The Gig Economy — Our New Reality?

On the Daily Beast, Tina Brown (formerly of The New Yorker and Vanity Fair) writes about the “gig economy,” in which nobody has a day job and careers are a patchwork of freelance projects for a variety of paymasters.

Here’s how Brown defines the freelancer’s new gig:

Gigs: a bunch of free-floating projects, consultancies, and part-time bits and pieces they try and stitch together to make what they refer to wryly as “the Nut”—the sum that allows them to hang on to the apartment, the health-care policy, the baby sitter, and the school fees.

Edward Wasserman, a Knight Professor of Journalism Ethics at Washington and Lee University, writes about what this means for word-based freelancers. Of course, much of what he’s talking about — lower pay, murky areas of ethics, and the need for greater transparency — hold true for any independent contractor, designers included.

Here are some stats from a Daily Beast and Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates poll that highlights a typical, cribbed-together salary of $75K and explains that the top motivation for taking on extra work is the goal (or hope) of turning a hobby into a money-making operation (48%).

Five hundred employed U.S. citizens aged 18 and over were interviewed via the Internet on January 8 and 9. A full one-third of our respondents are now working either freelance or in two jobs. And nearly one in two of them report taking on additional positions during the last six months. Just as startling, these new alternative workers are not overwhelmingly low-income. They’re college-educated Americans who earn more than $75,000 a year.

Image from the Daily Beast.

What One Holiday Card Led to....

The artist known for the vintage-looking Mad Men illustrations on Flickr talks with editors at AMC TV about how she got her start and what makes her images popular. As far as the “start” goes, Dyna Moe got her first commission from actor Rich Sommer of Mad Men fame after doing his Christmas card for free.

Photo from Dyna Moe’s Flickr page.

How to Handle the Homework of Health Insurance

Gee, doesn't the preamble to this New York Times article about dealing with health insurance as a freelancer sound familiar?

OH, the glory of being your own boss: the freedom, the creativity, the jeans-only dress code. And then there’s the dreary stuff — like finding and paying for your own health insurance.

The article raises the issue of geography for independent contractors. As one expert in the story puts its, “When you’re self-employed, you’re straddling two distinct markets: the individual and the group market.” Those two markets, according to the article, vary depending on where you live. If you're self-employed and in the market for a new or upgraded health plan, you should learn about the rules in your state. (You can find a link to your state’s insurance department at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners site.)

When Will You Retire?

This article by a local financial adviser considers when most people will retire — either by choice or by default (say, firing or layoff). Essentially, even retirement at 65 is proving difficult — and an impossibility — for more and more people. For many of us, our retirement could easily last thirty years. What are the chances we’ll stay at the same job? In some respects, freelancers will be well-off, as they often move from job to job with a lot of fluidity.

Below are some interesting statistics. From the freelancer’s perspective, this article shows how important it is to think early and often about one’s retirement. Even if you are working full-time in a salaried position, there are clearly no promises about retirement. Long gone are the world’s pensions. I also find the Bay Area very agist, and wonder how the job market will be for the 60-plus demographic. A freelancer might be well suited for such a market, assuming he or she has her health care (er, insurance) sorted out.

A recent study looked at the percentage of men between the ages of 58 and 62 who were working for the same employer they had at age 50. In 1983, 75% of full-time male workers worked at the same employer, compared to only 50% in 2006 (Source: Center for Retirement Research, September 2008). These results were consistent across all educational levels. If workers are leaving voluntarily, they are probably moving to better jobs with better pay, which should mean they will stay employed longer. If workers are laid off or forced out of their jobs in their 50s or 60s, they are likely to take inferior jobs at lower pay, which may mean they are less likely to stay employed into their late 60s.

On the plus side of working well into our 60s and 70s, the BBC reports that we’ll (hopefully) "avoid dementia."

New Design Site for Freelancers Trolling for Work

I'm not too sold on the logo or GraphicDesignFreelanceJobs.com’s look and feel; however, it claims to, on average, list between 75 and 150 new freelance graphic design jobs each day. In regard to pay, hte jobs range from one-day assignments to month-long projects that pay from $100 to $3,000 each.

Apparently, the site is part of a “how-to freelance” online network run and maintained by working freelancers. The other parts of the network include http://www.GraphicDesignBids.com, http://www.FreelancePhotoJobs.com, and http://www.FreelancePortfolios.com .

Welcome to ‘Freelance Survival’

With tough economic times comes the opportunity to go solo — either as an independent contractor needing to wait out the slump or as someone wanting to build a career that steers clear of office politics and allows for lots of flexibility and variety. Either way, this course walks you through the basics of independent contracting: from setting up shop to finding work and setting your rates, to dealing with contracts and taxes.

• 3 meetings
• Tuesdays, May. 5-May. 19, 6:30 PM-9:30om
• SF State Downtown Campus, 835 Market St., San Francisco

Email the instructor, Laura Moorhead, any questions you might have about the class.

Print Templates for Upload or Download

Inkd lets users either upload their own designs as a money-making venture or pay to download very affordable templates for public use. As I mentioned earlier in class, Moo.com operates in a similar fashion.

Photo image courtesy of Inkd.