If you are still a freelancer charging $5 to $50 per article that you write. Sorry to tell you that you will be the next washed-out service in the freelancing economy. The freelancing economy will forever change ever since November 2022 when ChatGPT was released to the public. During that time, many content writing services took a great impact on having the ability to charge premium prices for the time it took to write content.
In order to survive the wave of AI, freelancers need to learn to adapt to this new era of providing high-level services. If you think you have what it takes, continue reading.
Things are changing Rapidly
Many individuals are starting to pick up on the benefits of having AI to run their businesses. From voice-over, to smart video recording, to quick simple editing, to summarizing content. AI is pushing out information faster than ever!
The crazy part about all of this is that it only happened less than a year, imagine giving it 5 to 10 years of experimenting and developing. It’s going to produce even better quality information that can completely erase the need for humans.
Large Corporations are Implementing AI
IBM CEO just announce that it will be freezing over 7,800 jobs as it expects AI to be able to do similar work. Amiss to many employees, CEOs, and top managing firms are all looking into AI development and what it can bring to the table.
The Global AI Adoption Index 2022 reported that over 35% of businesses are using AI, and an additional 42% reported they are exploring AI. With more AI tools and features, these figures are expected to rise significantly as we have never seen such a huge level of adoption of AI. Other large corporations like McDonald’s are looking into fully autonomous self-serving restaurants.
Recession≠ More Freelancer
During the 2020 pandemic crisis, we saw a rise in freelancing services since many hospitality employees were retrenched. Fast forward to 2023 where retrenchment is slowly pacing upward, we have yet to see an increase in demand for freelancers.
The reason for that has to do with AI. In the past, businesses that weren’t doing well or trying to develop often will seek freelancers for their services. However, with AI technology, these businesses are more likely to seek out from AI services first rather than freelancers since the cost of a yearly subscription would be significantly lesser.
Changes in client expectations and demands
Clients’ expectations and demands have also evolved in the freelancing economy. Increasingly, clients require freelancers to possess specialized skills and expertise in their respective fields. This demand for specialization puts pressure on freelancers to continuously upgrade their skills and stay ahead of the competition.
Moreover, clients often expect faster delivery and shorter turnaround times for their projects. With advances in technology, the pace of business has accelerated, and clients now have higher expectations regarding project completion. Freelancers need to be able to meet these demands to remain competitive and retain clients.
In addition to skill requirements and turnaround times, price pressures have become a significant factor in the freelancing economy. Clients are often looking for the most cost-effective solutions, which can lead to downward trends in pricing. This can make it challenging for freelancers to earn a fair income and maintain sustainable livelihoods.
What AI is Replacing
While the rise of AI is lowering the cost of running and managing businesses, it has impacted many lives. Some for the worst.
Low-Quality Services
One thing I’m grateful for with the rise of AI is the death of low-quality services. Platforms like Fiverr and Upwork used to be plagued by $5 services that had little to no standards.
With the rise of AI, whichever services a freelancer wishes to provide must be on par or better than the AI to keep their services afloat. And the harsh truth is that many aren’t able to.
Basic content writing is dead in the freelance market. The only existing writing services are ghostwriting, SEO writing, and copywriting.
Efficiency
In the past, an in-house content writer is able to earn around $5,000 per month writing two articles per day which brings in $80 per article.
With AI writing services, the cost of AI written content on that same level would bring the cost down by more than 50% since the E-A-T(Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) is taken over by AI. The only input a writer needs is expertise which many others can easily do!
People
The uncomfortable truth is that the purpose of AI is to replace humans. The top corporate leaders are simply sugarcoating the effects by asking their employees to train the AI so that they can “work less”.
Check out some of my other articles sharing how AI has already taken over some careers; even lawyers.
- Mcdonald’s Is Testing a Fully Automated Location with NO HUMAN Employee
- World’s first AI Intern Hired in the US for a 3-month Trial Job.
- Robots are Here!🤖 Flipping Burger is No Longer an Option Anymore🍔
- It’s Here! AI Bot will Reportedly Defend a Human in Court
What can we do?
There is a saying:
Use AI technology or sooner or later you are force to learn it
By keeping yourself in the loop of how AI is evolving, you will have a better chance of using it to grow yourself or your business. This allows you to latch on to new updates and improve to be used to your advantage.
If you are still manually typing out your entire content from scratch, I’m sorry to say that AI is growing faster and better than you.
Strategies for freelancers to adapt and thrive
Despite the challenges, there are strategies that freelancers can employ to adapt and thrive in the evolving landscape of the freelancing economy. Developing niche expertise and positioning oneself as an expert in a specific field can help freelancers stand out from the competition and command higher rates.
Building a strong personal brand is also crucial for freelancers. Creating a professional website, maintaining an active presence on social media, and showcasing a portfolio of past work can help establish credibility and attract potential clients.
Moreover, diversifying income sources can provide freelancers with stability and mitigate the risks associated with a fluctuating workload. Offering additional services or exploring different platforms and marketplaces can help freelancers tap into multiple revenue streams and reduce dependence on a single client or platform.
