Tuesday, June 19, 2007

The Four Areas of Freelancing

There are several areas related to freelancing; the following four are considered the most popular:

1. Telecommuting. Also known as e-commuting, teleworking, or working from home. It is a work arrangement wherein workers have limited flexibility with their work location and working hours. Freelancers who are telecommuters (or teleworkers) work while connected to a central telecommunication system such as teleconferencing and video conferencing.

2. Consulting. A consultant provides expert advice in his/her particular area of expertise, like accountancy, law, human resources, finance and public affairs. Sometimes, a consultant is not one person alone, but a group of people who are all part of the consultancy.

3. Offshoring. This refers to the relocation or transfer of business operations from one country to another country. China and India are two prominent countries that companies target for their offshore operations. Lately, India has been emerging as a top destination for trade in services, which refers to sale and distribution of services between the producer and consumers. Offshoring works best for areas related to production, and manufacturing.

4. Outsourcing. This freelance arrangement refers to the transfer of management controls and decision-making aspect of the business to another person or groups of persons. Companies usually outsource operations to a group of individuals who specialize in that type of operation. Outsourcing is known to help companies reduce production costs and conserve energy.