World Wide Freelancer

Is Freelancing Right For Me?

There has been a great deal of talk about home businesses and online businesses over the past 10 years. In fact, as the U.S. Department of Labor reported, more than 20 million people work from home, and approximately half of them are not working from home as a part of their traditional job. Instead, they are working for themselves.

Now, among those numbers, you can bet that freelancers exist. A freelancer owns a business of their own, but they are not actually considered as business owners per se. A freelancer contracts their skills and services out to those who need them. The product that they sell is themselves — their skills or knowledge. While this operates on the same principle as owning a business and selling a product such as books, it is quite different. A freelancer does not work to find customers. Instead, they work to find clients.

Freelancers can either work from their home, or from a client’s office or home, depending on the job that they are doing. For example, a freelance writer typically works from his/her own home. A freelance consultant may, on the other hand, do the contracted job at the client’s place of business.

There are numerous skills that can be turned into a freelancing career. Writing seems to be the most popular, but freelancing can also include photography, web development, graphical design, proofreading, translating, tutoring, or any other number of careers. The only requirement for freelancing is to have a marketable skill; but of course, it takes more than that to actually become a successful freelancer. Continue Reading →