L&D Free Spirits Invites Freelancers to Share Insights in 2026 Survey
L&D Free Spirits launches Freelancer Insight Survey for the third year running, continuing to support members and the People Development community.
In June 2024, prior to launching the Free Spirits' membership offering in September, Founder Kim Ellis ran an insights survey to better understand the challenges freelancers faced.
25 small business owners and self-employed individuals across Learning, Training and People Development took part. The results offered early direction: what was working, what wasn’t, and how Free Spirits could help members.
In 2025, the same survey opened – insights from 77 self-employed development professionals provided comparative data and real-life experiences to inform what support the sector needed for the coming year. 31% of those who completed the survey were members.
Kim said,
“When we launched the survey in 2024, our social presence was small – after all, we had only just created our LinkedIn page a month before, and our mailing list was tiny. Fast forward a year and responses more than tripled, giving us richer insight into how people were shaping their self-employed careers and where they were still seeking support.”
2026’s survey will open for a third year to assess freelance life across the People Development sector and evaluate it against insights from previous years.
In 2025, Consultancy was the dominant skill and was noted for commanding higher rates. 2026’s response will determine whether that trend continues, if people are diversifying their skill sets to appeal to a wider audience or to offer more services to the same client.
Last year’s data confirmed that referrals were the top way people found work (33%), up from 8% in 2024. This paves the way for a comparison with direct outreach or social media marketing; 24% of respondents in 2025 reported using LinkedIn and other platforms to find work, a method that didn’t register in 2024.
Kim shared,
“The most common question freelancers ask me is, ‘How do I find clients?’ This was a key challenge across both years – the need for better platforms for finding work. I envisage this being a recurring theme for the third year running.”
People’s approaches to pricing – day rates vs project-based – will inform insightful analysis. In 2025, 40% of respondents charged using a daily rate; a question introduced in 2025 due to a recurring theme in Season 1 of the “Free Spirits of L&D” podcast about stopping the practice of charging day rates.
In both 2024 and 2025, views were captured worldwide, from Spain, Hong Kong, India, France, South Africa, Ireland, Thailand, the United States, Brazil, Hungary, the United Arab Emirates, and Canada.
Kim added,
“I invite freelancers and small business owners from all over to complete this year’s survey – please take the time to share your reflections and pass the survey on to other self-employed folk! Not only will we get a wider view of freelance life to compare to previous years, but we can also continue to tailor Free Spirits’ offering to meet your needs.”
2026’s survey will open on Monday, 1st June 2026 and close on Friday, 26th June 2026.
The survey results report will be published wk/c 3rd August 2026. 2025’s report is available to download.