Do self-employed marketing professionals earn more?

This is a question many people ask when weighing up whether to go freelance or not in their marketing career. If you are thinking purely of the money, the answer looks to be a resounding ‘yes’. It’s interesting to hear research published this week, that the average self-employed worker earns more than double the national average salary. This is the finding of a report by Boox, the cloud based accountancy service.

“Self-employment tax incentives and a recent surge in freelance demand have resulted in a positive increase in freelance pay that dwarfs the national standard annual income,” says Boox.

The research shows that the average salary for freelancers in marketing and PR in 2012 is £56,920 (while the average across all the sectors Boox looked at is £50,820).

How does this compare with permanent jobs in marketing? According to the Croner Marketing Rewards Survey 2012/2013, in association with CIM, the average London salary for a marketing executive working in middle management is currently £35,000, while a brand manager in London is paid £39,000. A marketing comms manager gets £38,000.

A marketing ‘head of function’ in London can expect to be paid £58,000 – not far off what a self-employed marketer can earn. So it looks as though a self-employed marketing professional can enjoy the luxury of being their own boss, without the ties of working for one employer, and still make more money than a very senior corporate marketer.

According to the report, 25% of PR and marketers become self-employed to improve their work-life balance and it seems to be paying off. The PR and marketing freelance sector sits at the bottom of the average weekly hours by sector chart at 33.44 average hours per week. In fact, 65% of freelancers in this sector work fewer hours than the average 41-hour working week.

Average freelance working week by sectors

Retail 43.9 hours

Manufacturing 37.3 hours

Design 37.1 hours

Banking 35.6 hours

IT 35.3 hours

Engineering 35.2 hours

PR and marketing 33.4 hours

Reasons for the growing freelance population

There are three very clear motivators for going freelance, according to the Boox survey. Almost a third (30%) want to be their own boss, 25% are prompted by a major event such as redundancy, and 19% go in search for a better work-life balance. Struggling to find work is the motivator for just 4% of people going freelance.

But here are the downsides. If you’re not ensconced at head office, you’re not embracing the corporate culture and are therefore not working your way up the marketing career ladder. So presumably less chance of ending up as marketing director (on a salary of £75k to £87k according to the Croner Marketing Rewards Survey).

There is also intense pressure to find work, get it done, and impress several clients to ensure repeat business. Occasions such as holidays and family get-togethers are frequently cancelled due to worries about completing work, says the survey.

The reality is that the work life balance isn’t vastly better for freelance marketing professionals, although as mentioned above, marketers are less likely to be working punishing hours than freelance retailers and manufacturers. Across all the sectors Boox found that 59% of freelancers often work on the weekend with 15% working at least 35 weekends a year. Additionally, 40% of self-employed workers work longer than the average 41 hours per week with 15% putting in more than 51 hours of work.

The report confirms the long held suspicion that the urge to work on holiday is too overwhelming for many self-employed people. In fact, 24% of self-employed workers take no annual leave at all and when they do make the trip, 45% work while on holiday. Furthermore, the self-employed are twice as likely to check work emails while on holiday.

However again, freelance PR and marketers come out well. They are amongst the most flexible workers with 44% working over 20 weekends per year suggesting that the modern marketer is able to work around their life rather than live around their work.

A major bugbear for self-employed marketers will be dealing with the tax man. Time has to be spent making sure accounts are up to date, and managing invoicing and tax returns – challenging tasks for many.

But freelancing is on the increase, in sectors including IT, banking, engineering and sales, as well as marketing and PR. One of the drivers of self-employment, according to Dr. John Glen, senior lecturer in Economics at Cranfield School of Management, is what he calls projectisation. “The increased projectisation of work and an increasing preference for employees to hire contract workers has all led to today’s self-employed workforce becoming an economic powerhouse.”

He says the Boox Report reveals becoming self-employed can enable workers to earn more money than they might in permanent employment.

“Employers value the skills and expertise this diverse group of workers bring to an organisation. The rise in the number of self-employed workers is also beneficial for government because it is a key driver of wealth creation, employment and diversity.

-The average self-employed worker has an annual income of £50,820 compared to the national average of £26,093

– Self-employed account for 14% of the UK workforce

– 59% of freelancers work weekends

The findings emerged in a study of 1,000 British self-employed workers which found 70% of the self-driven workforce earn over the UK’s £26,093 average with the average self-employed salary hitting an astonishing £50,820 per year.

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