As the economy continues to be in upheaval, more layoffs may be in store, hiring at many companies has slowed or stopped, and fewer furloughed employees expect to return to their jobs. Considering how unsettled some think the future looks for employees, if you have a good job right now, it makes sense to hold onto it, right? Not so much, says some top professionals.
Rise of a trillion-dollar workforce
As companies and individuals are becoming accustomed to the connection to an office being virtual, more Americans are choosing to strike out on their own.
Results from Freelance Forward 2023 show the independent workforce is growing strong with earnings totaling $1.2 trillion this year, and the pandemic may fuel its growth. Over 1 in 3 people in the U.S. workforce (59 million) are freelancing. And 58% of non-freelancers new to remote work are considering freelancing in the future.
Sure, some of the 59 million independent professionals are freelancing occasionally while holding down a traditional job, but nearly 4 in 10 are choosing independence as a full-time career choice–an 8% increase from 2019.
Being independent is more secure
Contrary to what many believe, going independent can provide more income stability than a traditional job. Independent professionals say they can control their career trajectory and develop their skills faster by hand-selecting which projects they work on and the companies they work with. The majority (75%) of professionals who left their jobs report that they make the same or more income freelancing.
Their stability comes from how much they make as much as how their work is structured. Most independent professionals work with several clients, so if one client goes away, income can still flow in while they find another client. In comparison, if all their income came from a full-time job, losing that would drop their earnings down to zero.
Money is just part of the appeal
A significant number of professionals say they couldn’t work without the flexibility freelancing provides. Either because a personal illness prevents them from physically going to a typical 9- to 5 jobs, or because they’re caring for others.
The need for flexibility became more widespread when schools and caregiving services closed as a result of the pandemic. Many people required more freedom over when they worked and how much they took on as they juggled the added responsibilities of homeschooling their children and being primary caregivers. Of those who became freelancers during COVID-19, nearly half (48%) report that they are caregivers, and 1 in 3 live with someone who has a disability.
It appears the attraction towards freelancing comes down to control, from controlling one’s professional growth to controlling one’s time. Below, professionals at the top of their careers share why they decided to go independent.
 | Opportunity “The whole reason I got into freelancing was because there weren’t a lot of emerging tech jobs around at the time. As a freelancer, I work with multiple Fortune 100 companies and have a ton of different types of projects I take on instead of being tied to a specific industry or into a specific task.” —Brad Martin, augmented and virtual reality specialist |
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 | Freedom “When people talk about freedom and flexibility, they think about freedom of place and freedom of time. But there is also freedom to create a really unique career path for yourself, and in my case, for my agency.” —Jaime Hollander, marketing and brand specialist |
 | Flexibility “Family is one of the most important things in my life and that’s why I chose freelancing as a career path. It’s really given us the freedom, the flexibility and funds, honestly, to do whatever we want. We’ve been able to design our life in a superfluid, flexible way.” —David Kittle, product and industrial designer |
 | Mastery “In a traditional job, you get capped at a certain level and often remain within the same industry. When you’re freelancing, you have the ability to direct your growth and work across different sectors. So it gives you a breadth of experience that’s very unique compared to most VPs or CMOs out there in the marketplace.” —Yunche Wilson, fractional CMO |
The future looks bright
Despite predictions that the pandemic will last until the summer of 2021, 90% of freelancers say their best days are still ahead. They’re feeling more accepted as businesses are dropping their resistance to remote work. And getting work is easier as technologies, such as freelance work platforms like Upwork, help them find projects from anywhere in the world.
“As businesses explore how they can use technology to maintain relevance in a rapidly digitizing world, I’m getting more calls about technologies like face tracking, body tracking, and photogrammetry,” says Brad Martin, an augmented and virtual reality specialist. He’s helping companies worldwide make spaces feel realistic and comfortable for people in a virtual environment.
What’s more, leaders recognize that the skilled independent workforce is critical for helping businesses gain the expertise and extra hands needed to pivot on a dime and move forward. They’re looking to external talent for help with important and larger projects, which many professionals find more fulfilling.
“I’m seeing huge demand to focus on strategy,” says Yunche Wilson, a fractional CMO. “Clients want consultation on what’s going to happen next. How should they be pivoting? Should they take a look at their products in a different way? When they hire someone like me, they gain insights and fresh perspectives because I’ve worked in so many different industries.”
There’s no guarantee that if you quit your job now, you’ll find greater success as an independent contractor. But as the business trend toward agile work teams continues and remote work is becoming the rule rather than the exception, the future looks promising for skilled independent professionals.
