The second half of September was complemented with a lot of interesting news and happenings in the freelance world. Freelance Life Magazine brings you a selection of the most interesting articles from the best freelance websites.
More Start-ups Scale Up to Serve Freelance and Contract Workers
Source: Crunchbase
Crunchbase has come again to serve us an interesting fact about Start-ups. A sizable and expanding segment of the labour market is made up of various types of self-employed, freelance, contractors, and independent individuals. These numbers are rising rapidly in a variety of professional fields related to technology and digital media. And if I was asked to say my opinion about this, I would say large societal changes also present large business prospects for start-ups.
All Round Growth
We have noticed a sharp growth in funding that assist businesses to manage payment, on boarding, and compliance for remote labour forces. They are also experiencing significant valuation growth. A great example is ‘Remote’, a provider of payroll and compliance for distributed workforces that raised $300 million. The company was valued at $3 billion in that round, which is a 200% increase from its Series B valuation nine months earlier.
A similar company to this is “Deel” which raised $50 Million in a month at a $12 Billion valuation. That indicated a 118% increase from funds seven months earlier. According to Upwork, roughly 36% of the US workforce is now classified as freelancers of some kind. In terms of annual earnings, they contributed $1.3 trillion to the US economy. Can you see freelancing is also having a greater economic impact?
More Tools for the Workforce
There is more investment in tools to help people manage their work or provide a more secure and stable career path as freelance employment grows. Freelancers are getting more tools. A great example is “Gridwise”, a Pittsburgh-based app that optimizes productivity and earnings for rideshare and delivery drivers, raised a $12.7 million Series A led by Crosslink Capital in May.
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More Scaling, Less Exiting
In my opinion, I will suggest that now is a good time to grow a freelancing-related business, the case is not the same for exiting. Freelance platforms funded by venture capital that went public in the past few years have had a difficult time in recent months, as overall tech valuations have fallen.
Investor enthusiasm appears to be alive and well among the still-private platforms. Amid a year-over-year decline in start-up valuations, funded companies focused on the future of work are among the few cohorts to see significant gains.
How To Beat the Competition As a Creative Freelancer
Source: CreativeBoom
The creative freelancer community is incredibly helpful and supportive. However, CreativeBoom delivered this expository topic on how a freelancer can beat the competition in the freelance world. When a client is looking for a freelancer, you must compete to stand a chance. And losing that battle too many times can be frustrating. If you want to stand out from the crowd, here are a few tips to beat the freelance competition.
- Be Unique
Once you’ve identified your strengths, what sets you apart from other freelancers will act as an anchor, guiding every other aspect of your freelance journey. Your profile and description will become easier to write because you’ll know who you are, what you’re good at, and what your unique selling point is. When it comes to finding clients, you’ll instinctively know the best way to grab their attention.
- Be Reliable
If you haven’t found your unique selling point as a creative freelancer, there are still ways to distinguish yourself. And the most effective method is simply to be reliable. Build a reputation for being completely dependable, and you’ll be able to get work solely on that basis. This requires organization and dedication, but it is ultimately very simple.
- Be Consistent
However, consistency does not always imply award-winning. Not understanding the difference is why so many creative freelancers miss deadlines. It’s not because they haven’t created anything; it’s because they are holding it back, believing that with just a couple more days they can improve it. So striking the right balance between quality and timeliness is the key here.
- Be a Life-long Student
This could imply broadening your skill set by branching out into new areas. It could also mean delving deeper into your current fields, such as learning new software and other technologies or receiving personal instruction from an expert.
- Be Friendly
In reality, as freelancers, we have limited capacity and cannot always accept every project that comes our way. While fellow creatives may be your competition on occasion, that is not the whole picture. I’ll advise you to make friends with your competitors because they may be able to pass work your way when things get hectic.
A Dozen Good Reasons to Freelance
Source: Forbes
In their recent updates, Forbes included this article on their website where they highlighted 12 good reasons to consider freelancing as a reliable job. They further backed these assertions with several scenarios that occurred in real life. Just recently, I was asked if I would advise leaving a full-time job to pursue freelancing. I thought back to my previous social psychology study, namely the “Fundamental Attribution of Error”. According to this theory, real-world examples are always more compelling or convincing than “big data”.
Someone Else Controls Your Destiny
One can lose a job due to one’s sex and age, despite having achieved tremendous accomplishments during a long career. It’s a dread that we all have.
Being Monitored is Creepy
Shopify has taken steps to stop people from talking negatively and off-topic about the business and its goals. Some employees say its open communications have become restrained.
Freaky Bosses Out There
Imagine being part of the employees the CEO of Better.com abruptly terminated their contract. Vishal Garg laid off about 900 of the workforce over a zoom call.
