The freelancing industry is massive and growing quickly. More and more people are looking for extra income to supplement a full time job or looking to become wholy self-sufficient and freelancing is an attractive option to many.

The benefits are many – flexible working hours, work from home (or coffee shop), do work you love, be the master of your own destiny etc. On the flip side, working as a freelancer can mean that you go from having one boss to hundreds, if you don’t work, you don’t earn and in many cases you can end up earning less than the living wage (or even the minimum wage) if you’re not careful.

The statistics are impressive though. According to recent data, there are 4.6 million self-employed people in the U.K. A figure that is consistently increasing year on year. The recent growth of services such as platforms such as Freelancer.co.uk means that anyone with a PC can get started very quickly and offer services that align to their skills – essentially reaching a global audience within minutes.

Companies like Uber and Deliveroo have managed to exploit this growing workforce and faced a backlash against poor pay and working conditions but the likelihood is that more of these types of businesses will be started in the coming years as employment becomes evermore uncertain and the old jobs of the past cease to exist.

If you’re thinking of going freelance or have just started then you’ll be looking for some advice and we were sent the following infographic this week by the guys at Invoice2go (an ideal service for Freelancers) that provides an insight into the world of freelancing and the potential pit-falls that come with the job.

The infographic below was sent to us by the guys at Invoice2go. Click the image to view it full size.

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