In 2008 Freelanceswitch published a survey 'to find common threads, traits, and data about people' working as freelancers. Respondents were from around the globe. The report presents a good base for how much clients all over the world are willing to pay for services offered by freelancers.

2. www.eden.cc
www.freelanceswitch.com
© Rockstar Resources 2008
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may
be reproduced or redistributed in any form without
the prior written permission of the publishers.

3. THE FREELANCE
STATISTICS
ICS
REPORT

4. The Freelance Statistics Report
1 Demographics 6
2 The Freelancing Life 10
3 FindingWork 21
4 Client Projects 28
5 Dollars & Cents 32
Extra Analysis:
by Aaron Cruikshank - www.friuch.com
Freelancing & Happiness 45
Income & Freelancing 47
Satisfaction & Income 48
Community Size 50

5. 3700 Freelancers,
10 Industries,
6 Continents,
38 Questions.
In July 2007, we surveyed close to four thousand
freelancers to find common threads, traits and
data about people who work for themselves.
The respondents were primarily drawn from the
readership of FreelanceSwitch.com - the world’s
top freelancing blog, and while their makeup is
skewed towards the US/Europe markets, there
are nonetheless results from around the globe.
We hope you find the material of benefit in your
work and career. If you were a respondent, we
thank you for taking the time to participate.

6. Part 1
Demographics
First up are some general demographics about the people
who answered the survey. Although further in we break up
data by location,profession and so on,it’s useful to read
these statistics to get a feel for who is answering the survey.
Highlights ...
81 The percentage of freelancers who responded in the
survey who are male.
87 The percentage of freelancers who responded in the
survey who are between the ages of 18 and 37
80 The percentage of freelancers who responded in the
survey who live in the US or Europe

7. What continent do you reside in?
Africa
Asia
Australasia
Europe
North America
South America
1.3%
8.7%
4.1%
27.7%
52.7%
5.6%
How old are you?
Under 18
18 to 22
23 to 27
28 to 32
33 to 37
38 to 42
43 to 57
Over 57
3.7%
18.0%
34.4%
24.0%
11.7%
4.4%
7.9%
0.3%
Are you male or female?
Female
Male
19.0%
81.0%

8. How would you describe where you live?
Major City
Small City
Town
Country/rural
49.9%
29.3%
14.5%
6.3%
What profession are you primarily in?
Web designer
Graphic designer
Programmer
Writer
Illustrator
Video
Project manager
Software designer
3D
Photographer
Musician
41.4%
25.4%
12.7%
6.4%
4.0%
2.5%
2.1%
1.9%
1.6%
1.5%
0.4%

9. Do you freelance full time?
44.3%
40.5%
15.3%
Full time
Part time
(to make extra cash)
Part time
(transitioning to full time)
How many years have you freelanced for?
Less than a year
1 to 2 years
3 to 5 years
2 to 3 years
5 to 9 years
9 years or more
25.9%
21.0%
18.5%
16.9%
11.8%
6.1%

10. Part 2
The Freelancing Life
We asked respondents a variety of general questions about
themselves,from whether they have health insurance,to how
many hours they put in a day.
Highlights ...
37 The average number of hours a week Australian
freelancers work, making them the most laid back.
10 The percentage of freelancers who
have business insurance.
45 The percentage of freelancers who don’t
feel secure in their career.
4 The percentage of freelancers whose entire
client list is made up of foreign business.

11. 11
How many hours do you freelance per week on average?
Less than 5 hours
5 to 10 hours
10 to 20 hours
20 to 30 hours
30 to 40 hours
40 to 60 hours
60 hours or more
13.1%
21.3%
20.2%
13.2%
13.0%
15.3%
4.0%
Continent
Hours
Average weekly hours x Continent
(Fulltime + Parttime)

12. 12
Continent
Hours
Average weekly hours x Continent
(Fulltime Only)

13. 13
Do you work more hours as a freelancer than you did previously?
No
Yes
I have never
worked full-time
as an employee in
my industry
49.7%
25.8%
24.5%
Are you contributing to a retirement fund?
No
Yes
55.6%
44.4%
Percentage of Freelancers Contributing to a Retirement Fund
x Continent
Continent
%

14. 14
Do you have health insurance?
Yes
No
64.3%
35.8%
Percentage of Freelancers Who Have Health Insurance
x Continent
%

15. 15
Do you have business insurance?
No
Yes
89.8%
10.2%
Percentage of Freelancers Who Have Business Insurance
x Continent
Continent
%

16. 16
Do you intend to continue as a solo freelancer or expand?
Intend to Expand to
a Larger Business
Intend to Always
Freelance
50.4%
49.6%
Do you feel secure as a freelancer?
Yes
No
54.3%
45.7%
Why did you decide to freelance?
More Flexibility
Creative Control
To Work From Home
More Money
To Grow a Business
Work For Myself
More Time with Family
71.8%
59.9%
58.1%
54.3%
48.7%
39.3%
14.9%

17. 17
Do you exercise regularly?
Yes
No
53.7%
46.3%
Where do you work?
Home
Shared office
Private office
85.0%
7.9%
7.1%
Continent
Percentage of Freelancers Happier Since They Started
Freelancing x Continent
%

