Manifesto
The freelance narrative needs to change.
Freelancing is a hot-topic in the world of work. It’s seen as a panacea for all sorts of employment issues.
Hate your boss? Go freelance.
Starting a family? Go freelance.
Want to earn more and work less? Go freelance.
But it’s not that simple.
There are roughly five million self-employed people in the UK. That number’s up 50% since 2001, and it’s only increasing.
Despite this, there are few readily-available schemes to educate people on how to set-up businesses that are sustainable and profitable.
Anyone considering self-employment is left to scour Google for the help they need. That means they’re finding the articles with the best SEO, not necessarily the best advice.
Creating financially sustainable flexible work is not easy.
There are lots of online courses aimed at helping people retrain or move into self-employment. This is useful, but not without its problems.
The marketing of many of these courses glosses over the hard truths about self-employment. For instance, the average earnings of self-employed people is around £17,000 – I bet you’ve never seen that in a freelance course advert.
Another issue is that courses are only open to people who can afford to pay for them. And many of them are expensive.
It’s good that courses exist and the creators should be able to profit from their work. However, there should be more independent advice available, especially for those considering freelancing as a career choice. People should be making choices about self-employment based on facts rather than marketing material.
There should also be somewhere for soon-to-be, new and existing freelancers to seek advice. It’s good for everyone if freelancers succeed, and this guide aims to help freelancers do just that.
Did you know?
20%
of self-employed businesses don’t survive the first year.
60%
of self-employed businesses don’t make it beyond five years.
4%
of sole traders have profits over £40,000.
2007
Sole trader profits are down significantly since 2007.
The solution?
A comprehensive, free-to-access guide that doesn’t shy away from the difficult bits of freelancing.
Everything from setting up, dealing with payments, retainers, deposits, tax, pensions, accounting, contracts, clients, spec work, marketing, transitioning from employment to freelance…
The lot.
To make this guide free, I’ve brought on sponsors. These are carefully curated companies that provide useful products and services for freelancers.
Check out the Sponsors page for details on each sponsor. If you’re interested in sponsoring this guide, get in touch.
