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The modern world of employment relations is changing and transforming faster and faster every year, and technological progress does not stand still. 15 years ago it was hard to imagine that you can successfully perform one or another task remotely, transferring large amounts of data at a long range, organizing online conferences and creating virtual production teams.

More and more people leave warm and cozy office and go into free floating under the name “remote work” – the freelance!

So who is a freelancer as such in the modern world?

This is a person who offers his services via specialized media resources by means of private ads. This has been done before in newspapers; now this is implemented in internet – on various websites, by word of mouth and, of course, using personal contacts. All these are logical things used for job search of any kind.

Freelancing is especially widely spread in areas such as design (in all its manifestations), copywriting and journalism, law, programming, architecture, translation, photography and video production. There are also a few different types of expert activities, but for our country, unlike the United States or China, freelancing is still more related to creative professions.

More than 50 % of people engaged in freelancing are in the age between 25 and 34. This is so to speak a backbone of freelancing. The next age category is between 35 to 44. Less freelancers are at the age of 1824. People at the age of 45+ are quite rare: only 8 %. Young people under 18 are even more rare.

Over the past ten years the freelancing, while staying a part of the self-employed segment, came out of the shadows and became a big growing market, a separate and important branch of the national economy with its own rules, shop ethics, information space, financial mechanisms, public and state regulation.

Super profis, the intellectual elite of self-employed, its “digital collars”, arose among freelancers.

Since freelancing is a personal business, there exist it’s own pros and cons, its disadvantages and advantages, the same as in any other type of business So what are the advantages of being a freelancer?

Of course, the most important thing is independence from anyone, free working hours and comfortable working conditions: work at home, own workplace, clothing, food, downshifting or, on the contrary, travelling to other countries. Creating an optimal balance between family, environment and work. Possibility to talk to the customer in detail. A comfortable state for the production of a particular service. A relatively low threshold for starting your own business. It is clear why though: you work for yourself, and from the point of view of the overheads you fairly low professional income tax plus spendings for the computer hardware, furniture, daily routine payments such as food and drinks.

Also one of the big advantages is the ability to choose your own job and refuse uninteresting or unprofitable projects. The ability to choose partners independently and adapt to the existing virtual team.

There are usually two sides to a coin. What are the disadvantages for freelancers?

One of the main disadvantages is that you have to search for new orders yourself.

This can be costly in terms of time and money since the marketplaces for freelancers are not charities; they live on money earned on selling paid premium accounts and advertising.

The income is extremely uneven, this is why you need to plan your own budget and do bookkeeping to understand how to pay taxes, how much money has come and how much has gone, and how much money you spent on your promotion.

There are no sick leaves, social security, or trade unions. You need to take care of yourself.

There is also a risk of fraud from the side of the customer.

For some people, much extra effort can be required for self-management, which may lead to a nervous failure. And, of course, you can’t ignore the customer and his pros and cons.

Undoubtfully, a huge plus is the variety of choice and agreements. A choice to get paid hourly or for the implemented work only. A possibility to engage a highly qualified person for a smaller budget.

Savings on the rent of the workplace, no need to provide social guarantees and pay for the vacation and sick leave. And, of course, a minimum of paperwork and reporting.

The disadvantages include complexity of controlling the workflow, the problem of protecting confidentiality and the risk of leakage of certain private information, the inability to engage a freelancer in the projects which require access to state secrets and personal data.

Let’s return to the issue of job search and self promotion.

As I wrote in the beginning, job search and self promotion is implemented via online job marketplaces, word of mouth, personal contacts, and other resources. One way or another, the issue of self promotion is quite important and long lasting. But, oddly enough, it seems to be very simple. At the same time, it is really very difficult to explain where to start and how to build your personal brand.

Now I will try to specify the main postulates very briefly. Always be open. Put your photo in your profile, not a virtual image. Share your contacts, and fill in your portfolio with the works that you have completed and that can be absolutely anything, including those made for friends and colleagues. Show yourself and your skills to potential customers as eloquent as possible to the potential customer. Take on only those obligations that you can fulfill!

Participate in industry forums, competitions, and awards: it will allow you to show yourself and your skills. In addition, events of this kind set the benchmarks of quality, the level of professionalism and the vector of development. This is very important both for your development and for the development of the market!

If you want to be an independent, responsible, educated, confident «free artist», a free fighter and a true freelancer – just be the one!

Yours sincerely:

Kirill Anoshin

Founder of multi-profile marketplace for remote work Freelance.ru

Director of The National Freelancers Guild: Freelancers Guild. RF

Producer of the independent freelancers award “Golden spear”: GoldenLance.ru