Is the way forward for work flexible? In line with a survey by Future Discussion board reported by the Economic Policy Institute, 80% of information employees need flexibility in the place they work, and 94% of them need schedule flexibility.
Individuals’ want for management over the place and the way they work coincides with the rise of the gig financial system, permitting an rising variety of folks entry to freelance or part-time jobs — typically within the type of a side hustle, which about one-third of U.S. adults have.
Even industries which have been round for hundreds of years are embracing — and benefiting from — the U.S. workforce’s new regular. Advertising, which traces modern roots back to the Industrial Revolution starting within the late 18th century, is considered one of them.
We Are Rosie, an organization providing strategic consulting and expertise options for advertising and marketing groups, manufacturers and companies, compiled a report to discover how freelancing impacts the trade right now.
The outcomes are clear: Whether or not you are a 9-5 marketer within the pivot to full-time freelance work or trying to find a advertising and marketing side hustle to complement your main earnings, it is a profitable time to get began.
Associated: How Side Hustles Are Redefining Careers and Shaping the Future of Work
The typical marketing finances was slashed by 15% relative to income in 2024, which implies that employers within the advertising and marketing area may want alternate options to conventional employment in the event that they need to obtain a greater return on funding (ROI), based on the report.
Over the previous three years, roughly three-quarters (74%) of selling groups have elevated their use of freelance expertise, and in 2025, 57% of these employers count on their use of freelance talent to extend, per the information.
An uptick in efficiency is the highest purpose enterprise leaders cite for hiring freelance professionals (81%); extra advantages famous embody extra ability units on the crew (67%), short-term help to cowl a rise in workload (63%) and that it is inexpensive than hiring full- or part-time staff, amongst others, the report acknowledged.
The shift is not only a constructive one for advertising and marketing leaders, although. Staff who apply their abilities to freelance alternatives, whether or not versatile full-time gigs or supplementary side hustles, can acquire extra flexibility of their schedules and management over their incomes.
Sixty-six p.c of freelancers count on to nonetheless be freelancing in three years, and 68% of them are more likely to advocate freelancing to a good friend, the survey discovered. Along with flexibility, freelancers recognize independence (42%), the power to earn the next earnings (33%) and the chance to work on a wide range of initiatives (30%).
Associated: Scaling Up Your Freelancing Career to a Small Business
“Freelancing has given me the area and autonomy to determine what I need to do subsequent,” Rosie group member Dwayna Haley mentioned within the report. “I get to proceed working, making use of and studying towards this self-discipline, however the stage of flexibility that I obtain permits me to form my life and days in order that I can actually take the time to be considerate about what I am doing.”
