PeoplePerHour competitor Freelancer.co.uk has released its own findings from a survey of 12,000 businesses that used the service. The company found UK businesses increased their spending on freelancers by 134 percent this year, hiring talent from around the world. The company chalks this impressive growth up to the intense economic pressures British small businesses are under.

With a global workforce of more than three million highly skilled but affordable freelancers, it is little wonder that Britain’s small businesses have started outsourcing their work to secure and boost the bottom line. They are increasingly taking advantage of freelancers offering a range of skills to support their businesses. Without them bankruptcy rates in the UK could be much higher,” said Saif Bonar, Freelancer.co.uk UK Manager, adding, “with Government support and lending from banks coming up short, small businesses have realized if they don’t outsource they won’t survive.”

In an email accompanying the release, a Freelancer.co.uk spokesperson also noted that the steep rise in the use of freelancers reflects larger shifts in the labor market as well as short-term stress on budgets, and pointed to the work of London Business School professor Lynda Gratton, which describes these changes, including a greater reliance by businesses on independent talent. We’ve covered her ideas, including tips to “futureproof” your career here on GigaOM before.

Where will the shift toward more freelance work be quickest – Europe, the US or somewhere else?

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Whether Zaino’s estimate of exactly when freelancers and independent professionals will outnumber regular employees proves correct, the general trend toward a rise in the number of independent workers is hard to deny. Online platforms connecting these pros to contract-based work are flourishing, and media chatter about the so-called “gig economy” is growing steadily louder. But is what is true in America also true abroad? Are other countries experiencing the same rise in the percentage of workers going independent?

A new piece of evidence suggests that freelancers are a growing part of the economy in the U.K. as well, at least when it comes to the small-business sector. Online labor platform PeoplePerHour.com recently polled 1,300 British small businesses about their use of freelance talent. The survey found:

• Eighty percent of responding businesses said freelancing had become more common in the UK small-business community over the past year.
• Thirty-two percent of respondents had started using freelancers for the first time in the past six months.
• Forty-one percent of respondents planned to increase freelance hiring over the next 12 months, compared with 16 percent who plan to hire more in-house staff.
• Thirty-three percent reported they now use freelancers on a weekly basis.

The release accompanying the survey also points out that the trend has been good for PeoplePerHour specifically, with total registered users doubling from 120,000 to more than 240,000 over the past year.

The technology changes that are enabling businesses in the U.S. to take advantage of independent workers are just as present in the U.K., as are strong economic pressures on businesses to cut costs and maintain agility, so the findings are hardly surprising. Nonetheless, the survey is interesting as a confirmation that these trends are affecting workers and organizations across the Atlantic as well.

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These skilled professionals have decided to decline the nine-to-five regime and fit work in around their other passions, interests, and commitments. You may already unknowingly give freelance or contract work to people who fall into this growing part of the remote web workforce.

The prevalence of technology means that your favorite freelancer could be building a business in a city just like yours, or they could be living in a jungle and tackling your projects between epic surfing expeditions. So long as they have a reliable web connection, you may never know the difference.

Are these “untemplaters” a good skill resource for growing businesses? To many employers, this breed of digital professional might seem flighty and unreliable — after all, they might pick up and vanish into the wild, blue yonder once they finish this job. Where’s the accountability? Can a project as important as yours rest on their contribution?

In most cases, the answer to all these questions is, “yes.” Here are a few of the main reasons why these “rebels” are good for business.

They’re passionate and skilled

The non-conformist freelancer prioritizes things other than work, sure. But they champion quality of life. As such, they may be more likely than your regular business-building freelancer to restrict themselves to projects that really interest them.

Think about it: If you were to restrict the work you did, you’d want the projects you took on to be extra-rewarding. Instead of taking on anything and everything that comes their way, the smarter web workers in this group pick and choose projects they feel will use their skills, ignite their passions, and satisfy their need to contribute.

The idea of the rebel-freelancer being a “drop-out” is no longer current; you’ll likely find your remote resource highly skilled. These individuals are effectively relying on their own, evolving expertise to make a living in less time than it takes the rest of us. To do that, you’ve got to be good.

They can commit

The idea that a freelancer who’s working from a rented room in Salvador to fund their next Amazonian trek won’t be committed or accountable isn’t likely to play out in reality. The days of fly-by-nighters making it online are over. And if your recruitment and screening processes can’t pick them out, then you have bigger problems than working with untethered remote workers.

Solutions to the issues of commitment and accountability are ultimately rooted in the rapport you build with freelancers, regardless of their locations (or how they spend their spare time). If you need a freelancer to be around after they deliver their part of the project, make that clear up-front, just as you would with a local, more traditional freelancer or contractor. If they can’t commit, they’ll be able to tell you so, and you can move on to other candidates.

