Sara Horowitz, founder of Freelancers Union, presents an anecdote-heavy but data-poor view of the surge in freelancing as “the Industrial Revolution of our time”:
It’s been called the Gig Economy, Freelance Nation, the Rise of the Creative Class, and the e-conomy, with the “e” standing for electronic, entrepreneurial, or perhaps eclectic. Everywhere we look, we can see the U.S. workforce undergoing a massive change. No longer do we work at the same company for 25 years, waiting for the gold watch, expecting the benefits and security that come with full-time employment. We’re no longer simply lawyers, or photographers, or writers. Instead, we’re part-time lawyers-cum-amateur photographers who write on the side.
Today, careers consist of piecing together various types of work, juggling multiple clients, learning to be marketing and accounting experts, and creating offices in bedrooms/coffee shops/coworking spaces. Independent workers abound. We call them freelancers, contractors, sole proprietors, consultants, temps, and the self-employed.
And, perhaps most surprisingly, many of them love it.
I’m in this category myself, as a self-employed technical writer. I buy my own tools, pay my own taxes (reminder to self: next tax installment due on the 15th), and — within reason — set my own working hours. Of course, my clients have a lot to say about when my working hours tend to be, so it’s more an extra degree of flexibility than it is total freedom. But it works well for me.
