the.com/freelance
The only job where you're the boss, the intern, and the unpaid invoice chaser.
means To work independently for multiple clients on a project-by-project basis, without being permanently employed by any single company.
from Literally a free lance — a medieval mercenary whose lance (and loyalty) belonged to whoever paid. The word as we know it was popularized by Sir Walter Scott in his 1820 novel Ivanhoe, where 'free lances' are knights for hire owing allegiance to no lord. From those sword-for-coin soldiers it drifted, by the later 19th century, into its modern sense of any independent worker selling skills to the highest (or only) bidder.
- medieval origin
- Once meant a knight whose lance served any paying lord
- feast or famine
- Either three deadlines tonight or silent dread tomorrow
- workforce share
- Over a third of US workers now freelance
- hidden tax
- You pay both halves of self-employment tax
fiverr — platform launched 2010 where 15+ million freelancers offer services starting at $5
upwork — freelance marketplace founded 2015 with $3.8 billion annual billings across 180+ countries