Freelance Work – why is Freelance Work Becoming Popular?

Posted by Barry Walls on October 7, 2009

Thanks to the latest economic crunch, most people want to know what the cause of freelance work becoming popular is. Truthfully, freelance work has always been around. Most people never really referred to it as that, they just considered someone who was a freelance worker to be self employed.

Many people hold a traditional view of what exactly work is. They believe you should get up walk out your door go somewhere fill in a time sheet or punch a clock collect a paycheck and be happy for the stability of the routine. However, this latest global financial crunch has been a wakeup call to many people who have come to rely on this sort of outlook.

If a job is lost, there is an immediate need to replenish the income that no longer is there. They need to put food on the table and to keep a roof over their head and their family. If a family is involved this can be quite a task.

A way that people have made a second income is by moon lighting, doing simple tasks in exchange for cash. Most of the time moon lighting type jobs are only good for a few extra dollars, however, with a plan and some effort moon lighting can actually become a primary source of income.

This is where becoming a freelance worker comes into play. If you have any type of skill someone will pay you to use, it is very easy to become a freelance worker. By doing calculations you can easily figure out exactly how you can reach any income goals that you may have.

Here’s a quick example. We’ll say that George wants to become a freelance grass cutter. George can pretty easily ascertain how long it will take him to mow a lawn of a particular size. Let’s say that he knows a rather tiny yard, one that measures only about one hundred square yards, would take him thirty minutes to cut. He can charge someone $15 for doing this job. He can then calculate if he mows grass for eight hours per day he could cut six hundred square yards in that amount of time and his income would be $90 per day. Say George only wants to work five days a week that would be a nice income of $450 per week.

It’s always smart business to keep receipts for tax purposes. There are other ways which Jack can earn even more money by cutting grass; he could work longer days, he could schedule the jobs closer to each other so he can be more productive in one day, or he could take on more jobs temporarily until he has hit some sort of necessary financial goal.

Obviously, you will have to keep receipts and records so you can prove your expenses. Any time as a freelance worker you want to increase your income, you can always raise your rates so long as you don’t make yourself too high compared to your competition. You can also work longer hours to increase income without raising rates; you can also take on more people as clients for a short amount of time until you reach a particular financial goal. The answer to the question of why freelance work is becoming more popular because people realize there is no such thing as job security and if they have a marketable skill or are willing to do a job someone else will pay to have done, it can actually lead to a very lucrative income which can be fit into your family schedule instead of fitting your family time around work.