18. 18
Would you describe yourself as happier since freelancing?
Yes
No
88.9%
11.1%
Percentage of Freelancers Happier Since They Started
Freelancing x Industry
Industry
%

19. 19
Where did you receive your primary training?
Self taught
University/college
On the job training
46.1%
39.8%
14.2%
Continent
Where do Freelancers Learn Their Trade x Continent
%

20. 20
How many years did you work as an employee in your industry
before freelancing?
None
2 to 4 years
1 to 2 years
4 to 7 years
Less than a year
7 to 10 years
Over 10 years
35.4%
16.1%
15.5%
12.5%
10.7%
5.4%
4.4%
Industry
Where do Freelancers Learn Their Trade x Industry
%

21. Part 3
FindingWork
In order to be a successful freelancer,you need to find work.
We asked freelancers what sources of work they made use of
and where those jobs were coming from.
Highlights ...
89 The percentage of freelancers who
find work through referrals.
15 The percentage of freelancers who have
a blog through which they find work.
4 The percentage of freelancers whose entire
client list is made up of foreign business.

22. 22
What percentage of your clients are located overseas?
Zero
1% to 25%
26% to 50%
51% to 75%
76% to 99%
100%
54.6%
26.3%
6.3%
4.8%
4.6%
3.5%
Where sources of work do you make use of?
Referrals
Portfolio website
Internet job sites
Social networking sites
Blog
Advertising
Cold calling
88.8%
43.6%
33.5%
21.5%
15.0%
13.1%
12.6%

23. 23
Where do web designers find work?
Referrals
Portfolio website
Internet job sites
Social networking sites
Blog
Advertising
Cold calling
75%
42%
27%
16%
11%
10%
9%
Where do graphic designers find work?
Referrals
Portfolio website
Internet job sites
Social networking sites
Advertising
Cold calling
Blog
68%
33%
22%
17%
12%
11%
6%

24. 24
Where do programmers find work?
Referrals
Internet job sites
Portfolio website
Social networking sites
Blog
Cold calling
Advertising
43%
19%
15%
10%
7%
4%
3%
Where do software developers find work?
Referrals
Internet job sites
Blog
Portfolio website
Social networking sites
Cold calling
Advertising
78%
27%
21%
16%
15%
10%
9%

25. 25
Where do writers find work?
Referrals
Internet job sites
Blog
Portfolio website
Social networking sites
Cold calling
Advertising
66%
27%
21%
16%
15%
10%
9%
Where do photographers find work?
Referrals
Portfolio website
Social networking sites
Blog
Advertising
Internet job sites
Cold calling
61%
47%
23%
17%
16%
14%
13%

26. 26
Where do illustrators find work?
Referrals
Portfolio website
Internet job sites
Social networking sites
Advertising
Blog
Cold calling
55%
47%
26%
21%
21%
16%
16%
Where do video/motion designers find work?
Referrals
Portfolio website
Internet job sites
Social networking sites
Cold calling
Blog
Advertising
72%
24%
24%
16%
15%
8%
6%

27. 27
Where do 3D animators/illustrators find work?
Referrals
Portfolio website
Internet job sites
Social networking sites
Cold calling
Blog
Advertising
60%
33%
22%
18%
12%
7%
4%
Where do project managers find work?
Referrals
Portfolio website
Internet job sites
Social networking sites
Blog
Advertising
Cold calling
76%
35%
25%
22%
22%
21%
11%

28. Part 4
Client Projects
When it comes to projects,we asked freelancers whether
they use estimates or quotes,how many of their hours they
actually bill for,and finally what the clients spend.
Highlights ...
9 The percentage of freelancers who
bill every single hour they work to a client
$
15k
The average client spend on a freelance
programmer in Germany
57 The percentage of freelancers who mostly provide
estimates as opposed to fixed quotes

29. 29
Do you mostly provide estimates or fixed quotes for jobs?
Estimates
Fixed quotes
56.4%
43.6%
On average, what percentage of your weekly hours do you bill
clients for?
Less than 10%
11 to 20%
21 to 40%
41 to 60%
61 to 80%
81 to 99%
100%
12.4%
9.1%
13.0%
20.7%
22.6%
13.7%
8.6%
Note that on the following pages,all dollar
amounts are in US Dollars

