Are you underselling yourself? 65% of the freelance world makes ~2x their full-time counterpart.

My dad told me I was a wee bit egotistical when I wanted to write this article.

I said:

“My next article will be about how the future of designer roles will be mostly contract or freelance over full time positions.”

And then that's when he laughed and looked at my mom and said “geez you're so egotistical, it's all about you”

Well, this website is literally called caiteopfer.com so let's keep that in mind.

Secondly though – I decided after being laid off I wanted to pursue freelancing full time. 

And! I think there is a great argument for it. Actually a lot of people agree with me. 

Lets start with some fun stats I found: 

• Freelance work makes up 5% of the USA GDP- about $1.5 Trillion (Farming makes up 5.6%-  that's crazy to realize how large the freelance industry actually is.)

• Google has more freelancers on staff (54%) than they do full time employees. 

• 71% of the USA will freelance either part-time or full-time in 2023. 

• By 2028 there will be over 90M freelancers (currently at 70M- that's a 29% increase over 5 years!)

• 65% of reported freelancers make more money freelancing than if they had the same in house position. 

For example: US based Graphic Designers on average make ~$52k a year. Freelance US based Graphic Designers average $90K a year!

Personally, I want to do this for a handful of reasons: Flexibility with my time, I get to work on cool projects, and I won’t get bored- new exciting things are always coming my way. 

And from the employer's perspective- this is a steal.

Design work isn’t consistent. 

It comes and goes in waves. 

Why pay someone for 40 hours a week when they may not work that much? Plus, I’m not even arguing all of the benefits you need to offer full time employees. 

This article from Forbes mentions how most startups only use freelancers. Its pretty neat in my option.

Freelancing work helps keep companies in line with their bottom lines and freelancers get to pick up cool projects. 

I must admit- there is comfort with full time. You get consistency, team building and a ton of other perks I understand you’ll never achieve with freelance/contract work. Even just consistency in process is a big play in business longevity. This isn’t all positive for all players in the freelance game.

Yet, I find the scope of work super attractive and intriguing here.

Turns out, a lot of people do.