They are connected

What’s web connectivity like in Salvador? Depending on where you operate, it may be a step up from what you’re used to. Most people who pursue an “untethered” lifestyle know that to support that lifestyle they need to be reliable, and available. And most are extremely tech-savvy — the less technologically capable are less likely to be able to make remote-location freelancing work.

So if your untemplated freelancer comes with good references, work samples, and communicates with you easily through the selection process, you’re unlikely to encounter show-stopping troubles during the project. Again, set your expectations for contactability and availability up-front, and make sure everyone’s comfortable with, and capable of, meeting those needs.

If you’re really concerned — for example, the individual is located in an area where there’s unrest, issues with freedom of information or connectivity, and so on — discuss that with the candidate and develop contingencies that can be implemented if the worst-case scenario turns into a reality.

Are they for you?

Whether the non-traditional freelancer is right for your business will depend as much on your operation as it does on the remote worker.

Your timeframes, project management approach, expectations, and philosophy may all prevent you from working successfully with an “untemplated” freelancer — or any freelancer.

The businesses that are likely to be best suited to collaboration with these individuals will be flexible, technologically adept and versatile, communicative, human, and results-focused. If this sounds like you, “untemplated” workers might be a sensible and flexible asset to your team.

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Solo’s main screen is its dashboard, shown in the image above. It’s dominated by a message display that offers things like tips and updates about upcoming deadlines, with infographic-like charts below that provide at-a-glance details of project status, as well as turnover and hours recorded over time. You can also start and stop the task timer from this screen. Accessing the other areas of the app, such as the planner, timesheets and invoices, is done through the tabs at the top of the screen.

Designers and other creatives who take aesthetics seriously will appreciate Solo’s beautiful interface. That’s something I rarely get to say about project management apps, which are usually functional rather than pretty. Microproject, a scheduling app I reviewed recently, also has an attractive and well-designed interface, but it really can’t come close to Solo’s data-first design and attention to detail.

Solo’s a lovely product to look at, is quite easy to use and has a good set of features for freelancers, but there are a few potential issues with it. First, there doesn’t seem to be any way to export data, nor is there integration with any existing accounting, CRM or invoicing apps, which is disappointing. There isn’t even seem a way to import contacts from CRM or email apps that I can see. Second, it’s unclear how the product will scale if a freelance business expands to take on additional staff. Thrive’s Jerome Iveson says that the company is working on a multi-user PM app called Studio; hopefully it will be possible to migrate accounts and data between the two products. Finally, once you move beyond the dashboard into other areas of the app, some areas aren’t quite as polished and aren’t all that intuitive in use. It’s not clear how recorded hours are moved from timesheet to invoice, for example. Hopefully, those areas will be cleaned up over time; the app is still in development with several new features due to be added, such as a client area, blog feeds and messages.

Solo costs $10 per month, with a 14-day free trial available.

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Here’s my video interview with Deb Ng of the Freelance Writing Jobs Network. Deb has been writing freelance since 2000. You may have seen her byline on About.com, iParenting Media, and the BlogWorld and New Media Expo, but she also writes for clients. She’s a former newspaper columnist, and currently provides professional blogging and social media consulting services, as well as working with the Blogworld Expo in Las Vegas, coordinating speakers and sessions.

What’s your favorite web app?

This trend is not exclusive to web app startups, however. Even freelancers seem to apply some aspects of this model to their services. Let’s take a look at how it’s done and how to make it pay off.

Starting With Free

In Charlie Hoehn’s e-book “Recession Proof Graduate,” he recommends that fresh graduates with no job experience offer to do web working projects for free to start their careers. Since the work is done remotely, they can manage this free project while searching for paid ones.

I see this idea reflected in my own career path. I was still a college freshman when I started freelancing, and I did a lot of spec work back then — both graphic design and writing. My experience is not unique; I often hear of new freelancers doing something similar.

Kristine Clarisse Cruz, who has only been a writer for two months, told me that she gives away sample articles to hook potential clients into a working relationship. When I asked why she did this, she replied “I [want to] establish a good first impression with my potential clients and leads, and allow them to see what kind of work I can do….” Kristine doesn’t have a portfolio yet, and this practice allows her to build it and gain clients at the same time. It seems to be paying off, because according to her “I’m actually earning more now than when I had a regular job.”

For beginners, working for free is an important part of the learning process. Fresh graduates and new talents are able to practice their craft and get hands-on business training, usually at low risk to themselves and the client. Through direct experience they learn about client communication, setting deadlines, and managing expectations (especially their own).

Like all first steps, we quickly move beyond this model. But do established freelancers also use free services in their practice?