Life is Short and Getting Shorter
The US life expectancy declined in 2021 compared to the previous year. It declined by almost 3 years from 2019 to 2021 to 76.1 years, the lowest rate since 1996.
Companies Change their Plans
At least one company is looking into the possibility of seizing its vested stock. It is merely one of the many ways the bank is being tough on individuals who quit.
Cool companies Don’t Always Work Out
The value of Snap’s shares has decreased by about 80% since January. It paid more than $500 million to acquire Wave Optics. However, the company hasn’t done well.
Your Company and Career Can Breakdown Emotionally
Elon Musk made a $44 billion bid for Twitter and made tweets that weakened the company’s reputation, harmed staff morale and emphasized their misinformation.
You Really Can Work From Anywhere
In 2021, there were 35 million digital nomads worldwide. In the US only this number reached 11 million over the previous two years.
Freelancers Probably Perform Better Than You Think
Do you know that research shows you earn more money as a freelancer than your coworkers who hold full-time jobs?
You Can Do Well In A Recession
A Fiverr survey indicated that almost 78% of business owners said they’ll hire freelancers over full-time workers while the economy is experiencing a meltdown.
Avoiding Office Politics Is Worth Your Mental Health
As businesses welcome yet another set of office returns, resentment may grow. Tension is a real risk and there may be some division that defeats the goal of bringing people to work.
You Never Know When Lightning Will Strike
Choe was requested to paint his iconic murals on the office walls in exchange for $60,000 or business shares by Facebook’s President at the time. When Facebook went public, Choe received the stock and earned around $200 million, so they are now present everywhere, according to Choe.
Revolut Debuts Freelance Payment Tool Revolut Pro
Source: Pymnts
This time, I found this amazing topic on Pymnts that talks about a payment tool that may be of great value to freelancers. Revolut Pro, launched as a financial app, is a self-employed income, expense, and payment management account. As businesses and consumers increasingly use digital payments and cards rather than cash, Revolut Pro allows freelancers as independent professionals to instantly accept payments either online with QR codes, payment links, or in-person with Revolut Reader and by generating invoices and tracking their payments.
The Payment tool debuted in the United Kingdom and seven other European countries is free and allows customers to manage their funds without the need for an official business account. The tool supports multi-currency payments with a physical or virtual card, as well as Google Pay and Apple Pay and money transfers.
A Payment Tool that Works
This Financial app launched the instalment product after testing it with a small group of customers in the country in June, with over 1,000 of them purchasing products and services through Revolut Pay Later. Recently, Revolut Pro launched its Pay Later product in Ireland, where the company has nearly 2 million account holders.
From budgeting to cash flow management, the app had great feedback and stories from customers who used “Pay Later” as part of the early rollout, and they look forward to hearing more.
However, this only works if the freelancers are paid on time, accurately and using the payment method of their choice. A survey shows that forty-one per cent of the freelancers preferred biweekly or weekly payments rather than monthly pay or payment upon contract completion. I think this tool is a good fit for freelancers.
Top Freelance Mistakes Beginner Freelancers Make
Source: DianaKelly
I stumbled upon this article on the famous DianaKelly website and I think it will be great to share it with you. I’m an experienced freelancer but I occasionally make some freelancing mistakes. To help you avoid some of these costly blunders, I’m going to outline some missteps that even smart freelancers make. These freelance mistakes may be preventing you from achieving all-around success, growing into a six-figure freelance business, and sabotaging your morale.
- Letting Perfection Get into The Way of Launching
There are numerous reasons why freelancers avoid “launching” their businesses. These include choosing a name for your company, purchasing a domain name, and hiring a fantastic web designer. Unfortunately, this can lead to a significant delay, costing you both time and money. Discover how to create a freelance writer website and send your first pitch in just a few days.
- Poor Schedule and Time Management
Whether you work as a full-time employee, you want to freelance as a side hustle, are unemployed, or looking to start a freelance career, you won’t succeed unless you are carving out time on your calendar for freelancing. Believe it or not, most freelance gigs and clients will not just appear in your inbox with assignments. You must look for beginner freelance writing jobs, spend time marketing yourself and network with editors.
- Saying Yes to Every Client
I understand, and I believe it’s a good idea to accept a lot of freelance work from a variety of clients in various industries while you’re getting your feet wet. Beginner freelancers are hungry for work and samples to showcase their freelance work to other potential clients. However, you are not expected to work for a ridiculous amount. There is a lot more freelance work than you think, as well as ways to find high-paying freelance clients.
- Focusing on A Vary Small Niche
If you become specialized too soon in your freelance career, you may miss out on other fields that may be of interest to you. Alternatively, your clients may only think of you for this “one specific topic,” which can be a good thing, but you should also make them aware that you can cover similar topics in the field. You might want to branch out and let your clients know that you are well groomed and can address content that broader audiences relate to.
