Share this infographic on your site!

Embed this infographic on your site!





The editors at Graphic Design Degree Hub decided to research the topic of: The Pros and Cons of Being a Freelancer There are 42 million freelancers in America.[2] Lets see how freelancing is viable, or not. Some do it by choice. Others do it because there is no choice Pros

- Compensation:

- The Average freelancer makes 45% more than your normal worker.

- $46,800 vs. $68,000[3]

- And 75% of those who work from home making over$65,000 per year.[1]

- (80th percentile earnings)

- 49% of freelancers make $20-$59/ hr.

- 33% earn $70+/hr

- 15% earn $100+/hr

- Balance:

- Freelancers have great work life balance.

- (Yoga breaks, whenever!)

- With only 29% of N. American freelancers working 40+ hours a week.

- Flexibility:

- 65.5% of freelancers are full time

- 13.7% are part time with a day job

- 15% are part time with no day job

- 5.7% are full time with a part time day job[4]

- With a full 25% of freelancers saying flexibility of work schedule is the best thing about their position. Coffee shop community

- [4]26% of organizational workforces are contingent/contract based and telecommuters.

- Estimated to rise to 30-50% in the coming decade. Optimism

- %90 of freelancers are happier than before they went solo[4]

- %77 of freelancers are optimistic about business in the next year.[4] Recession proof

- %49 of freelancers felt little or no impact from the recession. Entrepreneurial

- with 71.7% of freelancers saying they're entreprenuers. Cons

- It's not for everyone:

- 2% of freelancers say they are moderately or very much unhappier than at a traditional job.[4] Top complaints

- Finding Clients: 20.8%

- Feast or famine cycle: 16.3%

- Maintaining work life balance: 10.1%

- Managing time/staying productive: 6.8%

- Getting Better fees: 4.5%

- Getting Afordable health insurance: 4.4%

- Not recession proof: 50.7% of freelancers were moderately or significantly impacted by the recession.[4] Stability

- Finding clients is cited as the biggest challenge for 21% of freelancers.[4]

- 21.9% of freelancers moderately or strongly believe their job is less secure than a traditional position. Benefits

- Healthcare, 401k, flexible spending accounts can be hard to find in freelancing. Where? Even though it doesn't matter.

- In 1/4 of the nations 20 largest metro areas:

- More people telecommute than use public transit to get to work.[1]

- --20 largest metro areas

- New York-Newark-Bridgeport

- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside

- Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City

- washington-Baltimore-Northern VA

- Boston-Worcester-Manchester

- San Jose-SF-Oakland

- Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland

- Dallas-Fort Worth

- Houston-Baytown-Huntsville

- Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Gainesville

- Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach

- Detroit-Warren-Flint

- Pheonix-Mesa-Scottsdale

- Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia

- Minneapolis-St. Paul-St. Cloud

- Denver-Aurora-Boulder

- San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos

- Cleveland-Akron-Elyria

- St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington

- Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater



- Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario (CA)= fastest growing telecommuting community

- San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos = highest concentration of telecommuters (4.8%)

- Detroit-Warren-Livonia = lowest (1.8%) Don't think you have what it takes?

- Almost every career type can freelance.

- Top 15 types of freelancers

- Designer--20.4%

- Writer--18%

- Editor/copyeditor--10.5%

- Copywriter-10.3%

- Translator--7.6%

- Web developer--4.5%

- Marketing Professional--4.3%

- Business consultant--2.3%

- Virtual Assistant--1.9%

- Illustrator--1.9%

- Researcher--1.6%

- Videographer--1.4%

- Photographer--1.3%

- IT systems Support--1.2%

- Software developer--1.2%



- As well as traditional careers like

- Engineers

- Accountants

- Lawyers

- Paralegals

- Project Managers Many freelancers self-report higher payrates, higher levels of job satisfaction, and greter work/life balance than traditional jobs. But it's still not for everyone.

- Researched by Merrill Cook Citations

- http://www.globalworkplaceanalytics.com/telecommuting-statistics

- http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/feb/07/how-america-became-nation-freelancers

- http://dailyinfographic.com/freelance-infographic

- https://s3.amazonaws.com/ifdconference/2012report/Freelance+Industry+Report+2012+updated.pdf



