A freelancer is a person who performs certain assignments for a company. In comparison with an employee, a freelancer is not directly integrated or affiliated with the company. Freelancers are generally found in the artistic and cultural sectors, and increasingly in technical sectors.
A freelancer is often confused with a freelance professional. Freelance work only refers to the specific employment relationship with the employer and can indicate many different professions. A freelance professional belongs to a specific professional group, for example, architects, lawyers or doctors; the term freelancer alone does not provide information about the individual’s employment relationship.
The most important characteristic of a freelancer is their independence. In addition, freelancers are generally very skilled in a particular sector and are therefore regarded as well qualified. Freelancers can generally choose their conditions of employment and compared to “normal” employees, they are not directly bound to formal conditions such as time, place and professional standards of the employer. The freelancer is not actively involved in the organizational structure of the given company.
Subscribe online as a clickworker and become a freelancer now!
Employees, freelance professionals as well as business persons can work as freelancers. Even if a company employs someone, they can still work as a freelancer for a different company. A freelancer’s working hours are flexible, but they do not have any legal requirement to be offered sick pay or paid leave of any kind. Freelance contracts are usually limited and contain details about the number of hours or a time specification that includes how quickly a task has to be performed. While freelancers receive a contractually determined remuneration for their work, employees additionally receive non-wage labor costs from their employers. A freelancer must also pay all costs incurred themselves.
Some say that freelancing is becoming the new normal. More and more people are breaking free from the traditional employer/employee relationship and opting instead to go it alone. This is a daunting prospect for some but many who have taken the leap say they’re glad they did so. However, it’s not something to enter into lightly, serious considerations must be made. This is especially true if a person has responsibilities such as a family, mortgage etc. One of the best ways to ease into freelancing is to do small side gigs alongside a regular employed position. From there some people work their way up to becoming a freelancer full time.
People have varied reasons for becoming a freelancer, many wish to work from home. Prior to the global pandemic working from home was seen as something only lower class people did or those who took on very small gigs such as Avon. Some even thought of those people as lazy or trying to avoid getting a “proper job”. Yet once huge numbers of people were forced to work from home they soon realised that this way of working was actually very beneficial. People said it helped with their work/life balance, in raising their kids, boosting their mental health and saving on money due to not having to travel.
For some, it’s about making more money alongside their regular income. Some aim to make more as a freelancer than they do in their current employed job. Alongside this is a big factor for many and that’s being their own boss. Some feel that the typical way of working just isn’t for them or they just want to be in charge of their future. For many freelancing means they can set their terms or choose the terms of a project that they prefer. Having this kind of option is very beneficial in terms of interest, gaining new skills, pay and flexibility.
Experienced freelancers often state that it’s not just the above that compelled them to get into this style of working but other factors too. The main ones are making new connections or networking and for some it’s about getting into a company on an employed basis. The former is really important for freelancers as it means they have the chance to make all kinds of new connections. This may be with other freelancers, training providers, new companies and more. By forming these new relationships they will broaden their horizons. The chance to scale up into a company is something some freelancers do after working on long-term projects. They may find that the company even headhunts them and offers a well negotiated employed position that may not have been easily attainable before.
This is one of the most common types of freelancers, also known as a traditional freelancer. They don’t have any kind of company set up or a regular department or project that they work for. They tend to do different things within a company or go from company to company doing various projects.
This kind of worker tends to flip and change what they do a lot of the time. They may work a full time job and when needed they add in freelance work. Or they may have a part time job and freelance part time alongside this. They may even be studying and do freelance work in the evening. They will switch things up as and when they need to depending on their life at the time.
These temporary workers are usually called upon for time-limited projects. For example, a business may need someone to write content for a website that’s going live in three weeks. The worker will be asked to work on the project and both parties will know that it will last a maximum of three weeks. These workers will do temporary projects for various organisations. Ad-hoc literally means “as needed”, this kind of relationship is often where a company calls upon a freelancer simply when they’re needed. This is usually for small but frequent jobs that have no specific pattern.
Moonlighting is the act of working a night shift or night job alongside a regular employed day job, sometimes secretly. Many workers do this due to financial need but some may do it to gain new skills. The night work is usually freelance and in some cases the worker will stop the work once they have either saved up or got out of an awkward financial situation.
Some freelancers opt to set up their own company. Some may even have their own website and advertise and some might even hire freelancers if the demand requires it. As this is the most involved format not many opt for it but for some it makes sense to do so. This could be for a variety of reasons such as finances, taxes, or future plans to expand into a fully-fledged business with employees.
