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Research Outline

Prepared for Tan P. | Delivered July 23, 2019

U.S Freelancers - Pricing

Goals

To understand how many US freelancers (someone who has the power to price their own work - not gig workers like TaskRabbit or DoorDash) who are unsure how to price their services there are. To find out if there are any existing services that help guide freelancers on how to determine how much to charge or whether a job is worth it and what is their revenue (if there is).

Early Findings

  • There are countless articles advising freelancers of the different strategies they should employ when pricing their services. For example: here, here and here.
  • The articles are generally published on career or business-growth websites, rather than from any companies specifically targeting this industry.
  • There are a few companies that are industry-specific that focus on helping workers develop their freelance business or new startup. One example is NuSchool. Advice on what to charge is a part of their wider offering.
  • One of the largest platforms for freelancers that set their own rates is Upwork. According to Upwork's S-1, around 375,000 people completed a project with the platform last year worldwide.
  • Freelancer.com, another major platform for freelancers, has 35 million users globally. Initial research did not reveal exactly how many of this figure are US freelancers.
  • A report from Freelancers Union and Upwork estimates there are around 56.7 million freelancers in America. This is actually 600,000 less than 2017.
  •  29% of survey respondents said they did not have a good sense of how much to charge for their work and 31% did not feel comfortable negotiating with clients.