‘Present’ follows the ‘past’. And ‘future’ follows the ‘present’. So before I go into the details of telling you the ‘present’ extent to which ‘find a freelancer’ as a profession is booming, it will be good to know as to where have this word originated from. The word freelance was first coined by Sir Walter Scott, a renowned Scottish historical novelist and poet when he wrote his novel Ivanhoe to refer to a medieval mercenary warrior. In 1903 the word was officially recognized by etymologists and made it to the Oxford English Dictionary.
A freelancer can be simply referred to as a person who is self employed. Freelance writers write for different purposes, different motives and different projects which vary in their size, scope and variety. In case of freelance work exchange, projects may include article writing, book writing, ebook writing, Technical reports, editing, proofreading, white papers, direct mail, copywriting, newsletters, Ezine writing etc.
Now coming to the present position of freelancing in the Industry, there is no denying the fact that the freelance industry has literally boomed. $60 billion of work is now outsourced to specialists’ worldwide. In the past three years, companies have increased their outsourcing by 22%. The growth is so huge that 35 million Americans class themselves as independent professionals (authenticated by US Department of Labor)
Another survey supports the increment by predicting that companies using freelance services will more than double from 20% to 50%.
Moreover, this increment in the freelancing industry is equally visible worldwide. The trend of ghostwriting has expanded so fast that it has reached to a level of a global phenomenon instead of being a localized trend to be seen in USA or a few countries. Looking at it, being part of a $120 billion industry won’t be bad!
Shifting on to the reasons behind this sudden boom in freelance writing, there can be many reasons that exactly lead to this development. But I can point out two major ones that significantly explain the reason behind ever progressing freelance businesses.
The explosion of the Internet:
When compared to other traditional media, such as television and radio, internet proves to a bigger source of information. It not only takes up the entertainment part, that was previously dedicated to TV and radio only, internet also proves fruitful for many businesses as it serves as a huge advertising medium to them. This relatively new medium can be used for work, for fun, for buying and selling, for both personal and professional tasks.
Shift in business practices:
In the old days, it was considered a great achievement to open up a business and make it work for a long period of time to earn profits. It was even a step further, when it was possible to have full time employers for all the areas and successfully run the business. But the new mantra of earning profits today has entirely adopted a different model. Due to competition and constant rise in technology, success is achieved when you only do the thing that you specialize in and let other activities be taken up by people who are best at that job. This gives rise to what is known as outsourcing.
In the same way, companies choose to have writers who specialize in a particular type of writing rather than investing in a full time writer. Whenever the need arises, a freelancer can be given the work, and paid accordingly, which saves lot of money and time on company’s part. On the other hand, a freelance writer can earn by doing a work that he likes and need not be bound to an organization. This way, specialists, such as a freelance web content writer, who are more skilled in a narrow focus of work, are given more value by companies. All you need to do is post a bid on a freelancing website and get the job done.
For freelancers, it’s indeed a world of opportunity. No compromises on the place of work and time, and having the opportunity to work with customers all over the world. For this dedicated work of a freelance writer, payments are done directly into bank account and earning more than what you get in a 9-5 day job, is nothing less than a dream come true.
