Freelancing101: Exploring the Scope of Freelancing

This article is for the benefit of those who would like to become freelancers.

The term freelancer, can be a little vague. So, first things first: Who, is a freelancer?

A freelancer is someone who usually doesn’t have a full-time appointment with one employer, but markets certain skills such as writing, editing, photography; the list is endless. That is, whatever is marketable, can be freelanced. Freelancing is truly the epitome of self-employment, and a platform to gain multiple streams of income.

To give a clearer picture, I would be discussing some of the job opportunities available in the world of freelancing, and in the process, further engineering the progression of this apt trade.

WRITING

Writing seems to be one of the more popular freelance trades, but even in writing, there are unexplored/underexplored frontiers.

Examples abound, such as ghostwriting (e.g. of e-books), specialty writing and blogging.

An online search could fetch you some beautiful details about the subject and scope of ghostwriting. Some e-books, for example, are not really authored by the named authors, and if you do not mind being in the background, while earning a fee for writing the book, this could be an opportunity just right for you.

Like I have previously alluded to in one of my previous posts on Knowing Your Voice as a freelancer, it is beneficial to have a specific genre of writing. This way, you can sub-specialize, by fishing for jobs specific to certain fields; e.g. certain defining periods of life (such as the adolescent, quarter life, or mid-life periods), medical/legal knowledge and a host of interesting specialties. This way, your skills are better sharpened for those specific jobs and the content you produce would have become fine-tuned, over time.

Blogging is also another avenue for effective freelancing. For example; at African Freelancers, a group of bloggers are employed to create content to the blog and the variety indeed adds spice to the blog. And so, blogging jobs can be quite cool as a freelance writer because besides the fee you earn, you are also able to create an online presence with consistent articles, as well as build your brand name and followers.

GRAPHICS DESIGNING

While freelancing as a graphics designer might not be as popular as writing, it is very specific. This is what I mean: not everyone can do it. It takes a lot of time to learn and besides that, once the skill is perfected, your customers would always love to patronize you. such customers include website owners and bloggers, whom once you have created a certain look for their sites, would want to continue patronizing your services.

Working as a freelance graphics designer can thus be very fulfilling because of the loyalty of customers and ability to perfect your skill even better with the amount of freelance jobs you take on.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Over time, photography has evolved into a skill that requires a high level of proficiency. The thing with such skills, is that eventually, you create a brand that is so well known that it becomes a signature of excellence.

Ways in which photography can be used for freelancing include photoshoots and creating beautiful sceneries, backgrounds and profiles for websites and blogs as well.

The social media rave even simplifies things further. Now, there is absolutely nothing that beautiful pictures cannot project and since the freelance photographer is not attached to any particular client, he/she has the opportunity to select his/her clients wisely.

Of course, the freelance photographer, unlike most other freelancers, has to be at a certain location and cannot work from the comfort of his/her room.

ARTISTS

A freelance artist has so many career options, inclusive of production of animations, cartoons and sketches; as well as classic paintings.

This particular freelance career option needs quite a large amount of publicity, so it is advised for this as well as for others, that a strong online platform is created and these animations/sketches/cartoons/paintings are displayed avidly on them, with proper copywriting also done.

These are just a select few of the options available in freelancing. By genuine creativity, you can come up with other career options in line with your skill-sets, and fetch yourself extra income and ultimately, job satisfaction with the art of freelancing.