The Lessons School Forgot

Chapter 11Freelancing is rad

Traditionally a limited number of roles typically seemed to fall into the freelance basket. Think freelance journalist, freelance architect, freelance actor, freelance artist, freelance web designer, freelance computer programmer, freelance bookkeeper. They were often tasks that a company or person needed only sporadically, so they'd hire the skills they needed on demand. But looking at a definition of the term can help open our mind to the true breadth of its possible application.

Freelance: Self-employed and hired to work for different companies or people on particular short-term assignments.

With such a definition, limiting ‘freelance' to particular types of work seems like old-world thinking. Surely any job at all can become freelance? As the friction of employment is being removed, many people are taking the opportunity to freelance their skills. Friction of employment has been one of the major reasons we've traditionally worked at one place as employees for long periods. It was time consuming and expensive to find the right people with the right skills in the right location at the right time and at the right price. We all know this is no longer the case. We can now assess someone's personal brand reputation with a simple web search, and increasingly the tools of technology allow a separation of labour and location. For many roles in the modern economy we no longer have to be in the same place as the person hiring our skills. Silicon allows us ...