Upgrading skills: Your guide to becoming a better freelancer.
Choosing new skills to develop.
Whether you want to develop a specific skill that you can charge a premium for, or develop new skills to give a more comprehensive end-to-end solution – there are plenty of resources online where you can easily learn new skills and become more sellable.- Which skills should you focus on?: While you can easily learn anything new online – most times for free or at very low costs, it does require an investment of your precious time. When you want to pick up a new skill to further enhance your freelancer business offering , you should choose a topic that’s not only interesting to you, but is also something that proves profitable.
To skill up efficiently, there are two approaches:
1. Expand from your current core skills.
Let’s say your core skill is in web design. Your first step towards expanding your skill set would be to list out other related areas you can explore - such as logo design, search engine optimization, or copywriting.
Choosing skills to work on.
Now that you have a list of practical possibilities, start choosing which of those skills you should focus on. However much you may want to, you probably won’t have time to learn all of them at once. And if you were to try doing so, you might overstretch yourself, get overwhelmed or burnt out, and end up giving up. Highlight the ones that you find most interesting, or the ones you think would be most in demand. This forms your shortlist.
Next, narrow it down further. Which skills in your list are in demand out there? You can check against your past experience or your knowledge of the market. Additionally, Elance has some very comprehensive data on what skills are most in demand globally. You can use that info to help you decide on what skills to focus on.
2. Develop satellite skills.
Another approach for skills upgrading involves moving beyond your core skill area, into what are called “satellite skills”.
What are satellite skills?
These are skills that complement or revolve around what you do. Satellite skills are something every freelancer should consider picking up. They allow you to offer end-to-end services so that a client deals solely with you instead of managing a mixed pool of freelancers.
For example, a freelance writer could venture towards satellite skills like:
- Search engine optimization – to make content rank better on search engines
- Photography and basic photo-editing – to help dress up an article
- Content marketing – to offer a more consultative, strategic value to clients
Choosing your satellite skills.
Similar to expanding from your core skill, picking out which satellite skill to focus on first isn’t too complicated.
Think about some of your past projects and list out the related services that were required to complete the job. Is there something on that list you can pick up and turn into a profit? Or, check Elance for insights into what skills are currently in demand.
Once you have an arsenal of satellite skills at your command, you bring more value to the table and increase your chances of getting hired – for bigger, better-paying projects.
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