When you drive a vehicle with manual transmission, you have to be actively engaged. There's no cruising down the road and shutting off the attention meter. Every 10 MPH or so, you're looking at another gear change. How do you know? You feel it, hear it and sense the need for the change. The same happens slowing down. It's the reason why car racers are so integrated with their vehicles; they are essentially deciding in a moment's notice how to stay on top of their car's performance minute after minute.

Why A "Sure Thing" Isn't Sure

In the freelance career world, there are two types of drivers: those with an automatic transmission and those with a manual one. Like automatic cars, automatic freelancers look for a method that gets settled and then they stick with it, working on cruise control. This lasts fine until the road changes. Then there's a problem. The driver has to suddenly wake up and figure out what to do next. This mode is common where a freelancer uses a middleman platform, providing work and churning out content. It's not a bad choice; the "automatic" approach can be very good for steady income, even enough to rely on it regularly for paying monthly bills. However, that same reliance can be dangerous; it creates a sense of complacency. 

If there is one thing about the freelance market that is consistent it's that nothing stays stable. It's a constantly swirling, moving, changing environment where one sells their skills for compensation, access, networking value and ideally a return to do it all over again and again and again. The chase is a grind, but so is the work when it gets boring. So, ideally, one is always looking for a bigger project but a new challenge as well. Unfortunately, the need for steady income drives one to the static, the predictable channel. And then they get trapped in reliance. It's a false promise; as soon as the demand cuts off, the "steady" income no longer exists, and the freelancer has to search again. But each time one has jump back after a time, one gets slower, less competitive, less hungry. Eventually one faces the final decision: reinvent or quit.

It's Time to Reinvent

Given the constant tornado of circumstances since 2023, it's clear to me that a change has arrived. I've been a freelance writer since 2005. I started off part-time with a few articles a week, a couple hundred dollars a month on a good cycle. From there, things slowly grew. My first platform was a spin-off of eBay for freelancing, E-lance. However, that model soon started to die by the very dynamic that made it work, competitive bidding. Once the competition went international, the price of service dropped through the floor. The same quality work could be delivered by a dedicated writer in Pakistan, for example, as someone in Nebraska, but for ten cents on the dollar. And, of course, customers went for bottom price. So, we move on.

Then came the model of service platforms. Demand Media established itself as a strong contender in this regard, but wasn't the only player. Multiple other providers appeared, from Textbroker to Zerys to Creative Content and more. Each one pitched an angle or service quality level to win customer accounts. This was a time when web pages and content market were in their infancy. However, within 3 to 5 years, even this market became saturated. Each service was just a variation of the other, writing mills. Many platforms started realizing they had too many writers. It was time to cull the herd. So, ratings, reviewers and editors were given a green light to find excuses, any excuse to get rid of writers not performing. Even then, they still had too many. So things got desperate, and people were dismissed for no reason at all. The reason became clear soon enough. Demand Media, as a start up was sold, and the former owner ran off to the bank. So, we move on.

Then it was Writer Access. Many of the same names I found myself competing with on prior platforms appeared on this new one. However, unlike the writing mills there was at least a purpose and dedication to writing content for more than just website fodder. Clients were pitched and delivered, and the model worked. Writer Access became extremely successful, and grew. However, it to reached saturation and then too much. That said, unlike it's prior peers, the company didn't actively cull writers. Instead, WriterAccess' owner focused on brand development, and then he too sold the company to Rock Content. 

The Beat Down of Freelancing

Timing is everything, just as platforms were changing hands, then came the non-sensical catering to union interests to force freelance hiring companies to make their workers employees. Digress for a moment into tax implications; companies love freelancers because they don't have to pay double payroll taxes and benefits. Instead, like any contracting supplier, they pay freelancers a rate and that's it. So, the idea of making them employees was an anathema to the freelancing success model for all involved. After all, if a company wanted employees, it would just hire them outright. So when California politicians looking for an easy win with their core voting block decided to go after Uber and Lyft, share-riding companies, they put a knife in an artery of all freelancers at the same time. While eventually the bleeding was staunched, the damage was done. Thousands of freelancers suddenly lost critical income right at the beginning of COVID when it was even more important than ever, especially for those let off in-person jobs due to forced social distancing. The double-whammy clobbered many. And it was retirees and full-time workers who survived the 2020 mess and kept writing. Ironically, 2020 was also one of the best earning years towards the second-half of those 12 months for those were able to keep standing.

The Arrival of AI

While the transition of Writer Access to Rock Content was disturbing, work was still coming in. So everyone settled down and kept working. However, then came the full-time launch of ChatGPT, and the AI tidal wave began. There were some false starts but eventually AI even crept its way into freelancing. While the service platforms forbid their own workers from using AI, they were all too willing to offer the same to clients, ideally avoiding the cost of workers and pocketing more of the income. It only made sense mathematically. So now, here we are in 2024, and AI has truly taken its toll. As companies grind down workers to expect less and less compensation for the same work or more, AI has become the all-encompassing replacement for just about everything "service." It doesn't matter that it has an error rate of at least 33 percent or more, the elimination of labor if so attractive to companies they will accept the blatant inferiority of AI just to eliminate what they hate more, payroll.

So, it's finally happened. I thought 2023 was the last year, but for some reason things pulled through, but I'm now very convinced 2024 is the year that AI also put me out of business as a freelance writer. There, I said it. Okay, now what?

Reinvent. It's time to start over again and restart in something new. I would like to say it's tech, but I'm not sure yet. I just know I have to start over again. Fuck. I'm kind of feeling old for this rat race all over again. But, oh well. It's a big leap, but I'm jumping in anyways.

Too bad I missed my chance as a Borg. All the positions are filled.