The competition is fierce and you, as an online professional, need to sharpen your tools. Here are some of the top freelancing skills you need to stay on top of your game!
2021 will usher in a new wave of freelancers and the competition for online gigs will be tight. Clients will look for professionals with a very specific set of skills to help them grow and launch their business online. To attract the right clients, as an online professional, you will need to constantly learn new things, navigate the freelancing demand, and adapt to the ever-changing market. Though the Active IDEA will make it easier for you to land the right online gig but, how do you easily land that gig? What are the things that you can learn to stand out and have a competitive edge in an online sea of faces? Let’s list down a few important freelancing skills you must learn so you can have the edge to get new gigs!
Writing
Content is king. Freelance writing is undeniably one of the most popular and in-demand freelance skills you can develop. That’s why there are a lot of writers out there right now. This means the competition is very tight. Even talented writers struggle with finding clients and the rates for freelance writing are quite low.
The demand can be blamed here. You don’t need a lot of research and studying to start a career in freelance writing which led to a large number of freelance writers marketing their services willy-nilly.
So, why am I suggesting this skill then? Because the potential is enormous. It looks like the market’s thirst for content will never be quenched so the solution is to niche your writing down. Learn how to write for a very specific reader. Find gigs that will let you focus solely on a specific format or a specific subject.
For example, if you enjoy creating short and compelling copy that is aimed to entice right away, ad copywriting may fit your style, if you are into research and information distribution, writing a long format may fit you well. It’s all about finding the right format to focus on. If you decide which style you want to master, you can easily pick the right gigs and clients right away.
Design
Like what we mentioned above, content is king, and what else online content needs? Compelling visuals. Text alone can never captivate the attention of the market so designing is one important skill you can hone.
Like writing, there a lot of interesting directions you can take with design, each one of them can be profitable too. From simple logo design, illustration, UI/UX design, marketing content, and many others, there are a lot of fantastic ways you can make designing profitable. There are clients of different needs and preferences, the trick is to find that one gig that will fit your designing skills and interest so you can enjoy and profit from what you want to do!
Any Form Of Marketing
The amount of business out there is staggering. Almost an infinite amount if you look at it globally. With that idea, I assume that there are countless entities out there looking for a marketing specialist that can help them spread their influence and reach potential clients.
While focusing on the first two skills we listed above will land you gigs that require to produce content to be used in many ways, learning any sort of marketing will give you the opportunity to create strategies and use the content to create the exact opportunity for a company or a brand.
Starting out in marketing services will yield low fees. You see, the idea here to build a portfolio that will lead to bigger possibilities in the future. Learn first, dominate later, that’s what I always say.
If you are particularly keen on marketing, it is highly recommended to go all-in on one specific area, that way your clients can easily see the value that you can bring to the table.
Here are some of the interesting branches of marketing you can focus on. This list is based on what the current market is looking for so it is up to you to decide which of these you want to dive right in and find your own rhythm of productivity.
- Content Marketing
- SEO / Link Building
- Affiliate Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Brand Strategy and
- Marketing Consultancy
Professional Skills
Probably the most important thing that you need to learn is how to be a better professional. You see, landing clients is the easiest part of the game, maintaining a professional relationship and keeping the enthusiasm to work together is the real challenge.
Not every gig and client is the same, so you must have a set of skills that can adapt to the type of working environment you are currently in. You might ask, “What are these professional skills?” that I’m talking about. Let me be more specific and list down some of the things that you can generally learn to approach freelancing easier:
- Carry yourself with confidence. This way others will be as confident as you are with working with you.
- Be the go-to person. Take the opportunities to handle the more challenging part of the work and prove that you can be relied upon when it comes to the nitty-gritty of it.
- Don’t be afraid to learn and to teach. Surround yourself with a radiant openness for new things so people will be at ease with you when it comes to asking questions and learning in general.
- Take ownership. Be on-point whenever you have a task on hand. This shows you are reliable and can be trusted with the hard stuff that needs to be done.
- Be proactive. If you see a gap, fill it by providing the right attention to it.
- Practice transparency. Learn how to be open about what you need to improve and what you need to know.
- Communicate clearly and concisely. Deliver the facts in as few words as necessary to get the message across.
As a professional, YOU and your talents are what you’re selling. You need to draw the right attention to your work, value, and promise of results to have clients fight over you!
If freelancing and online work does not fit you, you can also look at collabvesting within the Active IDEA platform. You can also check our other freelancing related articles here.
As always, we wish you all the best in your online freelancing ventures!
Let’s start making IDEAS together.
