Freelancer and Market Changes Four Challenges for the Self Employed

The economy has been frozen for over a month, entire industries are threatened with mass layoffs and company collapses – such a picture of the market during the coronavirus pandemic also makes freelancers look to the future with concern.

According to a survey conducted by Useme , small and medium-sized enterprises are the main clients of freelancers specializing in areas such as programming, graphics and copywriting.
Not all freelancers decide to cooperate based on civil law contracts. Among us, there are also self-employed freelancers who run their own sole proprietorship.

While a freelancer natural person has no financial obligations other than those arising from everyday life, a self-employed freelancer incurs monthly costs related to running a business. These are primarily high social security contributions, but also the cost of renting an accounting office, coworking space, etc.

Some hopes are brought by the so-called Anti-crisis Shield and exemption from ZUS contributions until May. What about the following months? Even if the economy is unfrozen in May, it will take several months to recover from the pre-epidemic.

How not to lose customers and stay on the market during this time? What to prepare for? We know the challenges self-employed and freelancers must prepare for.

The coronavirus epidemic meant that many companies that had not had contact with remote work so far had to switch to it.
We can expect that the first breach will contribute not only to the increase in the popularity of working from home among employees. The consequence may also be the overcoming of clients’ distrust of outsourcing freelancers working remotely.

The practice has also shown that it was profitable to invest in the presence of the company on the web. Sellers and service providers who run online stores, websites or created a community of recipients in social media – have greater opportunities to run a business than those who neglected this element of marketing.
It can therefore be expected that before the end of the epidemic, entrepreneurs will invest in these areas: online stores, positioning and social media management.

Losing customers

This is obviously the biggest concern of all freelancers, not only the self-employed. You have to take into account that the companies with which you have had long-term cooperation so far may face temporary difficulties and outsource less work to you.

To deal with this challenge, start acting now to anticipate accidents.
• Refresh your portfolio
• Go back to regular, consistent marketing of your services

A new type of principals

The market hates a vacuum. If small and medium-sized enterprises disappear from it, new companies will start to appear in their place. Who will your new customers be and what can you expect from working with them?

Big companies

They are the most resistant to the crisis: they have larger reserves, they have an established position in the market, it is more difficult to shake their financial liquidity. Their way to deal with the crisis is to cut costs and invest.

If the crisis affects the group of small and medium-sized companies, freelancers will naturally look for orders from larger companies, for which cooperation with a freelancer means savings on keeping a job or opening a new job.

Here, however, you can expect more competition from other freelancers in a similar situation to yours. Therefore, it is worth using all the advantages at your disposal: from an impeccable portfolio and references to a wide range of skills, thanks to which you can provide comprehensive services.Medium and small businesses

Those that survive will look for ways to secure their turnover and look for new sources of income. Those entrepreneurs who will catch up in the field of online presence are your potential clients.

On their part, you can expect orders for website redesign, optimization, positioning, building brand presence in social media. The key factor is how quickly the investment will pay off, so before starting cooperation, determine how accurately you will measure the effects.

Become friends with return on investment (ROI). If so far you have collected data on how your actions have influenced the company, highlight it in your portfolio. This argument may convince new customers.

Micro enterprises and new businesses

For those who have not withstood the coronavirus crisis, new ones are sure to emerge. Here, expect small budgets, but also corresponding projects: more functional than innovative, more practical than aesthetic, “basic” instead of “lux” versions.

Principals from this group will be interested in comprehensive services so as not to employ several people for one project. This is an opportunity for freelancers who work at the meeting point of fields – SEO copywriters, website designers with UX elements, graphic designers with a flair for webdesign.
You can use #stayhome time and the national quarantine to learn or polish new skills.

Limiting employment costs

The method of settlement will also be an important element of your offer: entrepreneurs may be less inclined to conclude contracts for specific work and orders that are more expensive for them, in favor of invoice or bill settlement.

On the other hand, you can also look for savings on the costs of running a business and ZUS. If you do not want to lose the possibility of issuing invoices, and thus potential customers, you can choose an intermediate solution – settlement with Useme .

With Useme, you don’t need a company to issue an invoice. For a small commission on the contract, the service will conclude a specific contract with you, and issue an invoice to your client – also in foreign currency and abroad. The maximum commission for invoices issued in a month is lower than ZUS contributions!

To support freelancers and those self-employed who are thinking about closing their business, as part of the #PracujwDomu action with Useme, you will settle all contracts concluded on the basis of the order published on the website by the end of June for free. On the other hand, by September, the commissions on invoices issued in a given month will not exceed PLN 400, which is less than the ZUS contribution. After exceeding the threshold of PLN 400, you issue invoices for free.

More competition

Competition from other freelancers is something you are definitely used to. Now, however, you can expect competition from … the principals themselves. Many of them will be looking for savings, doing simple work on their own, using the forces and processing capacity at their disposal.

Examples include websites that can be relatively easily created on WordPress or in website builders.
To stay competitive, offer more than just a finished product: a solution to a specific problem. This requires an individual approach to the client, but this is your chance to build a good business relationship nowadays.

New challenges for a freelancer on the remote job market

Will the coronavirus epidemic also bring a crisis on the remote work and freelancing market? Closure of some small and medium-sized enterprises seems inevitable. This automatically means a shortage of principals who use the services of freelancers.

For graphic designers, copywriters or programmers working remotely, this means a change of clients. Their services will be sought after by all entrepreneurs who are looking for a way to reduce labor costs – both large companies and just starting micro-enterprises.