Benefits and challenges of digital Freelance Assignment PDF
Added on 2021-05-27
7 Pages1934 Words149 Views
|
|
|
Benefits and challenges of digital freelance work for university graduates.INTRODUCTIONThis study is meant to provide an overview of the freelancing field by students who areuniversity graduates as a way of self-employment. It also provides the challenges and benefitsthat come with digital freelancing. The research questions covered are as follows; what isfreelancing and what does it entail? What are the benefits and challenges of freelancing? It alsopurposes to create an awareness of it for further research. In the rise of freelancing in anuncertain economy, I did my research so as to uncover key insights into the freelance life whichincluded the average working hours, daily rates and downtime up to main challenges they faceand motivations should one decide to embark on a freelancing career.Working in the digital economy is viewed as providing free labor by Terranova. It is seen as agrowing trend and yet it is undervalued. Terranova argues that free labor in the digital economyneeds to be analyzed carefully. People are being exploited without them knowing. (Terranova,2000). Duffy also argues that some creative works by people are considered free labor and theseinclude creating YouTube videos such as parodies or commenting on TV shows. These activitiesare not compensated and hence people are exploited. Online labor has also removed the notion ofgender in employment or work. Ladies are more involved with working online and they arehappy to work in the digital economy. (Duffy, 2015).In 2017, Freelance Market Insights report had some key findings Key findings after doing asurvey on freelancers. First it was found that 2 in 3 freelancers are likely to spend at least 10% oftheir year in downtime. Secondly, it was found that 1 in 2 assume that they are financially betteroff as freelancers than they would be in a permanent role. Again, in its finding, it was discovered1
that the average working week was between 31 to 40 hours and lastly the disparity in daily ratesbetween the genders. (Vaswani, 2015). According to a study undertaken in 2013, 51% of thetotal workforce worked from home while 28% worked while travelling.The growing computer technology and the use of internet has brought a lot of positivetransformation around the globe. There are various websites which offer tutoring online and thisis a platform for people to register and become tutors themselves. Some the emerging industriesand work include Airbnb, Netflix and uber among others. It is presumed that these industriesinstead of employees doing everything for the customer, the customer does almost everything bythemselves with no pay (Ritzer and Jurgenson, 2010). Also, social media has become a platformwhere different people meet as well as seeking for jobs through networking with people whohave the same interests as yours. In as much as it has its benefits, the internet has also somenegative impacts which some people have chosen to do evil in the society. But the good side hasmade people to look over the negative side and focus on what benefit it has for the greater good.We will look at freelancing whereby it has become a platform where people can earn a livingespecially the young people. To answer the questions raised about freelancing, we began bydefining what it is. What is freelancing? Freelancing means working as a self- employed personand not being committed to one employer. Many graduates have turned to digital freelancing ifemployment opportunities are not there for them and most of them have built a name forthemselves and are doing quite good. (masters, 2015)However, freelancing is not that easy since it has its benefits and challenges. To begin with,freelancing offers flexible hours and one can work whenever he /she wants. One gets to choosetheir own hours for working. This offers one the flexibility to do other things. This is the reasonwhy graduates take up freelancing, if one wants to further his/her studies, they have all the time2
to juggle between freelancing and attending their classes without sacrificing one for the other.Being a freelancer, work can be done at hours that are productive, not necessarily during theregular business hours. (“Benefits of Going Freelance in IT World”, 2015)Secondly, there is the control over jobs and clients by the freelancer. This is because if you areworking for another person, therefore you cannot choose who you want to work with. One endsup with being tied to a rude and unprofessional client and nothing can be done at all. But being afreelancer, it gives you the freedom of choosing who you want to work with. Sometimes peopledon’t connect at all because of their personalities or a business, and because of that one can skipthat chance and get another opportunity hence retaining a good relationship. Another benefit thatcomes with being a freelancer is that one works wherever they want. Whether one prefers towork from the comfort of a coffee shop or a hotel while on vacation, nobody can question them.One does not need to be in an office or at home, they are no longer confined to that. One just hasto choose an environment that works best for him/her. It could be an open place like a park orjust in ones living room wearing pajamas.We all want to be our own boss. This is another benefit. One is not answerable to anyone else butonly to people they are working with as their clients and themselves.The beauty of it all is thatno one is hanging over you or micromanages you, but you do things your own way. You end upmaking all the tough decisions alone. You become responsible and in control over everything.Lastly, you get to keep all the profit. This is because one is no longer working to earn a flat rateeven if the projects to be completed are many. It feels good to keep all that you have earned bysaving the wholeprofit earned from yourclients after working on their projects. To add to that,you can use that money for self - improvement and for your business expansion.3
End of preview
Want to access all the pages? Upload your documents or become a member.
Related Documents