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More and More Men and Women are Taking Freelance Work and Supplementing Their Incomes
“I’ll take the job!”
The minute the words exited my mouth my palms began to sweat and my heart began to race. They are words that signaled a stable advancement in my career during times past.
In that moment, the excitement came with a world of uncertainty. I just said yes to a part time job that would allow the freedom and flexibility to launch my freelance writing career around it.
This transition out of a government job and into an unpredictable lifestyle pinned up by my own work ethic took place around 2007. I thought I needed the stability of full time work. I thought I needed the IRA and the cushy amount of sick days in the bank. I was wrong.
As the world economy lurched in a different direction, I took part in the transition to the digital nomad lifestyle. I understood the risk of this decision, but I didn’t understand the full ramifications until years later.
I took the leap from a cubicle to one of the comfortable chairs in the corner of my neighborhood coffee shop. I became a statistic on the side of change in the world economy.
A Shift in the Workforce
It’s no secret that America shifted from a manufacturing and production-based economy, to one based on services over recent decades. In the 1950s America’s largest employers included car companies, oil companies and steel manufacturers. Today that list includes retailers like Wal-Mart, Target and Kroger.
In the 1950s it wasn’t uncommon for an employee to spend an entire career with the same company. Many put in decades of work in a single place before retirement.
It’s easier to create a stable career for yourself and provide for a family when the pay more closely reflects the rising costs of an American lifestyle. It’s also easier when the looming threat of layoffs doesn’t lurk around every corner.
The Average number of years a wage worker has been with their current company is 4.2 years in 2016, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Job changes occur more frequently, and so does the fundamental structure of the work arrangement.
In 2015, freelancers made up 34 percent of the American workforce, according to Business Insider. According to their survey, 69 percent of millennials who have never freelanced would choose to freelance if they could find enough projects to earn the salary they are worth.
Technology plays a big part into the freelance lifestyle. Large platforms like Amazon, Thumbtack, Upwork, Uber or even Airbnb make it easier than ever to find a way to freelance or create your own income.
A movement has popped up around the idea of leaving the workforce to create your own sense of stability. It’s not easy, and the path is full of landmines. But it does allow you to more precisely aim your skill set at your passions. With planning, there are multiple projects and multiple sources of income to fall back on.
Many industries are facing growing uncertainty in the future of automation. Right now it’s bank tellers and manufacturing jobs that are impacted. Pretty soon it will be fast food workers, truck drivers, and more and more white-collar industries.
Freelancing, and finding supplemental sources of income will continue to offer a safety net as the world of work shifts. Because the reality is that no one really knows where it is going.
I’d be lying if I said the freelance lifestyle has been easy since I left that full time job in 2007. I eventually quit the part time job that offered initial stability, but there have been some extremely rocky moments. Such is the nature of work in the new economy. With some planning it’s sustainable.
In the coming years, the competition for my comfortable chair in the coffee shop will continue to grow. More people will freelance, work remotely and develop more autonomy over their professional path. That is both a scary thing and a good thing.
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Photo Credit: Getty Images