30. 30
Web
Designer
Graphic
Designer Programmer Writer Illustrator Video
Project
Mgt Software 3D Photographer
Argentina $552 $728 $653
Australia $2,116 $1,226 $6,483 $700
Belguim $1,891 $1,825 $1,250
Brazil $3,466 $16,740 $4,140 $1,107
Bulgaria $564 $500
Canada $2,091 $1,460 $2,161 $8,030 $1,033 $2,710 $4,343 $15,675 $1,425 $4,350
Czech
Republic
$382
Columbia $1,080
Croatia $820
Finland $683
France $2,148 $4,006 $8,070
Germany $1,467 $1,021 $14,820 $933 $19,167 $3,333
Greece $1,520
Hungary $1,774 $603 $1,400 $2,650
India $817 $930 $834
Indonesia $760 $621 $717 $410
Ireland $2,351 $2,275 $3,200
Israel $960 $1,500
Italy $4,220 $1,660 $4,457 $6,500 $6,500
Japan $2,125 $11,933
Malaysia $566 $650 $15,305
Mexico $1,763 $788 $5,100
Netherlands $1,483 $2,286 $2,350 $950 $4,000
New Zealand $2,217 $667 $350 $2,650 $6,000
Norway $2,500 $4,150 $4,850 $2,000
Pakistan $654
Philippines $370 $1,617 $826 $308
Poland $1,066 $533 $591
Portugal $1,181 $783
Romania $640 $7,960 $302
Serbia $709 $325 $1,250
Singapore $1,320 $1,675 $3,900
Slovakia $838
Slovenia $883 $700
South Africa $1,916 $1,365 $1,929 $825 $400
Spain $1,548 $1,785 $1,400
Sweden $4,650 $1,317 $750
Turkey $1,143 $1,500
UK $2,554 $13,975 $11,388 $6,153 $1,638 $5,570 $2,250 $54,375 $700
USA $3,049 $3,328 $6,940 $1,693 $697 $12,896 $4,525 $16,111 $5,108 $2,233
10 Respondents
4 Respondents
4 Respondents
Average Client Spend x Country x Industry
Average Client Spend x US State x Industry (Next Page)

31. Web
Designer
Graphic
Designer Programmer Writer Illustrator Video Project Mgt Software 3D Photographer
AK $2,870
AL $5,500
AR $5,440 $4,111
AZ $3,990 $5,156 $3,281
CA $647 $928 $3,773 $2,507 $3,257 $4,240 $17,805 $37,500 $14,000 $6,622
CO $2,732 $7,625 $9,444
CT $4,680 $5,222
DC $3,563 $5,375
DE
FL $2,047 $2,917 $2,980 $4,333
GA $899 $2,769
HI
IA
ID
IL $1,048 $2,929 $8,122 $9,062 $3,844
IN $3,806 $1,939
KS $3,750
KY $9,444 $9,250
LA $25,750
MA $3,077 $1,778 $9,625
MD $2,439 $9,464 $3,767
ME $2,728
MI $2,257 $3,041 $9,898 $4,300 $21,750
MN $1,849 $1,953 $10,157
MO $2,140 $3,370 $11,555
MS
MT $3,903
NC $3,885 $6389 $10,563 $4,813
ND
NE
NH $2,750
NJ $2,984 $3,981 $8,440 $22,500
NM
NV $4,625 $2,750
NY $899 $1,767 $5,531 $1,717 $5,625 $5,688 $11,900
OH $1,224 $2,938 $11,728 $3,694 $21,250
OK $4,282
OR $4,878 $3,577 $8,624
PA $940 $2,882 $5,167 $4,917
RI $7,812
SC
SD
TN $3,063 $3,556 $10,313 $3,889 $30,000
TX $649 $1,299 $6263 $3,827 $7,164 $4,250 $6,111
UT $6,889
VA $2,404 $2,555 $3,120 $12,125 $26,260
VT
WA $2,674 $3,712 $10,556 $5,173 $8,062
WI $1,628 $5,611 $16,814 $4,167
WV
WY

32. Part 5
Dollars Cents
The most eagerly anticipated part of the survey is of course
the part dedicated to money. We looked at hourly rates in
industries,countries and states around the world,as well as
finding out about other income sources and the general
satisfaction with freelance income.
Highlights ...
$
4 The difference in hourly rates between male and
female web designers (females charge less)
$
73 Average hourly rate for software developers, the
highest rate for an industry
40 The percentage of freelancers who have other income
sources besides freelance work

33. 33
Do you earn more as a freelancer than you did as a full time employee
in your industry?
No
Yes
I have never
worked full-time
as an employee in
my industry
43.0%
32.5%
24.5%
Are you satisfied with your income level?
Yes, very satisfied
It’s okay but I’d prefer
more money
I don’t make enough
money to be comfortable
No, definitely not
12.7%
50.6%
21.8%
14.9%
Do you have other sources of income besides your freelance jobs?
No
Web business
Sell subscriptions
(hosting/domains/software)
Sell stock
Sell products
59.8%
21.2%
11.6%
5.7%
4.9%

34. 34
Continent
Percentage of Freelancers Satisfied With Their Income x Continent
HowWorking and Earning Relate between Freelancing and Previous
Employment
Work More
As Freelancers
Work Less
As Freelancers
Earn More
As Freelancers
22% 22%
Earn Less
As Freelancers
13% 43%
%

