What to expect as a Freelancer?
A lot of newcomers in the freelance arena are often not aware of the going rates for freelance services, or are simply unsure of how to price themselves with respect to their market. Being a freelancer also means that you work on your own with sometimes limited awareness of what the competition is doing, not only in terms of what others are charging but also how much time and effort they’re putting in. FreelanceSwitch recently conducted a survey of 3700 freelancers worldwide which came back with some very interesting results.
Among the findings of the survey:
- 33% earn more as freelancer than they did full-time. 43% earn less. (The remainder never worked full-time as an employee in their industry.)
- Referrals and portfolio web sites are the most popular ways to get work, followed by internet job sites.
- 42% of freelancers work in web design.
- European freelancers work on average 41.2 hours per week compared to their American counterparts at 39 hours.
- The average hourly rate for a graphic designer is $49.
I recommend anyone involved or interested in freelancing give the survey results a good read. The report also includes in-depth analysis by Aaron Cruikshank and should serve as an excellent guide to aspiring freelancers. If you didn’t participate in the survey, the results can be downloaded from the FreelanceSwitch site for a small donation.