Editor’s note: This article was first published in January 2011, during Spain’s economic crisis, and its forecast that freelance hiring would be “the star form of hiring in 2011” belongs to that moment.
Freelance professionals are in demand. Although in our previous article we discussed the disadvantages of working as a self-employed person on a commercial contract, the truth is that today both professionals and people who want to earn some extra money can carve out a place for themselves in the freelance world.
To earn extra money as a freelancer
There are various websites where companies look for professionals for specific tasks and pay when the work is finished. The work may last a few hours, days, weeks or months. Most of these sites are in English, although we have found one that is entirely in Spanish.
It mainly looks for programmers, writers, designers, webmasters, Web 2.0 marketing specialists and anything to do with the internet, so those who are good at these tasks should have no trouble earning some extra money by checking this kind of site from time to time and offering their services. The site is called Trabajos Freelance. Sometimes it also looks for salespeople and other professionals outside the online world.
To work and build your own business as a freelancer
Later on we’ll write an article explaining the skills and qualities a freelance professional needs to have from the outset, because not everyone would suit this way of working, or… let’s call it a business.
Even so, in times of crisis, when companies are afraid to take someone on and pay out for social security and wages, they tend to turn to freelance workers, because the company will only pay according to what the person sells, and the social security costs are borne by the worker.
Still, if you know your way around sales and believe from the outset that you can do the job the company is looking for, it can be an excellent way of doing business, all the more so if you combine it with other activities or sell more than one product.
That’s one of the advantages of being a freelance professional: unless your contract clearly includes an exclusivity clause, you can work on more than one product or sales activity, and in many cases that’s where the profit lies.
As we’ve said before, freelance hiring will be the star form of hiring in 2011 if the economic situation doesn’t improve.
In a few days we’ll write about the ways to make sure you succeed as a freelance professional and, of course, when you shouldn’t take up this kind of work.
Further reading
- The commercial contract: what you need to know
- The 10 jobs of the future
- How to be a successful business owner
- Ideas for making money quickly
- Ways to make money online
Featured image: Tran Mau Tri Tam tranmautritam, CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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