35. 35
Web
Designer
Graphic
Designer Programmer Writer Illustrator Video Project Mgt Software 3D Photographer
$46 $49 $49 $44 $41 $52 $58 $73 $48 $69
Hourly Rate x Industry
Web
Designer
Graphic
Designer Programmer Writer Illustrator Video Project Mgt Software 3D Photographer
No prior
experience
$37 $34 $42 $23 $41 $56 $39 $59 $27 $55
1 year $37 $51 $39 $26 $37 $26 $41 $87 $45 $48
1 to 2 years $40 $42 $44 $35 $26 $42 $63 $60 $47 $72
2 to 3 years $48 $49 $48 $60 $27 $64 $71 $70 $46 $54
3 to 5 years $47 $52 $52 $48 $28 $40 $62 $76 $42 $87
5 to 9 years $57 $51 $67 $61 $45 $53 $65 $75 $62 $148
9 years or
more
$64 $65 $89 $63 $71 $106 $48 $77 $82 $75
Hourly Rate x Industry x Experience
Web
Designer
Graphic
Designer Programmer Writer Illustrator Video Project Mgt Software 3D Photographer
Female $42 $44 $65 $44 $35 $53 $49 $63 $50 $77
Male $46 $50 $47 $44 $42 $52 $60 $73 $48 $64
Hourly Rate x Industry x Gender
Note that on this and the following pages,all
dollar amounts are in US Dollars

36. 36
Hourly Rates of Programmers
Hourly Rate (Ranges)
Hourly Rates of Software Designers / Engineers
Hourly Rate (Ranges)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
$10 - $0
$20 - $10
$30 - $20
$40 - $30
$50 - $40
$60 - $50
$70 - $60
$80 - $70
$90 - $80
$100 - $90
$125 - $100
$150 - $125
$200 - $150
$250 - $200
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
$10 - $0
$20 - $10
$30 - $20
$40 - $30
$50 - $40
$60 - $50
$70 - $60
$80 - $70
$90 - $80
$100 - $90
$125 - $100
$150 - $125
$200 - $150
$250 - $200
Number
Of
Respondents
Number
Of
Respondents

37. 37
Hourly Rates of 3D Animators Illustrators
Hourly Rate (Ranges)
Hourly Rates of Writers
Hourly Rate (Ranges)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
$10 - $0
$20 - $10
$30 - $20
$40 - $30
$50 - $40
$60 - $50
$70 - $60
$80 - $70
$90 - $80
$100 - $90
$125 - $100
$150 - $125
$200 - $150
$250 - $200
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
$10 - $0
$20 - $10
$30 - $20
$40 - $30
$50 - $40
$60 - $50
$70 - $60
$80 - $70
$90 - $80
$100 - $90
$125 - $100
$150 - $125
$200 - $150
$250 - $200
Number
Of
Respondents
Number
Of
Respondents

38. 38
Hourly Rates of Graphic Designers
Hourly Rate (Ranges)
Hourly Rates of Photographers
Hourly Rate (Ranges)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
$10 - $0
$20 - $10
$30 - $20
$40 - $30
$50 - $40
$60 - $50
$70 - $60
$80 - $70
$90 - $80
$100 - $90
$125 - $100
$150 - $125
$200 - $150
$250 - $200
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
$10 - $0
$20 - $10
$30 - $20
$40 - $30
$50 - $40
$60 - $50
$70 - $60
$80 - $70
$90 - $80
$100 - $90
$125 - $100
$150 - $125
$200 - $150
$250 - $200
Number
Of
Respondents
Number
Of
Respondents

39. 39
Hourly Rates of Video/Motion Designers
Hourly Rate (Ranges)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
$10 - $0
$20 - $10
$30 - $20
$40 - $30
$50 - $40
$60 - $50
$70 - $60
$80 - $70
$90 - $80
$100 - $90
$125 - $100
$150 - $125
$200 - $150
$250 - $200
Hourly Rates of Software Designers / Engineers
Hourly Rate (Ranges)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
$10 - $0
$20 - $10
$30 - $20
$40 - $30
$50 - $40
$60 - $50
$70 - $60
$80 - $70
$90 - $80
$100 - $90
$125 - $100
$150 - $125
$200 - $150
$250 - $200
Number
Of
Respondents
Number
Of
Respondents

40. 40
Hourly Rates of Project Managers
Hourly Rate (Ranges)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
$10 - $0
$20 - $10
$30 - $20
$40 - $30
$50 - $40
$60 - $50
$70 - $60
$80 - $70
$90 - $80
$100 - $90
$125 - $100
$150 - $125
$200 - $150
$250 - $200
Hourly Rates of Illustrators
Hourly Rate (Ranges)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
$10 - $0
$20 - $10
$30 - $20
$40 - $30
$50 - $40
$60 - $50
$70 - $60
$80 - $70
$90 - $80
$100 - $90
$125 - $100
$150 - $125
$200 - $150
$250 - $200
Number
Of
Respondents
Number
Of
Respondents

41. 41
0
50
100
150
200
250
$10 - $0
$20 - $10
$30 - $20
$40 - $30
$50 - $40
$60 - $50
$70 - $60
$80 - $70
$90 - $80
$100 - $90
$125 - $100
$150 - $125
$200 - $150
$250 - $200
Hourly Rates of Web Designers
Hourly Rate (Ranges)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
$10 - $0
$20 - $10
$30 - $20
$40 - $30
$50 - $40
$60 - $50
$70 - $60
$80 - $70
$90 - $80
$100 - $90
$125 - $100
$150 - $125
$200 - $150
$250 - $200
Hourly Rates of Illustrators
Hourly Rate (Ranges)
Number
Of
Respondents
Number
Of
Respondents

