What Is The Freelance Economy?

We’ve been hearing quite a lot about freelancers, so it is only natural to ask, just what is the freelance economy? Unfortunately, trying to define the freelance economy is a little like trying to define art — “I’ll know it when I see it.” This is due to a couple of reasons. First, we have a lot of different ways to describe the same thing — contingent workers, freelancers, 1099 workers, on-demand workers to name a few. Second, depending on which research report you use, freelancers are defined in different ways such as a person who does freelance work full-time to a full-time employee who does one freelance project a year. There are so many definitions and ways to explain what a freelancer is and what the freelance economy is about. So, in this episode of the FutureIn5, I shed a little light on the subject. In a nutshell, freelancers are people who are not traditional, full-time employees and who make a living by working non-traditional means. Therefore, the freelancer economy encapsulates a large economic space that includes a lot of small businesses, contractors, even speakers like me. Listen in as I define and explore these further in this episode. Also, I share the fascinating research on the freelance economy, which show this economy to be big, massive and disruptive in the coming years. You don’t want to miss this episode, so tune in and leave your comments below!

This month’s content on the future of work was made possible by my friends at Work Market. Work Market is a freelance management system that brings freelancers and organizations together. As the freelancer economy continues to grow organizations are going to have to think differently about how they service, innovate, and compete in the future of work.

Jacob is an author, speaker, and futurist. You can learn more by visiting TheFutureOrganization.com

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