Introduction:
A freelancer is a self-employed person who often works for multiple employers at a time on numerous assignments. Freelancers are usually paid on a per-job basis and can charge between hourly or daily rates. In this blog, I will be breaking down how freelancing works, the various types of Freelancing and what type of jobs there are in Freelancing. From there, I will be assessing Freelancing in terms of my own career aspirations and what areas of Freelancing I am interested in possibly pursuing.
Literature Review:
American Law Institute. 2015. Restatement of the law, employment law: Conditions for the existence of employment relationship, Section 1.01.
This reference helped in providing a frame of reference for contracting in regards to the law. I wanted to offer an authentic piece of evidence to showcase that how I was talking about contractors was well founded, which would then help the reader to see what is necessary in order to start a career as a contractor.
Bidwell, M. and Briscoe, F. (2009), “Who contracts? Determinants of the decision to work as an independent contractor among information technology workers”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 52 No. 6, pp. 1148‐68.
This reference was necessary in order to establish the correlation between contractors and freelancers. I wanted to showcase the sides of freelancing that are outside the media world in order to paint a larger picture of the freelancing world. From this source, I was able to showcase not only the area’s of freelancing that I am interested in but also those that I might gain interest for in the future.
Francis, K. (2007) Freelance Photography. Amsterdam, Netherlands :: Elsevier,.
Francis, K was a reference that was very much needed in order to establish some groundwork on freelance photography and provide much-needed data on the many different types of photography. This source also provided information and advice from people who have had many years of experience in the business, which worked very well in providing information to the reader that has held the test of time. The advice from people with years of experience also performed well in conjunction with my interview as both are from people who have many years of experience within the industry.
Internal Revenue Service. 2016. Independent contractor defined. https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small‐businesses‐self‐employed/independent‐contractor‐defined. Accessed September 7, 2016.
This reference was used to provide the definition of a contractor from a fully official perspective and provide further legal information for those that may be interested in taking up a job as a contractor. This also offered extra background on the association contracting has with freelancing making it a more diverse source.
Osnowitz, D. 2010, Freelancing Expertise: Contract Professionals in the New Economy, Cornell University Press, Ithaca.
This reference was needed in order to show the value that freelancers provide to companies and their clients. This source showcased the flexibility that a freelancer can provide as they can be hired on a job-by-job basis, which makes it easier to only have to bring them in when it is absolutely necessary. This showed those interested in Freelancing the help that they can provide by working in that field.
Süß, S. & Becker, J. 2013, "Competences as the foundation of employability: a qualitative study of German freelancers", Personnel review, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 223-240.
Becker J. and Süß, S were important for use as sources in order to present how much freelancing is growing in various different areas. This helped to provide intel on why freelancing would interest me as it is a growing market as well as show why freelancing is growing as a form of employment.
Wood, AJ, Graham, M, Lehdonvirta, V, Hjorth, I (2018) Good gig, bad gig: autonomy and algorithmic control in the global gig economy. Work, Employment and Society 33(1): 56–75.
Wood, Aj and others were used as a source in order to provide the details on why someone might be interested in taking up a job as a freelancer. The source very neatly outlined with the advantages and disadvantages of someone pursuing a career in freelancing showcased in a visually appealing way, which made it vital data for me to showcase why the idea of working as a freelancer intrigues me.
Main text:
Freelancing has become an ever-growing career pathway for many people in the new digital age. Freelancing offers an excellent form of self-employment and can allow you to enter many different types of markets all the way, from video editing to translating. From there, you can carve your own career part and choose to work in just one market or in multiple different markets. This way, you have a significant degree of control over your job, which can also increase your control over your life as a whole “For many workers, the lure of ‘free agency’, and control over time and work, reinforces the sentiment that the quality and flexibility of work-life is higher outside of the traditional work setting” (Wood, A.J., 2018 P.)
Freelancers use many different methods in order to obtain work, one of which is through various different websites that offer the ability to advertise your work and gain clients seamlessly. These websites would include Upwork, Fiver, Freelance, among others. These websites work by acting as a form of Facebook for freelancers allowing potential consumers to search through the various services offered and get in immediate contact with any open freelancer of their choice.
These websites allow a freelancer and a client to perform all the actions necessary to complete a project all in the one place. Through a website like Fiver they are able to do the messaging and portfolio viewing all the way to the payment, making it a convenient method of conducting business. This benefits both the consumer and the freelancers and is a vital attribute for someone interested in pursuing a career as a freelancer.
