Talk:Freelancer/Archives/2015

Merge with indy contractor?

This article needs to be merged with Independent contractor, as they are, for all intents and purposes, one in the same. Seriously, they both perform their work for whoever wants them and can meet their price. They both pay a self-employment income tax, and they both are not entitled to Civil Rights protections, such as on the basis of race, sex, age, disability, etc. Honestly, there is NO difference AT ALL! They should in the thesaurus together. Juxtaposing freelancers and indy contractors is like juxtaposing attorneys and lawyers, or eye doctors and optometrists.

Thoughts?Wikieditor1988 (talk) 16:07, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

I agree with this. they should be merged. This comment was six years ago? And I'm the first one to second the motion? What the crap? Wikipedia's inefficiency is sometimes startling. But seriously, this article and independent contractor should merge, as, by this article's own admission, the term 'freelancer' is just a slang term for indepent contractor style work that is used by people in the creative industries. 2600:1015:B10A:60EE:9BB:40F:E53E:C627 (talk) 10:01, 5 February 2015 (UTC)

Disagree. The merge suggestion was initially made in 2009, before a majority of the content on this page was added. I've been unable to find the reference the unregistered user above makes to 'slang term' and disagree in any case that the prevalence of "slang" justifies erasure. Rather the rise of the "Freelance nation," Freelancer's Union, and the number of books, websites, articles and reports devoted to the freelancing way of life, way of business, and freelance industry, suggest that Independent Contractor is the term with a less precise meaning, despite the tax class the word designates. Further detail could/should be added to this page, specifically around the history of the term and the way that it has been used in relation to formations of editorial work, journalism, and artists in the US and UK. Shameran81 (talk) 01:14, 7 February 2015 (UTC)

"Independent contractor" (when it is not a fraudulent assertion or coercive swindle by a dishonest employer) is a status in tax and employment law. "Freelancer" is a difference in the way a profession is practiced, leading to a difference in attitude both of the freelancer and of the client. --Orange Mike | Talk 02:37, 7 February 2015 (UTC)

Formal freelancer

Formal self-employment and workers in sole proprietorship. Example of the Brazilian concept of "sole business" that was splitted into two main kinds of formal freelancer:

• sole profissional: with higher level academic certificate and regulations for formal control of autonomous exercice (ex. sole doctor's office).

• sole empreendedor: typical "little empreendedors", as sole craftsman, autonomous taxi driver, and many others, that can be formal. An informal freelancer, through a simple process, can be formalizated as sole microentrepreneur (microempreendedor individual - MEI). Brazilian's law allows MEI countertraction of one worker, so is not exactly an "sole proprietorship".

--Krauss (talk) 19:13, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

I don't think "empreendedor" is an English word. Also we can't really link to an article on the Portuguese Wikipedia. I don't understand what this text says, so I can't help. — Jeraphine Gryphon ^(talk) 06:38, 13 July 2015 (UTC)

@Krauss: The distinction you're making here -- which seems to draw on the Brazilian legal framework -- is being done in this article, which only covers forms of work you are calling a 'sole empreendedor.' This page is fairly specific to freelancing in the United States (which probably could be more explicit). Here, freelancing is *not* a doctor who owns her own office, which depending on the number of employees would be classified as a 'microsmall' business or a 'small' business in the United States. Categorization differ country by country. This page could certainly use more references to the specific legal frameworks within which freelance independent contracting, small business ownership, and employment are defined and take place, if you wanted to add something about how the Brazilian legal system shapes forms of freelancing that could only improve the piece. Shameran81 (talk) 17:09, 23 July 2015 (UTC)