Many people dream of a job they will love, one that offers both creative and professional freedom. Exploring independent contractor jobs can answer this desire. This path opens more opportunities and might even land you a job better than your current one.
After you register your business and choose your desired role, you should begin searching for independent contractor jobs. To assist in your search, here are the ten best websites for that:
Indeed is fifteen years old now and is perhaps one of the biggest job listing aggregators worldwide. It’s an American website, but you can search for independent contractor jobs from all over the world.. It’s a good place to start your search.
FlexJobs is the source for freelance, remote, part-time, and independent contractor jobs of a similar kind. The biggest advantage of this platform, as FlexJobs stresses, is that they hand-screen every job listing for legitimacy.
If you’re like many freelancers, you probably don’t have much time to be searching for independent contractor jobs. Insert SolidGigs — a weekly gig list sent straight to your inbox. Yep, they do the work for you! Although it is a paid subscription service, think about how much time (time = money) you’ll save — plus, land just one job and the service is paid for (and then some). Try it out for only $2.
Unlike the previous two, Upwork is an exclusively freelance platform that operates worldwide. Upwork is beginner-friendly, but it takes a fair share of your earnings until you build up a regular relationship with your clients.
This website is for editors, translators, writers, and graphic designers to find independent contractor jobs. It is a global marketplace that allows you to connect with various startups and SMBs that are outsourcing certain aspects of their business.
SitePoint is an excellent independent contractor jobs site for those specializing in tech. With multiple jobs posted daily, you’ll find several opportunities within software engineers, developers, designers, and more.
Fiverr is a freelance service marketplace for businesses. You register, publish the kinds of services you offer, and get orders. The logic is simple, but you will need to promote your services through other channels such as Facebook groups in order to land some independent contractor jobs.
You could say that Freelancer has the same logic as Upwork, but is the complete opposite of Fiverr. Employers post independent contractor jobs and you can bid on them. Some projects that you can work on are formatted as contests, while others are hourly, so there is an additional variety you might like.
To find remote or independent contractor jobs on Craigslist, you will have to go to the corresponding city on their website and then choose an area and look for jobs there already. It’s not the best scheme, but it works—just be cautious for scams and fake posts.
College Recruiter has entry-level jobs and is perfect for seasonal, part-time, and independent contractor jobs for college and university students (even those looking for internships). It’s great for getting experience and growing your client base or simply gainig valuable connections.
Guru takes freelancing to a whole new level. It is primarily suited for freelancers, but independent contractors can also find the platform helpful. The job postings are sorted every day, while those looking for work can customize their profiles to show off their skills and experience.
Red Hat is an independent contractor jobs site that works with both remote workers and freelancers that deal with anything and everything from sales to software and game development. It’s also great for finding virtual assistant jobs. However, you must have a high skill set and enough experience to be able to work with Red Hat.
- Look for job boards and online platforms specifically for independent contractors.
- Network with other professionals in your industry to find job opportunities.
- Consider working with a staffing agency that specializes in placing independent contractors.
What does it mean to be an independent contractor?
First of all, an independent contractor is not necessarily a single person. This can even be a business or corporation. An independent contractor provides goods or services under a written contract or a verbal agreement. You could say that it is another phrase for “freelancer”.
Independent contractors do not work on a regular basis as usual employees do. Instead, they work as required and can have a much more flexible schedule. In addition to that, independent contractors are paid on a freelance basis.
You can also read more about what an independent contractor is in our glossary.
3 Steps to Becoming an Independent Contractor
Turning into an independent contractor and securing jobs in this field is quite straightforward. You’ll often want to establish a business or company to operate as an independent contractor. Here’s how to do it in three easy steps:
1. Choose Your Business’s Legal Structure
If you’re new to this, you don’t need to register a specific business legal structure with your state right away. Just begin earning income, paying business expenses, and tracking all your transactions.
