This article first appeared in Digital Edge, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on February 12, 2024 - February 18, 2024

The labour market has undergone significant transformation in recent years, not only because of increasingly attractive models for companies and workers, such as remote work, but also because of the generational change that many companies are already experiencing.

The global freelance platform market was valued at US$4.39 billion in 2022 and it is anticipated to experience a compound annual growth rate of 16.5% from 2023 to 2030. In Malaysia, as reported by the Department of Statistics Malaysia, there were 2.97 million freelancers registered in September 2023, accounting for 18.2% of the nation’s workforce.

Unlike past generations who sought job stability and security, today’s talents have new work-related preferences. Factors such as balance, flexibility, learning and development opportunities, as well as salary and benefits, play a crucial role in their decision to stay in a job.

In this sense, freelancing presents itself as an attractive option in the labour market for independent workers. Being able to offer specific services during certain periods of time has gained great popularity due to the autonomy and flexibility it provides, thus allowing individuals to manage their time and productivity to the point of being able to have a relationship with one or several institutions simultaneously.

However, individuals contemplating a shift to freelance employment should carefully weigh the motivations and considerations. Faced with the growth of this hiring model and with the purpose of helping those who want to launch themselves into the freelance world, Deel, an all-in-one global HR platform, has created a brief yet effective guide for those who want to succeed in their journey towards work autonomy.

Organising time, improving economic opportunities, diversifying income and having flexible hours are some of the reasons that drive workers to be independent. However, being a freelancer is also an opportunity to connect with new cultures and expand your network of contacts. Many of the offers of this type are remote and are published by companies located abroad.

It is important to identify the preferred market and what types of companies require the skills and services that the independent worker can offer. Although the technology sector is the most requested, there is also a high demand in social media, engineering, consulting, communications and marketing, among other areas.

Likewise, making use of digital tools to position yourself among the diversity of freelance talent is key to making a difference. For this reason, it is necessary to consolidate a personal brand, a web page, a profile on social networks or a blog with the entire portfolio of services so that the skills and differentials that the worker offers are visible.

Determining the value of one’s own work is one of the main challenges that a freelancer has. In fact, it is one of the most frequent mistakes for those who start in this model, since they do not usually value their own work.

This is why it is important to properly calculate the mandatory, work and personal expenses to make a fair budget. However, platforms such as Deel offer functional tools such as Salary Insights, which allow companies to see average salaries by role and sector and offer more competitive offers, and professionals to know the range of fees they can request depending on the role and responsibilities to be assumed.

As the saying goes, “Jack of all trades, master of none”. One of the most common freelancer mistakes is committing to more projects than they can actually handle.

In addition to wearing down the relationship with employers due to possible breaches, they suffer unnecessary pressure and stress. For this reason, it is important to organise the work day, plan, prioritise and distribute time intelligently in order to have greater control over the activities and, of course, meet the objectives.

Karen Ng is the regional head of expansion (Asia) at Deel, an all-in-one human resources platform for global teams

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