42. 42
Web
Designer
Graphic
Designer Programmer Writer Illustrator Video Project Mgt Software 3D Photographer
Argentina $19 $14 $21 $13
Australia $52 $52 $55 $87 $38 $55 $50 $44 $70 $70
Belguim $68 $52 $38
Brazil $23 $22 $44
Bulgaria $12 $27 $9
Canada $46 $49 $50 $34 $41 $44 $48 $68 $43 $76
Czech
Republic
$17 $25 $31 $38
Columbia $17 $38 $13
Croatia $16 $31
Finland $38 $40
France $45 $67 $60
Germany $48 $57 $67 $53 $50 $49 $56 $40
Greece $74 $35
Hungary $42 $34 $16
India $16 $29 $24 $18
Indonesia $21 $21 $7 $15
Ireland $56 $81 $84 $80
Israel $28 $45
Italy $32 $38 $30 $104
Japan $45 $48 $80
Malaysia $24
Mexico $31 $21
Netherlands $54 $48 $63 $65 $85 $73
New
Zealand
$43 $39 $50 $50 $47
Norway $75 $118 $114
Pakistan $31 $32 $13
Philippines $19 $27 $42 $12
Poland $19 $28 $16
Portugal $26 $16 $29
Romania $19 $21 $20 $15
Scotland $47 $55
Serbia $24 $14
Singapore $60 $51 $47
Slovakia $13 $35
Slovenia $22 $21
South Africa $42 $51 $33 $33
Spain $31 $36 $18
Sweden $40 $53 $29
Turkey $37 $41 $15
UK $54 $51 $158 $49 $48 $57 $55 $80 $70
USA $54 $53 $58 $49 $42 $53 $57 $86 $51 $101
10 Respondents
4 Respondents
4 Respondents
Hourly Rate x Country x Industry
Hourly Rate x US State x Industry (Next Page)

43. Web
Designer
Graphic
Designer Programmer Writer Illustrator Video Project Mgt Software 3D Photographer
AK $50 $50
AL $30 $39 $40 $80
AR $51 $29 $30 $50 $110
AZ $48 $50 $39 $50 $75
CA $70 $71 $70 $70 $70
CO $129 $46 $50 $65 $60
CT $62 $47 $30 $35
DC $90 $118 $85 $75
DE $75
FL $55 $36 $44 $50 125
GA $50 $60 $58 $19 $25 $35 $40
HI $70 $76
IA $70 $70 $55 $101
ID $100 $50 $45
IL $52 $45 $67 $53 $33 $89 $50
IN $48 $62 $43 $50
KS $58 $37 $48
KY $27 $63 $68 $70
LA $43 $23 $125
MA $59 $39 $48 $37
MD $54 $53 $77
ME $36
MI $55 $41 $75 $40 $53
MN $59 $44 $75 $87
MO $58 $43 $48 $35
MS $48 $34
MT $36
NC $58 $47 $61
ND
NE $86
NH $63 $50
NJ $44 $45 $40 $32
NM $82
NV $58
NY $55 $69 $66 $46 $87 $49 $62 $175
OH $55 $51 $51 $48 $83
OK $61 $46 $53
OR $53 $59 $57
PA $44 $51 $45 $22 $23
RI $52 $52
SC $63 $75
SD
TN $44 $47 $51 $27
TX $46 $45 $67 $64 $75 $79 $88 $100 $58 $73
UT $56 $62 $69
VA $71 $55 $71 $33 $67
VT $37 $30
WA $66 $57 $48 $45 $33 $105
WI $30 $74 $53 $24
WV
WY

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Gross Income x Industry
Web
Designer
Graphic
Designer Programmer Writer Illustrator Video Project Mgt
Software
Designer 3D Photographer
Average $50,100 $56,350 $71,190 $40,300 $41,850 $68,285 $67,900 $94,900 $61,570 $49,630
Median $40,000 $42,000 $60,000 $35,000 $35,360 $60,000 $50,000 $100,000 $61,000 $24,500