When it’s time to file your income tax return as a sole proprietor, include your business earnings. However, if you’re the sole owner with no employees, consider setting up a limited liability company (LLC). If you have employees or sell products, forming a corporation might be better. Alternatively, as a solo contractor providing services, you could establish a single-member LLC.
2. Complete all the necessary registrations
The next step is to apply for a tax ID number and other registrations. Once you get those, you will be able to register your business name. It is necessary that you get a federal tax ID number for your business, also known as an Employer ID Number or EIN. This number will be provided to you by the IRS and will enable you to establish yourself as a business entity.
In some cases, you will also need to register with your state for state sales tax purposes. You may also need to consider property taxes, self-employment taxes, employment taxes, and state taxes (e.g. gross receipts tax, franchise taxes, etc.) After your taxes are sorted out, select a business name and check that nobody else is using it. You can also trademark the name if you want to.
3. Set up the remaining aspects of your business
Finally, you must establish a business checking account and a system for keeping business records. Setting up a business checking account demonstrates to your customers that you take your work seriously. It also boosts your credibility with suppliers and helps you clearly separate and better manage your business and personal finances. A good record-keeping system enables you to claim business tax deductions for your expenses when you file your taxes. You’ll need to find an efficient method to document every business transaction and regularly check to ensure all information is complete. Record these transactions, consolidate and review the data, and use what you’ve learned to prepare for tax season in advance. For your accounting needs, we highly recommend using Freshbooks or Bonsai.
How Can I Find Independent Contractor Jobs?
You have two main strategies to secure independent contractor jobs: you can either reach out to companies directly and pitch your services, or you can promote your business and wait for them to reach out to you. Let’s explore both approaches:
Direct Outreach to Companies
Directly contacting companies for independent contractor jobs allows you to kickstart the relationship and demonstrate your interest in them. By actively pursuing independent contractor jobs, you show initiative, which is often more effective than a passive approach. However, this method can be time-consuming and might not yield immediate job opportunities. This challenge is common to the second approach as well.
Promoting Your Business
Essential to raising your brand’s visibility among potential clients, online promotion through your website, social media, and advertisements can’t be overlooked. Social media is particularly useful for attracting clients, especially for visually oriented services like art, photography, or design. Don’t overlook offline advertising to capture a local market.
Ideally, combining these strategies enhances their effectiveness, helping you expand your client base steadily across multiple channels and ensuring you’re leveraging every available tool to grow your business.
Employee vs. Independent Contractor: What’s the Difference?
The distinction between a regular employee and an independent contractor is significant, each with its pros and cons, though the advantages of being an independent contractor often prevail.
The core difference lies in the work arrangement. Employees adhere to a fixed schedule and workload, while independent contractors work on a project-to-project basis or as needed by the employer.
This arrangement grants independent contractors greater schedule flexibility, allowing them to sometimes decline projects based on various factors, like existing contracts.
Independent contractors typically build a broad client base, so losing a few clients doesn’t drastically impact their business. The autonomy and freedom enjoyed as an independent contractor are indeed exceptional.
Most common independent contractor jobs
As an independent contractor, you have a wide variety of options regarding what you can be doing. Based on your skills, you will be able to find different kinds of independent contractor jobs that you can work on. Here are the top seventeen most common ones:
- Consultant: Consultants are also often called advisers. This is a very broad term as consultants can give advice in almost any field or industry. However, more often than not, they help improve the performances of the various aspects of someone else’s business. To be a consultant, you need to have extensive knowledge of the subject and enough experience to prove your worth.
- Florist: Florists are considered artists as they sell and arrange flowers that they get from wholesalers or grow by themselves. Florists usually have a lot of knowledge about what flowers are in season and how long they last. This enables such flower specialists to create compositions that suit the needs and budgets of clients.
- Graphic Designer: Graphic designers are sometimes confused with web designers or illustrators, but there are actually some distinctions between the three. Graphic design jobs usually deal with brand content, and range from print to digital design, but it all depends on what kind of services you offer as a graphic designer.