Freelancers are often viewed in many different ways; one of the other ways that they are viewed is as contractor “Moreover, the terms contractor and freelancer are frequently used interchangeably in the international literature” (Bidwell, M. and Briscoe, F. 2009 P. 1148‐68). Contractors are defined as someone who the payer has the right to control only the result of the work “The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) definition of independent contractor is “that an individual is an independent contractor if the payer has the right to control or direct only the result of the work and not what will be done and how it will be done” (Internal Revenue Service. 2016. P.1)
Contractors will work for a company, but they do not have the same relationship as an employee as an independent contractor retains entrepreneurial control over the work that he does “In this type of nonstandard work arrangement, a worker provides services to a firm as part of a business relationship, and not as part of an employment relationship. Unlike an employee, an independent contractor retains entrepreneurial control over exactly how services are to be provided to the firm” (American Law Institute. 2015. Section 1.01)
Freelancers as a whole provide a particular intrinsic value to the workforce; for instance, they are able to provide a steady amount of flexibility in how they work. Two of the primary forms of flexibility that freelancers offer is numerical and functional flexibility “For their clients, contractors collectively constitute an external labor market that facilities flexibility in two ways: numerical flexibility allows an organisation to adjust the size of its workforce; functional flexibility can reconfigure an organisational mix of specific skills and experience to meet changing needs.” (Osnowitz, D. 2010 P.24). This flexibility can be highly beneficial to a company and could get them out of a possibly tricky situation.
Freelancing is a career form that very much interests me due to the considerable growth in the industry “In Germany, the group of solo self‐employed, which also includes the employment type “freelance”, is growing particularly strongly.” (Becker, J. 2013 P.223), this growth makes it an outstanding industry to partake in as it is likely to continue to increase like it has in Germany so it could potentially offer many different advantageous positions in the future.
As shown through the literature displayed, Freelancing is an excellent form of self-employment and does very much interest me due to the benefits mentioned above. I engage in many forms of Freelancing, as you can see through my website, C.V. and showreel. Those area’s being Freelance photography, videography and video editing.
The particular areas of Freelancing that I am interested in are freelance photography and videography, as well as Freelance video editing. My interest in freelance photography is shown in my interview in which I talk to a freelance photographer with over thirty years of experience in the business. Freelance photography interests me due to the wide variety of shooting that you can do. I try to work on all area’s be it people, tourism or landcapes, but as you can see from my portfolio, the principal shooting I focus on is nature. I have worked with various different clients, to do photoshoots, and I also sell stock photography online.
As shown through the literature for photography, it is a world with many varying different types of photography. There is industrial photography that is dedicated to the shooting of production and the sales of goods, and then there is the freelance photographer who works mainly in technical photography like goods and services. The industrial photographer will often work directly for a specific company whereas the freelancer will supplement the work of an in-house photographer “The industrial photographer usually works directly for a specific company, whereas the freelance photographer will often supplement the work of the so-called in-house or inplant photographer.” (Francis, K. 2007 P.332). I am specifically interested in freelance photography due to its flexibility.
Freelance video editing is another aspect of Freelancing that interests me due to the increase in demand for editors as more and more companies create visual media to which they will need someone to edit. A freelance video editor is a video editor that often works on a job-by-job basis, editing videos for clients all the way from YouTubers to company executives. Freelance video editing intrigues me due to the flexible job by job basis and potential variety of clients to work with. I have done freelance editing for a company before, as shown on my website as well as on my C.V.
The last focused piece of Freelancing that interests me is Freelance videography. As shown on my website, I have done videography for a packaging company and have other clients interested in my work when their businesses reopen, one of which being a farm in Louth. Videography is used in the creation of various different types of video content, and in terms of Freelancing, it is more often that you would be asked to shoot promotional material for a company. Videography is a wide-ranging and indebt form of work as it encompasses so many different aspects of media involving shooting, colour grading, audio engineering. This makes it a job that requires skill in many separate area’s and you would more than likely need to already have experience in similar sites such as photography and sound design.
Conclusion:
Freelancing is a varied and opportunity-filled career path that has shown a significant increase in development over the years. Freelancers are more than just that and are viewed in various different ways around the world, such as contractors and self-employed. As shown through the aforementioned literature, freelancers provide an intrinsic value for many employers and employees, as well as offering a more flexible alternative to making a living. My future career path will almost certainly involve some form of Freelancing, and I cannot wait to further develop my skills in this fantastic side of the media world.
References:
· American Law Institute. 2015. Restatement of the law, employment law: Conditions for the existence of employment relationship, Section 1.01.
· Bidwell, M. and Briscoe, F. (2009), “Who contracts? Determinants of the decision to work as an independent contractor among information technology workers”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 52 No. 6, pp. 1148‐68.
· Francis, K. (2007) Freelance Photography. Amsterdam, Netherlands :: Elsevier,.
· Internal Revenue Service. 2016. Independent contractor defined. https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small‐businesses‐self‐employed/independent‐contractor‐defined. Accessed September 7, 2016.
Osnowitz, D. 2010, Freelancing Expertise: Contract Professionals in the New Economy, Cornell University Press, Ithaca.
· Süß, S. & Becker, J. 2013, "Competences as the foundation of employability: a qualitative study of German freelancers", Personnel review, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 223-240.
Wood, AJ, Graham, M, Lehdonvirta, V, Hjorth, I (2018) Good gig, bad gig: autonomy and algorithmic control in the global gig economy. Work, Employment and Society 33(1): 56–75.