45. 45
Extra Analysis
Freelancing
Happiness
by Aaron Cruikshank - www.friuch.com
In the past five years as a research consultant, I’ve had to do many analyses of different professions, working
demographics and labour markets. Consistently, happiness and job satisfaction are much bigger indicators of the
health of a particular profession or individual than how much money they make. For this reason, I really wanted to
look at the influence drivers of happiness amongst freelancers.
To start with, let’s look at the basic statistics around happiness and freelancing:
The vast majority of respondents (71%) are happier since they started freelancing.
Men and women are equally happy with their freelancing careers
Rural freelancers report a slightly higher level of happiness with their freelancing career than their urban coun-
terparts.
Despite these relatively rosy-looking statistics, there must be some factor that explains why the other 30% of
freelancers aren’t happier since they started. To get at this nugget of information, we ran the survey data through
logistical regressions that can measure the predicative capacity of any one factor such as income, gender or loca-
tion. We ran “happier since started freelancing” against every other variable in the survey and this is what we came
up with:
The number one predicator of a freelancer’s happiness is their own sense of security in their profession. Free-
lancers who feel secure are happy freelancers. I think there are several key factors that contribute to overall
sense of security and, by extension, happiness. A sense of control over income is one and doing relatively bet-
ter than your previous employment is another.
The amount of billable hours a freelancer is accumulating accounts for a large percentage of their overall
happiness. This is in stark comparison to hourly rates and net income which have no significant impact on a
freelancer’s overall happiness. This is an interesting phenomenon in that one would expect billable hours to be
some sort of indicator of overall income. Given this finding, I think it is safe to say that there’s a certain amount
of satisfaction derived from “feeling busy”. Before moving off the money issue, let’s look at relative income and
its impact on overall happiness.
Working more hours as a freelancer than an employee and making more money as a freelancer than as an
employee are both significant contributors to the overall feeling of happiness in a freelancer. This makes sense
at an intuitive level. People go into freelancing because they’re looking for something better than what they
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46. 46
were doing as an employee. Making less money and working less as a freelancer quite clearly impacts your
overall happiness heavily. The key thing to remember with this indicator is that the money and the time spent
working are relative. No one net income level is going to make every freelancer happy. Feeling “satisfied” with
level of income is a good predictor of happiness though, further validating this finding.
The overall happiness of a freelancer is also tied to providing fixed quotes. Freelancers that provide estimates
are less likely to be happy with their career. Personally, I believe that to truly understand how well you’re doing
as a freelancer, you have to have some sense of how much money you’re making on an hourly basis. For me,
it provides a sense of control and stability over my income. When I figure out I’m taking a loss on jobs based
on my per diem rate, I get stressed and I feel bad about freelancing for a while. Providing fixed quotes provides
a level of control over your income that estimates cannot.
Finding time for regular exercise is a big contributor to the overall happiness of a freelancer. This one is a
no-brainer. Physical fitness is directly tied to mental and emotional fitness. Obesity and a sedentary lifestyle
strongly correlate to depression. It’s also possible that knowing one has the flexibility to get regular exercise is
a comfort and contributes to overall happiness.
Referrals as a source of business leads is a good predictor of overall happiness – in other words, the more
referrals a freelancer gets, the happier they are. I believe that referrals over all other forms of lead generation
contribute to happiness because they generate a sense of market potential. When you’re getting success-
ful referrals, one immediately thinks of all the other networking that you’ve been doing and the clients you’re
currently working with and it can give you a sense that there’s more work coming down the pipeline because
word is getting around that you’re a good service provider.
“Feeling secure” as a freelancer as a contributor to overall happiness is also validated by the fact that having
health insurance, a retirement fund and good health also contribute to overall happiness. I suspect that these
factors are merely reflections of a greater sense of security.
Given these findings, if I was to try and summarize the secrets to consulting happiness, they’d be:
Keep busy but make sure you find time to exercise and relax.
Get out there and work your network for referrals. It’s not only going to bring in more work but it’s going to
make you feel better about your business.
Provide fixed quotes. It will reduce your stress level and keep your happier. Also track your income and hours
to make sure that you are actually doing better than your previous job. If you’re not, it could explain a nagging
sense of disappointment in your business. Measuring performance and striving to best it is a good motivator
and drives your own happiness.
Make sure you have a safety net – health insurance, a retirement plan and take care of your health by eating
right and getting regular exercise.
4.
5.
6.
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47. 47
Extra Analysis
Income
Freelancing
by Aaron Cruikshank - www.friuch.com
One thing that shook out of this research is that there is no factor measured by this survey that contributes to
overall income (net or gross). That’s comforting and disturbing at the same time. It’s comforting in that you can
sit back and think “hmmm… well, if my income isn’t what I think it should be, at least it’s not because I don’t do
cold calls or offer fixed quotes.” On the other hand, it’s disturbing in that this survey covers a lot of very popular
techniques that experts claim will lead to higher income. This survey suggests that the following activities have no
noticeable impact on your income:
Your age or your gender
Your experience
Where you live
The marketing techniques you use
The additional goods and services your offer.
This leads me to the only remaining possible conclusion – it’s all about the skills. This survey doesn’t measure
how “good” of a freelancer you are. How could it? Skills are completely relative and subjective. That said, I don’t
think it would be bad advice to suggest that if your income isn’t what you think it should be or need it to be, it
might be time to upgrade your skills and worry less about marketing and diversifying. In freelancing, possibly
more than any other profession, your value is tied to your reputation and your reputation is based on the work that
you do.
A question comes to mind at this stage – what’s more important: that you’re satisfied with your income or that
you’re making a specific amount of money? Obviously, your net income needs to exceed your expenses. Beyond
that, I suggest that the “right” amount of income for you is subjective and your satisfaction with your income is
less based on how much money you’re making but how you feel about the amount of money that you’re making.
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48. 48
Extra Analysis
Satisfaction
with Income
by Aaron Cruikshank - www.friuch.com
Unlike actual income figures, there are factors that contribute to a freelancer’s satisfaction with their income. Roughly
50% of respondents in this survey are satisfied with their income or say “it’s okay but I’d rather make more”. In order to
dig into what makes a freelancer satisfied with their income, we ran linear regressions on the data to see which factors
increased our ability to predict satisfaction with income.
Happiness as a freelancer is an unsurprising contributor to satisfaction with income. If you’re not happy overall,
you’re unlikely to be happy with your current level of income. I think the take home message here is that money
can’t make you happy but unhappiness can make you unhappy about money. I think this just further validates the
concept that happiness is more important than money.
Feeling secure as freelancer has about the same impact on satisfaction with income as it does on overall happi-
ness as a freelancer. In conjunction with “feeling secure”, having health insurance, business insurance and a retire-
ment fund also contribute to overall satisfaction with income. In this case, I think the feeling of security is a good
barometer for many freelancers to tell them if they’re doing well financially or not. Again, I emphasize that income is
a relative measure and I also suggest that the trappings of security – business insurance, health insurance, retire-
ment funds – are indicators of sufficient income.
As with overall happiness, doing better in terms of income and hours worked is a good predictor of satisfaction
with income. Again, doing relatively better is going make most freelancers happier with their income.
Getting regular exercise is a strong contributor to satisfaction with income. I suspect that there is some halo affect
associated with feeling good physically. A recent study (needs citation) found that people who had sexual inter-
course once a week or more “felt” like they made $50,000 per year more than they actually do. Exercise produces
similar hormones in the blood-steam to sexual intercourse so it’s conceivable that regular exercise could make you
feel like you’re making more than you actually do.
Finding work through referrals also correlates highly with greater satisfaction with income. There are several
reasons why this is the case. First and foremost, leads generated through referrals are at almost no cost to the
freelancer. Therefore it’s possible that the more referrals you get, the better you feel about your income because
in the back of your mind, you know that your sales costs for obtaining new clients are lower with every successful
referral.
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Interestingly, satisfaction with income is highly correlated with freelancers that plan on staying small. I
suspect that this is due to the simple fact that you need to make a certain amount of money before you can
even think about taking on employees. If you can’t make that income, you’re going to be less satisfied with
your income than individuals who only have to keep themselves fed and housed.
Again, providing fixed quotes contributes to a higher level of satisfaction with income. As per my previous
analysis, I think that being able to measure performance in terms of work done to dollars earned is impor-
tant to overall work satisfaction and satisfaction with income. For example, if you work 70 hours a week and
you’re making $50K, you should be a lot less satisfied with your income than someone who works 20 hours
a week for $50K.
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50. 50
Extra Analysis
Community Size
by Aaron Cruikshank - www.friuch.com
Community size is an important consideration for any freelancer. As freelancers, we hear anecdotal evidence that tells
us that the good gigs are in the big city and it’s feast or famine in smaller towns. This section of the report will explore
just how true some of these anecdotes are.
Note: For this entire section, any data on “country and rural” communities needs to be taken with a grain of salt because
the sample size from this community (n=286) is too small to be statistically representative.
Figure 1 shows some interesting trends. For example, full-time freelancers have the highest representation amongst
country/rural community respondents while towns (10,000+ residents) have the highest representation of part-time
freelancers who do not hold down a second job. Freelancers who do freelance part-time and hold down a job are rep-
resented highest amongst respondents from small cities but not far ahead of respondents from towns.
Overall, an interesting finding is that in towns between 10,000 and 100,000 people (relatively small communities), part-
time freelancers hugely out-number full-time freelancers. This could be a commentary on market size in these commu-
nities.
In terms of raw numbers, there are more full-time freelancers in major cities than the other three community-types
combined (see Figure 2 and Figure 3 respectively) but the breakdown between full-time, part-time and part-time with
employment on the side is remarkably close between rural respondents and respondents from major cities (Figure 1).
Figure 1:
Freelancing as
income source,
by community size