- Hairstylist: A hairstylist does exactly what you would think them to be responsible for. From trimming your hair, to styling or dying it, hairstylists have all kinds of functions but can sometimes take on the tasks done by barbers such as shaving beards. Hairstylists can work both in salons and independently.
- Illustrator: As mentioned above, illustrators are confused with graphic designers. At its core, illustrators are artists — which explains their job better than anything else. While graphic and web designers focus on creating pieces for brands, illustrators create artwork for virtually anything and anyone.
- Musician: The majority of musicians aren’t signed to big labels and have to find gigs by themselves. Musicians mostly play in bars, restaurants, and nightclubs, as well as at various events and ceremonies such as weddings, birthdays, and so on. If you get noticed by an agent, you might even be signed up to a music label.
- Personal Assistant: Personal or virtual assistants are becoming more and more popular as they help businesses complete tasks that they don’t have the time for. Personal assistants can do any kinds of tasks from finding contact information of a certain company to looking through emails.
- Photographer: Being a freelance photographer has become a popular independent contractor job. . All you need to do is buy a camera and learn how to use it — however, there are many technical aspects to it that some may not think of. Promoting your work on social media is essential in this case.
- Private Tutor: Private tutors teach both kids and adults. From knitting to foreign languages to skiing – you can teach people whatever it is you are good at. There are also online platforms for tutoring which can connect you with students if you don’t want to promote yourself independently.
- Programmer: When we talk about programmers, we mean both the ones who work on developing websites and the ones developing apps and programs. This is a very technical position within the list of independent contractor jobs, which would require extensive education and training.
- Sculptor: This job may seem like an unusual one, but it is still pretty common despite the majority of sculptures being produced in bulk in factories. Sculptors carve objects from wood, stone, concrete, and many other materials. It’s a rare skill, so such creations are valued a lot. On the other hand, it may be a little hard finding clients quickly.
- Social Media Manager: With social media marketing being an integral part of almost any digital marketing campaign, social media managers are being hired more and more. You probably have some kind of experience in this if you use any social media platform at all. Consequently, becoming a social media manager and finding independent contractor jobs will not be much of an issue.
- Transcriber: Transcription requires you to watch videos or listen to audio content and then type what you hear. Sometimes this will be used as the text that accompanies the video or audio while other times it serves as a basis for subtitles. Either way, transcribers need to be able to type fast and accurately.
- Translator: There are many translation agencies online, but freelancers are also thriving. Translators work with different documents, but they can also translate content such as articles or product descriptions or even translate websites and apps. All you need is a good knowledge of English and be fluent in at least one other language.
- Web Designer: By this point, you have probably figured out that freelance web designers deal with designing exclusively websites. They can work with other specialists such as illustrators and graphic designers in a team and coordinate their work with them appropriately. Usually, companies build their own teams of independent specialists from these fields.
- Wedding Planner: There are agencies for this, but wedding planners sometimes prefer working alone too. If you have worked in the event industry, you can become a great wedding planner, as the jobs are very similar and weddings are certainly not going to quit happening.
- Writer: Ghostwriters, guest post writers, contributors, book authors – all of these are a part of the umbrella term “writer”. If you have mastered the written word, you will be able to find independent contractor writing jobs fairly easily.
Obviously, these aren’t all the independent contractor jobs you can seek out. There are many more that will suit your skills better. In fact, even if you are a plumber or a carpenter, you will be able to find independent contractor jobs. Just browse through our job site list above and find what works best for you.
Is Independent Contracting Right for You?
Being an independent contractor offers many benefits, especially if you’re seeking more professional freedom. But first, you need to know the steps to become one.
Start by creating and registering your business (and remember to handle your taxes). Then, sign up on platforms that connect you with independent contractor jobs. Next, launch your website and social media profiles, and begin promoting your products or services. Today, becoming an independent contractor is more attainable than you might imagine.
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