It’s all about the money—freelancers just want to earn.

Altough the narrative about this type of work is “come online, there is work,” tmany interviewees stated that the work is competitive, sometimes seasonal, and usually affected by market trends. Freelancers and microworkers often choose platforms that are familiar, pay well, and have good job availability. Those platforms that allow freelancers to negotiate for higher rates are preferred. Whenever there is low demand on the platform, some turn to microworking sites, lower their rates, or do personal projects to keep themselves occupied and engaged. 

Beginners struggle to build credibility and clientele.

As new workers join the sector, many struggle to build their profiles and face challenges accessing work opportunities, especially building credibility without any experience on the platform. Others fail to go beyond creating a profile. These new workers sometimes seek help from experienced professionals, who then subcontract work to them. This arrangement creates a microwork-like experience for many newcomers: they are nameless and faceless, carrying out tasks without ever understanding their contributions.

Learning never ends; workers must evolve or be left behind. 

This is an evolving sector that requires freelancers to consistently upskill. Beginners receive basic training and mentorship from community social media groups or other avenues (e.g., Ajira). Some use online channels, especially YouTube; others prefer in-person meetups.

Freelancers and microworkers face compounding vulnerabilities. 

Many detail a scenario of always working. This situation puts them under a lot of pressure they complete tasks on time and earn a decent income, leading to long hours and/or little to no social interaction. Some participants reported that this results in resentment from family members, especially about staying up late.

While work in this sector can be delivered across borders, sometimes geography limits access to work. Some workers face discrimination based on their location that impacts their ability to get gigs, and/or outright bans by international platforms based on geography. To overcome this, workers change their location and profile details, or use virtual private networks (VPNs) to mask locations and meet platform requirements. 

The future is in the eye of the beholder.

Most interviewees stated that they believe there is a future in online work. Their comments fall into three broad areas. 1) There is the possibility of expanding into another sector, such as content creation as a creative. 2) Workers may expand to increase their clientele, for instance, by purchasing more equipment to better target clients or investing in company branding. This is mostly for people who view this work as a business, especially after exposure to work or consultancies from global markets. 3) Others become trainers, supervisors, or brand ambassadors; for instance, microworkers, especially on Remotask, see a future as trainers. Some also work towards building informal networks to subcontract work to other freelancers or microworkers. 

The community of freelancers is more about information sharing than collaboration or collective action.

Freelancers rely on community networks and groups to find jobs, circulate information, learn new skills, navigate payment issues, verify clients’ credibility, and pick up techniques for handling bad customers. Some freelancers mentioned cons or scams (lack of payment or missing-in-action clients) that made them wary of taking jobs from unknown or unverified people. Community groups maintain shared knowledge, such as the names of blacklisted clients and advice on how to work with difficult clients. Most of these groups are on WhatsApp and Facebook.

Social freelancing can put freelancers at a disadvantage.

Some of the interviewees participated in “social freelancing”—a set of informal practices using social media platforms rather than, or in addition to, formal marketplace platforms for promotion and job discovery. Although social freelancing still brings in work for freelancers and (to a lesser extent) microworkers, most complain about the precariousness of the work, especially because interactions with clients are without security. Some have been exploited by clients without a redress mechanism.