51. 51
Responses to the question “What profession are you primarily in?” were re-coded to “creative” and “non-creative”
professions. There is no scientific category for “creative” so I chose to differentiate based on whether or not something
would be taught at an art college. By this logic, “film editing, graphic design, web design, musician” were all “crea-
tive” professions. “Accountant, Research Analyst, IT Specialist” were all deemed “non-creative” in contrast. The only
area that was grey was “Marketing”. Marketing defaulted to “non-creative” under the assumption that it was business
school-style marketing, not creative ad design that was invoked. The justification for this was in the fact that many
respondents involved in creative ad design specified that discipline.
Figure 4 illustrates the ratios of creative to non-creative freelancers and includes a sub-category of “creative” freelanc-
ers that have creative freelance gigs but supplement their income with non-creative employment. This sub-category is
called “non-creative day job, creative freelancer”.
Figure 2: Full-time
Freelancers,by
Community Size
Figure 3: Part-time
Freelancers,by
Community Size
Figure 4:
Creative vs.Non-
Creative Freelancers,
by Community Size

52. 52
Figure 4 shows incremental but positive growth in the ratio of creative to non-creative freelancers with a growth in com-
munity size. However, community size is not a determining factor in the career choice (between creative and non-crea-
tive) freelancers (linear regression analysis returned R2=0.003, sig= 0.0001 1
) There is insufficient data to make a similar
comparison of community size to p/t creative freelancers with a non-creative day job.
Figure 5 shows an interesting trend. In both Country/Rural Communities and Major Cities, there is a relatively narrow
gap between full-time freelancers and part-time freelancers in comparison to Towns. It is possible that cost of living
vs. availability of clients plays a role in this. For example, a small town with low cost of living but few clients could allow
freelancers to concentrate on full-time freelancing while still paying their bills without taking on a job to supplement their
income. Whereas in a major city, despite the cost of living, the availability of clients might mean that a full-time freelanc-
er could generate enough billable hours at a sufficient hourly rate to forgo a second job.
To test this hypothesis, we can look at the number of hours freelancers in each kind of community are working at their
freelance gig regardless of full-time or part-time status 2
. Figure 6 shows this analysis and indicates that freelancers in
smaller communities are more likely to work less than 20 hours per week than their Major City contemporaries. At the
same time, we see a marked tendancy in Country/Rural communities and Major Cities to work more than full-time at
freelancing with a significant number of freelancers in both categories working between 40 and 60 hours per week.
Again, size of community is not a very good predictor of freelancing hours worked (R2=0.001, sig=0.007).
Figure 5:
Creative Freelancing
Breakdown,by
Community Size
1.
If you’re not familiar with linear regression analysis, it’s a way of exploring if two variables (in this case, living in a certain size city and your freelance
career of choice) have a cause and effect relationship on one another. The closer the R2 number comes to 1 or -1, the better the one variable predicts
the other variable. The Sig number tells us the odds that the result is random. Because of the nice, large dataset you provided, Sig is always going to
be good for this dataset. So, what we see when R2=0.003 and sig=0.0001 is that the size of community one lives in only explains 0.3% of their deci-
sion to pursue a creative over a non-creative career and that this result would come up the same in a sample of random people 9,999 times out of
10,000. Put simply, there’s no relationship and I’m 9,999% sure of it.
2.
Recognizing that one can claim to be a “part-time” freelancer while working just as many hours as a “full-time” freelancer who doesn’t have a
second source of income

53. 53
One would assume that income (both gross and net) would vary by community size. However, Figure 7 seems to show
that there is very little variation in average income by community size with the exception of the Gross Income of part-
time freelancers (in green) which seems to grow proportionate to Size of Community. Upon further examination, we see
that net income for part-time freelancers varies little.
Figure 5: Creative Freelancing Breakdown,by Community Size
Figure 7:
Average Gross and
Net Income,by ft and
pt freelancers,by
community size
(Europe,North
American and
Australasia only)

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Table 1 shows the data from Figure 7 in a tabular format. This table outlines the trend in gross income for part-time
freelancers more clearly. We see a near doubling of gross income for part-time freelancers between country/rural com-
munities and major cities. However, when we test income against community size, we see that there is no correlation
between community size and gross or net income (R2=0.0007, sig=0.08 and R2=0.0004, sig=0.1 respectively). I had
a suspicion going into this data that the biggest factor that would vary by community size would be hourly wage. Let’s
look at that next.
Country/rural
( 10,000)
Town
(10,000 +)
Small City
(100,000 +)
Major City
(1 million +)
Full-time Gross Income
(Average, FT
Freelancers)
$ 56,196.77 $ 59,135.66 $ 57,690.35 $ 63,902.85
Net Income
(Average, FT
Freelancers)
$ 28,339.09 $ 26,001.13 $ 26,712.56 $ 31,688.61
Part-time Gross Income
(Average, PT
Freelancers)
$ 15,732.30 $ 20,465.71 $ 21,997.81 $ 28,205.60
Net Income
(Average, PT
Freelancers)
$ 6,174.30 $ 5,864.99 $ 7,298.87 $ 8,108.44
Table 2 shows how hourly rates compare across community sizes. Community size doesn’t seem to have as big of an
impact as full-time or part-time freelancing does. We’ll explore the roots of higher income in the next section on money.
Average Hourly Rate
(all)
Average Hourly Rate
(full-time)
Average Hourly Rate
(part-time)
Country/rural
( 10,000)
$ 50.16 $ 58.58 $ 42.29
Town
(10,000 +)
$ 50.97 $ 56.88 $ 42.30
Small City
(100,000 +)
$ 49.84 $ 59.54 $ 43.72
Major City
(1 million +)
$ 53.76 $ 60.45 $ 48.10
None of the other factors that one could compare community size to yielded any interesting results.
Table 1:Average gross and net income,by ft and pt freelancers and by community size (Europe,North
America and Australasia only)
Table 2:Average hourly wage,(all groups,ft and pt),by community size (Europe,North America and Aus-
tralasia only)

55. 55
Summary
There are no significant correlations between community size and any measurable success factor. There are
clearly other variables that impact outcomes such as money and happiness. I think it is clear that this data dis-
pels any preconceived notion that to be a successful freelancer, you need to operate in major cities.
About Aaron Cruikshank
Aaron Cruikshank is the Principal and Founder of Friuch Consulting, a firm that delivers research and intelligence
services. A former public servant for the BC and Federal governments in Canada, Aaron started Friuch Consult-
ing in 2003 as a sole proprietorship serving government agencies with mandates to develop policy on science
and technology commercialization. In addition to public sector work, Friuch also takes on both private sector
and pro bono work.
Friuch Consulting
www.friuch.com

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