At Snipply, we’ve seen as new industries develop and new types of businesses mature, the demand seems to increase for both full-time and freelance workers within those industries. Startup founders and business owners seek outside assistance as domain experts looking for specific help in areas that are foreign to them. Whether that is design or accounting these industries and types of businesses are seeing extraordinary growth in freelance opportunities this year.
First, let’s start with what 99designs, one of the leading freelance design platforms, found in terms of industry-specific freelance opportunity growth.
Cannabis Businesses
99designs actually stated that within the Cannabis industry, CBD was the vertical growing the most. With the industry expected to grow to $16 billion by 2025, according to Cowen & Co., demand from CBD-related companies for freelance help has been increasing at an incredible pace. They found a 1,568% increase in businesses in this field looking for work on their platform since 2015 and a 61% increase in the past year.
Biohacking
This is a broader term that encompasses the latest health trends and technologies. This includes things like diets, intermittent fasting, sleep tracking, and IV hydration therapy. According to 99designs, they had a 445% increase in the number of businesses hiring creative freelancers since 2015 and 71% in the past year.
Plant-based Foods
We’ve all witnessed the success fo companies like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, but there are a ton of fast-growing companies in the space, and even more service businesses that cater to individuals on vegan and plant-based diets. They stated there was a 214% increase in the number of businesses in this field looking to hire creative freelancers since 2015 and a 20% increase year over year.
Cutting Edge Industries
Another thing to look at is which industries are on the cutting edge of technology and finally coming into the mainstream. While there are more examples, the following three industries check both those boxes as well being both business and consumer-facing with a global reach.
Blockchain
The global blockchain market is expected to surpass $20 billion by the year 2024, up from $2.1 billion in 2018. Currently, almost 70 percent of banks are experimenting with blockchain, and the number of blockchain-related job postings on LinkedIn has more than tripled in the last year. Like many deep-tech businesses, the need for help in marketing, design, and other areas outside of the technology development itself grows with the increase in business activity.
Artificial Intelligence
AI is pretty much everywhere these days. What was once a scary concept for consumers, AI is now a big part of our everyday lives. Expected to become a $27.6 billion in the near term, the opportunities for freelancers within the space will steadily increase as older industries continue to adopt the technology.
The Internet of Things
In 2020, IoT is expected to be positioned to make a massive impact. Already a $580 billion industry, the opportunities for freelancers (especially designers) will only increase with the mass adoption of consumer-facing products.
Follow The Money
While we hinted at using revenue and market size with the last few industry segments, a great way to see where the freelance job opportunities are is simply looking at 2020 revenue growth. These industries are healthy now, and only continuing to grow.
IBISWorld provides the “Fastest Growing Industries in the US by Revenue Growth (%) in 2020” in the graphic below.
Beyond market size and revenue growth, there is one other major way to follow the money in order to see where the opportunities are currently, and where they’ll continue to be. By looking at what startups are being funded, we can see where VC’s believe real growth will come from over the next ten years. Funding averages are a great way to look at this. Embroker provides a look at the average total of funding raised by industry and how this data correlates to each industry’s average revenues.
So those are the ways you can see where freelance opportunities are currently, and where they’ll continue to grow. If interested in all things future of work and freelance related, head over to the Snipply Blog where we’ll be releasing a full guide for both freelancers and those looking to build a freelance team.
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