freelance

With unemployment high, wages stagnant and costs rising, a growing number of Americans are working a part time job -- or more than one -- to make ends meet. 24/7 Wall St. dug through the data to see which industries are the best bets for those seeking part-time work -- and some may surprise you.

If all you need is $5 worth of expert help, Fiverr has your number. For the price of a fast-food combo meal, this online marketplace will connect you with someone to proofread your business plan, repair an HTML bug, or whatever you might need. With 500,000 listings, it seems almost any service can be sold in $5 increments.

Job growth in the traditional market is tepid, but among contractors, freelancers and e-lancers, hiring is booming. Of course, if you go that route, that means you have to handle a host of things your employer used to, but there are ways to make it less of a chore -- and new companies looking to help.

It's the season for reviewing the year that's ending and making predictions for the one ahead. On Tuesday, venture capitalist and DailyFinance columnist Peter Cohan was part of a TV panel that was asked: Who was the person of the year? What was the story of the year? And what will happen in 2011? Here are his answers.

For a brief heady period, freelancers and the other self-employed folks found it easy to secure a mortgage: all that borrowers with a reasonably good credit score had to do was write in their income and swear with all the power of their own signature that, indeed, that was what they made. Also...

Freelancers like to work how and when they want. But that flexibility entails more than a few downfalls. A new Freelancers Union's report shows 81% of independents had little or no work, 40% had trouble collecting wages from clients, and 39% had either cut back or ended health coverage.

A new study by New York-based Freelancers Union highlights the lack of health care, insurance and other benefits that most full-time employees take for granted. And it calls for a series of reforms to put this vital part of the labor force on equal footing with other working Americans.

Wednesday, I had told more than a few people who'd asked, would be the day, or thereabouts: the one when my biggest and most regular freelance check would arrive in my bank account. I needed to pay my mortgage payment (just past the grace period, again); my gas bill, my student loans, the cost of a...

In what can best be described as shooting yourself in the foot, the freelance-for-hire Web site Elance has selected a winner in its contest for a grand prize of $10,000 to help pay health insurance premiums for a year -- a guy who works full time and already has health insurance through his...

One of the most difficult parts of losing a job and becoming an unintentional freelancer is losing health benefits.While changes to the COBRA insurance program this year make health insurance more affordable after losing a job, it's still no substitute to employer-paid health insurance. In my...