Freelancing is the haute trend in the content creation industry today.

With the freedom of Internet expanding each day and technology acting as its alter ego, freelancing has become the best option to pick for many who wish to dispel with the augury of a 9 to 5 desk job. Sounds familiar right?

But according to a national poll, strangely, freelancers or self-employed are least likely to tag themselves as "thriving". The numbers in this category are a pinching 14%, close to the 22% of those who are absolutely unemployed. Now that's a disturbing thought indeed, contrary to accepted notions about freelancing.

Added to this, Sara Horowitz of the Freelancers Union was witness to a disturbing proposition while preparing the health plan for freelancers. She opines that "You work with freelancers and you learn about depression."

For businesses, especially SMBs, freelancers are the blessing in disguise with blogging and marketing picking up rapidly as tools to expand their business. However, such data hints differently.

According to the survey, here are 5 reasons that could possibly be the dips in the freelancing job option:

1. Authority

Why most people choose to go freelancing is that they work on schedules of their own. The demands of long work hours or difficult bosses and managers standing on your head, is just not a pie most prefer. To put it simply, some people are just not made for authority and diktats.

As a byline to this, studies show that people are much healthier when not self employed; more so the men than women. Seems a tricky argument to put. Besides all the positives that come out of the freelancing job, a possible consequence of doing things independently puts the person on their own to battle out things in the business. The person is literally at the mercy of clients here rather than an overbearing boss. Deadlines remain the same, work pressure also stays, but the extra-effort is tasking indeed. Think it over!

2. Space Demarcation

An accepted norm in the industry is to keep personal and professional life separate. However, there are many who are committed workaholics. What does that really mean? If you are a compulsive e-mail checker, picking on employees on phone or talking business at the dinner table, you are just the wrong breed. This becomes more apparent in the case of a freelancer who works from home itself, so how should they leave work at work, I wonder?

3. Finance

Unless you are a super brilliant person with innate talents, you are more tenable to fall into the anxiety trap. The study reveals that most people go freelancing due to financial constraints and despite earning less than regularly employed persons, they stick on to the jobs at hand. You may have the right degree and skills to show, but an adjoining health status is what is not guaranteed.

4. Social Quotient

In a techno savvy world where a click is all you need to be called a socially committed being, a freelancer could well be the Emperor in the situation. However, those who prefer to work from home are less likely to come in face to face contact with people in the business. They just happen to be a facilitator in the larger set of things. Coming to a more baser point in this context, a social trends study shows that freelancers are less likely to be socially presentable as they do not have to worry about personal upkeep on a daily basis unlike the regular office goer. Seems a valid point!

5. Job Assurance

Now this is something that all of you should read carefully. Freelancers choose the option of going autonomous due to the personal convenience of a job that pays well or atleast pays the bills on time. However, when it comes to job assurance there are no per say guarantee tags. Unless bound by strict contracts, which is absent in most cases, freelancers are always on the verge to loose out business, however talented they may be.

If you are a freelancer and have faced similar dilemmas, do share with us your experiences that keeps you going.

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