Free as the Front End

Past the beginner stage, it’s common for freelancers to stop giving away their services unless they are doing pro bono work. But this doesn’t mean that they no longer perform professional tasks for free. Many of us leverage freebies for the purposes of promotion, marketing and gaining authority in our fields. We do this by giving away ideas and information via blogs, social media and case studies. Others work on open-source projects. While this brings us new opportunities, we are faced with new challenges as well.

One such challenge is that your potential clients might judge the value of your free work differently than you do. WWD blogger Nancy Nally is one of the many freelancers who uses her blog, Scrapbook Update, as an anchor for her paying projects. “First, my writing credits from my web site aren’t viewed as highly by many people looking at my writing credits because ‘it’s just a blog’ and I own it myself. That is despite the fact that the site is highly respected in its subject area.”

Lack of control is also an issue. Once you release your free ideas, services, or products into the world, you’re never sure what the results are going to be. According to Nancy, offering free content causes some copyright problems “I do have the common blogger’s problem of my work being stolen and republished by other sites fairly regularly.”

Making Money — Finally

As Kristine and Nancy have illustrated, it is possible to use free projects to induce income generating work. Doing this successfully, however, takes effort and thought. Here are some points to consider:

Remember what you are really selling. Even if you have free content, services, or products working on them does not mean you should lower your prices or devalue your other projects. It’s never just a press release, a logo, or an e-book — these things can be found somewhere for free, or at least close to it. Usually, what we’re really selling is talent, reliability, years of experience, or excellent customer support. Our real product is the value we provide.

Think small. If you’re producing some free blog posts, e-books, or reports, you don’t have to make all of them available for free. Writer and developer Nick Cernis suggests micropayments as an alternative. In his post, “The End of Free Content”, he elaborates on this idea:

“Continue to provide free content just as you are, but sell your more unique content for a small one-off fee or ‘micropayment’. You choose what you sell, your audience still gets a stream of free stuff, plus they get to support you by buying paid content if it’s relevant to them.”

Web cartoonists may be familiar with this idea, especially since it was one of Scott McCloud’s more controversial proposals regarding monetizing online comics almost a decade ago.

Set criteria. Establishing limitations and criteria allows you to work on free projects with less stress. What types of people or organizations are you willing to work with? How much free time do you have to devote to this project? Do you have to be given a non-monetary reward?

While it’s hard to imagine being a freelancer without doing at least one thing for free, we shouldn’t get carried away. Remember that: 1) Freelancers have clients. 2) Clients pay freelancers to do stuff. The rules of the business don’t get any simpler than that — no matter how complex and unpredictable this new “freeconomy” seems. At the end of the day, cash in your bank account is the only objective measure that business is going well.

Have you ever worked for free? How did it affect your freelance practice?

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I found myself contemplating these questions recently, and I’ve realized that there are advantages and disadvantages to both options.

The Single Storefront Approach

A single storefront that covers all your services has its benefits. It makes sense to go this route if you want to reach the same target market, regardless of the variety of services you’re selling. This can work wonders if you’ve already established your expertise, and have gained a good reputation among your clients and their peers.

This can also be beneficial to customers who are looking for one team or person to fulfill all their needs. From design to copywriting to online marketing, these big clients might want you to handle more than one phase of a project. If that’s the case, then they’d prefer having just one contact person for the entire project, rather than several.

Having just one storefront also has its practical advantages. It’s affordable, and easier to update and market. Since you’re just managing one web site or blog, you don’t have to split your marketing and maintenance efforts — all of them will be channeled to one portal only.

Having Separate Storefronts

Still, having separate web sites for each service can have its own benefits. First of all, you won’t be tied to serving just one target market. You can tailor each site to suit whichever market you want to serve.

Also, if you’re providing unrelated services — medical transcription, web design and online marketing consultancy, for example — it will be less confusing to your audience if each of those services has its own portal. Your sites will be easier to navigate individually, and your potential clients won’t get lost in information that is irrelevant to them.

Multiple storefronts can also give you the freedom to work with a wider variety of clients. If you don’t want to limit yourself to one market, but you don’t want to make your personal brand confusing either, it can be better for you to set up a separate site for each service you want to provide.

Personally, I keep my services under a single storefront as much as possible. It’s more practical to do so if you’re working with a limited budget and don’t have the time to maintain and manage several sites. But there are some instances where I am forced to separate them due to differences in target markets.

How about you? Are you a multi-skilled service provider? Do you keep all of your services in one storefront or several?

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It doesn’t stop there. You need to learn how to write well, so you can communicate better with our clients and have more persuasive copy on our web sites. You need to have some SEO skills, too. Learning these skills is much easier now than it was 10 years ago. There are hundreds of online tutorials, e-books and other resources that we can turn to.

