{"id":865,"date":"2016-10-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-04T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canopyadvisory.com\/the-age-of-the-freelancer\/"},"modified":"2023-12-18T20:58:38","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T03:58:38","slug":"the-age-of-the-freelancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canopyadvisory.com\/the-age-of-the-freelancer\/","title":{"rendered":"The Age of the Freelancer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last month, I attended Denver Start-up week\u2019s the \u201cAge of the Freelancer\u201d; I arrived to a standing room only packed house at Craftsy\u2019s downtown conference space to hear Aspenware\u2019s Rob Clark speak about the following:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>People are turning to freelancing in droves. Fast Company reports that the number of 1099s received by the IRS grew from 82 million in 2010 to 91 million in 2015, and according to ColoradoBiz Magazine, half the workforce could be location-agnostic by 2020. Why are companies using more blended teams and freelance talent, and how can tech freelancers take advantage of this ripe market?<!--more--><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I found Rob\u2019s remarks to be spot on for what we\u2019ve seen at Canopy over the past seven years.\u00a0 Here are his key takeaways for freelancers and clients alike:<\/p>\n<p>1)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Companies will use <em>blended teams<\/em> to meet a <em>specific challenge<\/em> at a <em>specific time<\/em>.<br \/>\nRob argues that companies with a highly successful freelance strategy don\u2019t simply outsource certain functions and let the freelancer work in isolation; instead, they augment their core team of employees with highly skilled freelancers to help the entire team complete the project better and quicker.<\/p>\n<p>2)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Companies use freelance talent for a <em>variety of reasons<\/em>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Immediacy:<\/strong>\u00a0 hiring someone full-time is a time consuming and often lengthy process.\u00a0 Getting a freelancer under contract for a specific project can happen very quickly.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Affordability:<\/strong> while a freelancer\u2019s hourly\/project rate may be more than a salaried employee, you only need to pay them when you need them.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Short-term:<\/strong> a freelancer can meet a specific need without a long-term obligation to the company.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Experience:<\/strong> Many freelancers have developed a specific expertise that companies can tap into without a lot of additional in-house training.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Flexibility:<\/strong> A company can craft their contract to be specific to what they need and when.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Independence:<\/strong> A freelancer will bring an outside, independent voice to the table.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Entrepreneurial spirit:<\/strong>\u00a0 By nature of going out on their own, freelancers are their own mini start-ups: they\u2019ve learned how to build a brand, build a sales pipeline and utilize resources carefully.\u00a0 They bring that resourcefulness and entrepreneurial spirit to the team.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Hmmm\u2026in looking at that list, it appears that freelancers work at the drop of a hat, with no benefits or long-term certainty of their future with a client\u2026so what\u2019s in it for them?<\/p>\n<p>Rob\u2019s argument for why so many individuals are <em>opting into the freelance workforce<\/em> is as follows:<\/p>\n<p>3) Freelancers can chose work:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>They are best suited for,<\/li>\n<li>where they want,<\/li>\n<li>for the period of time that makes sense,<\/li>\n<li>along people they want to work with,<\/li>\n<li>for a cause\/company they believe in,<\/li>\n<li>in exchange for fair compensation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What I see as a common thread to all these good reasons is <em>independence<\/em>.\u00a0 Freelancers, as mentioned in # 2 are entrepreneurial spirits who like being out on their own, picking and choosing projects that excite them, and having independence and freedom to create a work-life balance that works for them as an individual: it may be as a work horse putting in 80 hours a week or it might be limiting their contracts to 30 hours\/week to be a parent, avid rock climber or bootstraping a start-up of their own.<\/p>\n<p>One thing is certain \u2013 people have taken notice of this growing freelance nation and are creating tools to help the independent workforce and the companies who hire them.<\/p>\n<p>4) \u00a0\u00a0 There are many <em>new tech tools<\/em> available for both sides:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.waveapps.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wave:<\/a> accounting\/tax software for independents<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.shakelaw.com\/shake-apps\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shake:<\/a> Legal support for independents<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/timelyapp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Timely:<\/a> timetracker for hourly work across multiple clients<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.freelancersunion.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Freelancers Union:<\/a> general support for the independent workforce<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.builtincolorado.com\/company\/aventeer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Aventeer:<\/a> a site to find freelance developers and programmers<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/profinder\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LinkedInProFinder:<\/a> LinkedIn\u2019s service to find independents<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.upwork.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">UpWork:<\/a> A freelance marketplace<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.builtincolorado.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Built In Colorado:<\/a> a hub for tech\/start-ups<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last month, I attended Denver Start-up week\u2019s the \u201cAge of the Freelancer\u201d; I arrived to a standing room only packed house at Craftsy\u2019s downtown conference space to hear Aspenware\u2019s Rob Clark speak about the following: People are turning to freelancing in droves. Fast Company reports that the number of 1099s received by the IRS grew [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2240,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-post","topic-business-strategy"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Age of the Freelancer - Canopy Advisory Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/canopyadvisory.com\/the-age-of-the-freelancer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Age of the Freelancer - Canopy Advisory Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last month, I attended Denver Start-up week\u2019s the \u201cAge of the Freelancer\u201d; I arrived to a standing room only packed house at Craftsy\u2019s downtown conference space to hear Aspenware\u2019s Rob Clark speak about the following: People are turning to freelancing in droves. 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