So You Want to Be a Freelancer...
Article by Elena Fawkner
What's the difference between running your own home-based business
and freelancing? (tick, tick, tick ...) Give up? Me too. If you want to work for yourself
from home and have a special talent or skill that you think others would be prepared to
pay for on an hourly or per-project basis, why not stop thinking in terms of the
traditional "home business" paradigm and start thinking in terms of freelancing
instead?
What Is a Freelancer?
Quite simply, a freelancer is an independent contractor who earns
his or her living by contracting for projects on a project by project basis. A freelancer
is not an employee of anyone and so he or she must actively seek out work, negotiate the
terms and conditions of the project (the contract) and complete the work to the
satisfaction of the client. Once the project is complete, the freelancer seeks out and
enters into another contract for another project.
Alternatively, the freelancer may have obligations under a number
of different contracts with different clients at the one time.
Another variation involves the freelancer producing work and then
seeking buyers for that work. A freelance writer of magazine articles, for example, would
fall into this category.
Who Hires a Freelancer?
Those who hire freelancers are as diverse as freelancers
themselves. In some cases, companies will hire freelancers to complete a short-term
project as an alternative to hiring a new employee. This is often the case where the work
in question is spasmodic or ad hoc and the company cannot justify hiring an employee for
such work. Companies also hire freelancers to help smooth out the peaks and troughs of
workload. Again, where there is a temporary oversupply of work, the company will hire the
freelancer on a short-term basis to help cope with the backlog.
In other cases, companies hire freelancers for their special
expertise in a certain area. A company may want to create a new website, for example.
Hiring a freelance website designer for such a project makes more sense than hiring a
website designer as an employee since once the website is complete, the function will no
longer be required.
Magazine and newspaper editors also hire freelancers or, more
precisely, buy rights to freelancers' work. A freelancer in this type of situation may
write a piece and submit it to a number of different editors in the hope that his or her
work will be "picked up" by that editor and published, in return for which the
freelancer receives payment. By its nature, such an approach is speculative since the
freelancer can't be sure that anyone will actually buy the work. Of course, once the
freelancer has been published, it is relatively easier to get the editor to buy the
freelancer's work in the future and, as the freelancer's reputation grows, so too do the
opportunities for
future business.