As you use these new skills, you’ll eventually become good at them. In fact, sometimes you become good enough to ask yourself, “Should I try to do this professionally?”

The Advantages of Selling Multiple Skills

The most obvious benefit of monetizing all of your skills is that you won’t be putting all our eggs in one basket, so to speak. When I was starting out as a web worker, I marketed myself as a writer, a keyword researcher and a designer. As a result, I was never out of work, and I could provide multiple services to the same client.

Learning and practicing several fields can also feel fulfilling, especially if you’re in a phase where your work is getting too repetitive or feels less challenging. If you’re usually a web designer and you suddenly have an opportunity to work on developing an application, this new direction can be a refreshing change. Some of the things you learn from your new project might shed some insight that you can apply to your usual work.

With that said, trying to sell all our skills also has its disadvantages.

The Disadvantages of Selling Multiple Skills

While it may seem more sensible financially to profit from all of your skills, it’s not necessarily feasible or practical. Unless you have an assistant or are naturally organized, it will be hard to manage different projects, clients and marketing tactics across the several services you provide.

Perhaps more importantly, it’s much harder to stand out in one industry if you spread yourself too thin. By working in several different fields, you can’t commit as much time and effort to any single one of them. For example, if you spend half of your time as a social media marketing consultant, it will be hard to keep up with the other experts in that field who devote 100 percent of their working hours on it.

Even with these disadvantages, it’s rare for me to meet a freelancer who only does one kind of work. Perhaps the challenge lies in knowing how to prioritize and how to make the most out of every skill we develop.

Do you work in one freelancing field exclusively or do you have multiple streams of income? What has your experience been like?

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It’s hard to say he’s going about things the wrong way, because he’s never been fired, but I strongly believe that some kind of CRM software would help him a lot in his work, and single him out as a progressively-minded individual with his employers. There are so many easy-to-use, free options out there, you’d have trouble not finding a good solution. Recently, I tried out Funnela, and I think it has something to offer people like my friend.

Like Relenta, another CRM app I recently covered, Funnela makes simplicity its main selling point. It offers the basics, and little else, which is great for a beginner. There are some minor language issues, since Funnela comes from a Polish developer, but these minor quirks don’t interfere with the app’s usability.

Once you’ve signed up, logging in takes you to your dashboard, where you have an overview of your upcoming tasks and appointments. You also get a feed of changes, new tasks and updates as they occur. This is particularly useful if you attach multiple users to your account, which you may choose to do if you’re running a small business or working with a partner. In the case of someone like my friend, you could set coworkers up with accounts.

You can either jump directly to tasks from your dashboard, or use the tabbed navigation system to access different features. “Mail” works like most web-based services, and even provides smart folders, both pre-set and the option to create ones yourself. You can set up reply-to addresses, but by default, your address will be “yourcompanyname”@funnela.net. On free accounts, you can only work with mail sent to that address, but you can always just set up automatic forwarding from your actual work account.

“Contacts” has a nice three-tiered layout, with groups, lists, and detailed profile panes. You can create contacts from within the app, add them from emails, or import them from .csv files or Highrise. Strangely, there’s no “import” button in the main contacts screen; I finally tracked it down in the “Settings” page, which I found to be a little counterintuitive. I also would appreciate an option to import individual contacts from vCard files, since that doesn’t appear to be an option at this time.

Funnela’s “Calendar” and “Task” screens are also very straightforward and simple. The calendar application in particular looks to be based heavily an Apple’s iCal, which is not a bad thing. You can add as many calendars as you need, and share them with other members on your account, too. Tasks have convenient built-in filters in case your schedule gets complicated, and a nice notes interface for adding additional information.

The real appeal of Funnela, especially for CRM beginners, is the simplicity it offers, because it can be hard adjusting to life beyond the padfolio. Basic options and a straightforward interface that has everything you need, if not all the bells and whistles, are just what the doctor ordered for those unfamiliar with CRM software. With simplicity comes a lack of customizability, though, so more experienced users may find it somewhat vexing. Still, having yet another option when it comes to web apps that might help enliven your sales can never hurt. The free plan is limited to one user and a default funnela.com email address. Paid accounts vary from $15 to $149 per month, depending on how many users you want on the account and how much storage you need. All the paid accounts let you work with your own email addresses. A 30-day free trial is available on all plans.

What CRM software do you use?

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Apple doesn’t point any fingers regarding the source of the problem, which seemed to be the NVIDIA GeForce 9600M card that handles dedicated graphics processing. Let’s hope this fix does finally resolve the issue once and for all, because otherwise Apple might have to move on to hardware replacement and even a general recall. Let us know whether or not the fix works if you were experiencing problems.

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