The Rural Challenge for Freelancers

Did you ever wonder how much your location might impact your earning potential as a freelancer? As one might expect, living in a major metropolitan area certainly has its advantages - and potential clients for your business. On the other hand, those of you building a freelancing business from a more rural location may be challenged not only in the ability to gain clients but in earning potential. Oh, and that earning potential is compared to the amount you would make with a full-time job, not necessarily compared to freelancing peers in other locations. But don't take my word for it. This is all according to a newly released study, "Self-employment in Rural America: The New Economic Reality," as published in Rural Realities (Volume 2 Issue 3, 2008).

The uptake of the report is that self-employment (not counting farming-related activities) is at an all-time high in rural communities. In fact, it's grown more than 240 percent since the late 1960s. Estimates indicate that at this rate of growth, there will be one self-employed person for every three wage-and-salary earners by the year 2015. That's a staggering number. Sadly, the rate of compensation for these independent professionals has not caught up. Really, it's embarrasingly low. For instance, the report states that in 2005, self-employed professionals earned approximately one-half of that of a fully employed, wage/salary person (that's $16,851 compared to $31,596). That's pretty disappointing - and surprising, really.

What is not surprising are the results form the breakdown of self-employment earnings according to regions. The survey takes an in-depth look at regions of the country with the highest and lowest earning potential. As expected, cities on the east and west coasts are much higher, as are locations throughout the majority of the south. Of course, the survey also studies other factors about the self-employed that contribute to earning potential (such as age, experience and education). So you get a pretty good look at what impacts earnings.

In fact, that type of isolation, so to speak, is one of the primary reasons cited for low earnings of the rural self-employed. There is a definite lack of resources and assistance available, from business advisors and loans to childcare and colleges with entrepreneurial expertise. There is apparently very limited, if any, help available to those building their own businesses in rural communities. Another factor cited is the lack of auxillary businesses in rural areas. In other words, there aren't many businesses period - businesses that would provide support to freelancers (accountants, for example) or businesses that would serve as a customer base or a referral for customers (ad agencies, for example).

While the report is interesting, it's also discouraging to think that so many self-employed professionals are limited in their earning potential because they lack access to the proper resources.