It appears that Freelancers are having another moment although, as usual, it could be a mixed blessing. As we discovered when the coronavirus shutdown was waning and business began to slowly pick up, there are both roses and thorns to contend with. Still, economic fluctuations are nothing you haven’t seen before and you probably survived (but maybe not without suffering a few sleepless nights).

What distinguishes Freelancers and other independent business owners from employees is your plucky resilience and wily resourcefulness. Those traits are in your DNA and that’s why you struck out and created your own venture. However, you’re also a realist and well aware that neither boom times nor tough times last forever (although—surprise!—recessions and other economic downturns linger nearly twice as long as upswings).

Because a Freelancer’s income is often unpredictable you know that planning ahead with careful budgeting, sensible spending and, in flush times, building up savings to cushion cash-flow interruptions are absolute necessities. When either unexpected adversity or opportunity arises, you also know when it’s time to:

• Assess what appears to be an opportunity or obstacle
• Prepare to pivot, if it makes sense, to either expand into a new market or customer group or tweak a product or service to make it more appealing to what customers want now

Forward-thinking Freelancers also work hard to bring in multiple clients and develop additional revenue streams, so that there will be a way to cushion the shock of a lost client.

It is interesting that Inflation and the threat of recession have the potential to simultaneously add and delete clients on your roster. According to a June 2022 Wall Street Journal article big companies, including Twitter, real-estate brokerage firm Redfin and the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase have in recent weeks rescinded job offers made to candidates —-now that’s ugly. Google, Meta (Facebook), Oracle and Tesla have imposed hiring freezes that will be in effect through calendar year 2022.

Bloomberg News brings good news to Freelancers in its report of a survey conducted by gig work clearing house Fiverr. The survey showed that 78% of business leaders said they are more likely to hire Freelancers, rather than full-time employees, as long as economic conditions remain uncertain. Furthermore, economic uncertainty has motivated 85% of US companies to implement a hiring freeze during the current downturn and 78% plan to lay workers off, according to the Fiverr survey.

The current economic climate has Freelancers working in more than 80% of the companies represented by survey respondents, more than 1,000 owners of medium to large businesses. Those companies are currently hiring Freelance experts like you to get the work done and Fiverr reports that it has seen an increase in demand on its platform, especially from large businesses.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Gas pump prices in Hingham, MA (cheaper than Boston!)