India is seeing potential freelancers rise by 46% between Q1 and Q2, 2020.
The revenues earned by freelancers in India have grown to pre-COVID-19 levels over the current quarter of the fiscal year, a recent study says. The study builds on an investigation of the 'Flexing It' data - a community of skillful versatile talent, business consultants, and industry experts. It reported that the average fees paid by freelancers fell by about 25% during Q1 and Q2 but steadily reached pre-COVID-19 levels in Q3.
The data is based upon approximately 3,84,000 quotes and references by business consultants that demonstrate trends in freelancer income based on abilities, skill sets, gender, and sector comprising business services, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, education, FMCG, and more.
Impact Of Covid-19 On Freelancers
The impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the work of freelance workers can be summarized into three broad areas. They are as follows:
Health concerns
If you belong to the freelancer family, many of you might have faced a lot of struggles during the pandemic than full-time workers. That seems to have stressed, notably in healthcare, how important financial assistance is. It's sad that freelancers have no many perks, such as sick leaves and health insurance, that full-time workers enjoy. This is a plight of freelancers because they sometimes feel less interested to work. And, during this pandemic, they are not provided with adequate medical care.
Payment delays
As businesses struggle to reduce their expenses, payments to freelancing employees in several sectors are postponed. Studies say that, while local freelancer payments have been deferred for 24 days, overseas freelancer payments are delayed too much as they usually take comparatively more time to get remitted.
The work shrinks
Recently, surveys predicted to see a decrease by 60% in new freelance tasks. Freelancers in many areas fall at the outer edge of the spectrum in comparison with mainstream gig workers. Authors, artists, designers, journalists, and many others have seen the work fall dramatically and are therefore out of pay. They depend largely on their freelancing income, and now they have difficulty paying their daily expenses.
How Freelancers can survive the Covid-19 crisis
Gig workers have always known the difficulties of their setups and took adequate precautions, but the loss of business has indeed been unbearable in the course of several months. Covid-19 has only worsened the demands on freelancers and their challenges.
But in the coming days, you need to be using this moment to get ready for new market opportunities. Consider treating this as a chance to create a more capacity-building time to solve the aforementioned circumstances and an unknown future. By integrating these adaptations, the manner they function in the long run may possibly improve.
Evaluate your past customers and find new
For several decades, you might have worked with a number of customers. A pandemic like Covid 19 drives firms to modify their business strategies. They evolve and there will be new business models. Freelancers who used to work in print magazines might need to tailor themselves to producers of digital content because it is now widely utilized online.
Reassess your financial situation
Your revenue might have changed in monthly payments, but you save enough money to get you over the coming months if you plan accordingly. Make the decision to always have six months’ cash in your bank. If your present financial condition does not match this, it is important to do as soon as possible.
Determine your status in the freelance business
If you evaluate your client's position, evaluate their problems and how it is handled, it will only waste your time. The results for the fourth quarter will give you a clear picture of how much loss or profit the company has and how much business it will get in the coming weeks and months. This will help you to make a priority list of which clients you can work for. So, you can move forward without being strict in the industry where you work. Also, whenever there is a lack of money it can be solved.
Develop more skills
As people are following social distance and isolation due to the pandemic, for instance, long-term schooling will probably become more common. Work in such fields may not instantly materialize. However, it ensures that in the 'after coronaviral age' you can use your time and efforts in this area. Here, you should expand your skillset to find new freelancing opportunities such as video production, educational content writing, and more.
You may find it difficult to take a break from your style and area of work. But, because you are a freelancer, it is worth considering what skills or career options are available if you have more commitments in life — 'Money matters'.
Make use of your existing network
The pandemic made us realize that we are all interdependent. At this moment, your clients' and friends' network will become a useful resource. As we do know to help people better than the previous, you can also help them back so that a healthy network would be there in your hand Even if this does not mean that you will get an immediate work update, you could be referred to someone who can offer you works later when they have a requirement.