Some cities like New York, San Francisco, Portland and even Minneapolis have flourishing freelance resource markets; St. Louis, on the other hand, does not. Several factors may contribute to this:

Size – St. Louis’s creative market is not large enough to consistently employ freelancers.

Culture – A traditional worker bee culture encourages people seek full-time employment or leave.

Talent – Most beginners are not talented or smart enough to be independent contractors.

Business Practices – Agencies find it less risky to hire people than to constantly search for temporary resources.

True or not, these reasons are interrelated: If there was more work, the need for freelancers would increase. If agencies wouldn’t hire as many creatives, the need would increase and sustain more freelancers. If young folks saw freelancing as a viable work situation, more would consider it.

A huge by-product of a strong freelance market is a better skill level of these people; competition would demand people become better at what they do. In turn, the agency’s work would become better and they would get more projects. When they get more projects, there is more work and they hire the best people.

Imagine…

All agency owners fire their creative staff and hire the best ones back as freelancers.  All talented creative individuals begin to stand up for their rights and don’t work at crappy agencies for sub-standard pay. They gain confidence and take their work to the next level increasing the competition. They get more experience by working on a bigger variety of projects and make more money to boot. Companies seek St. Louis as a hot bed of creativity.

… and then I woke up.