4.8%)
- Detroit-Warren-Livonia = lowest (1.8%)
Don't think you have what it takes?
- Almost every career type can freelance.
- Top 15 types of freelancers
- Designer--20.4%
- Writer--18%
- Editor/copyeditor--10.5%
- Copywriter-10.3%
- Translator--7.6%
- Web developer--4.5%
- Marketing Professional--4.3%
- Business consultant--2.3%
- Virtual Assistant--1.9%
- Illustrator--1.9%
- Researcher--1.6%
- Videographer--1.4%
- Photographer--1.3%
- IT systems Support--1.2%
- Software developer--1.2%
- As well as traditional careers like
- Engineers
- Accountants
- Lawyers
- Paralegals
- Project Managers
Many freelancers self-report higher payrates, higher levels of job satisfaction, and greter work/life balance than traditional jobs. But it's still not for everyone.
- Researched by Merrill Cook
Citations
- http://www.globalworkplaceanalytics.com/telecommuting-statistics
- http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/feb/07/how-america-became-nation-freelancers
- http://dailyinfographic.com/freelance-infographic
- https://s3.amazonaws.com/ifdconference/2012report/Freelance+Industry+Report+2012+updated.pdf
