Are you looking to start your freelancing career or want to switch to a different skill set to get better freelancing opportunities?
Then you are at the right place.
In this post, I’ll list some of the best freelancing skills you can learn to start or boost your freelancing career in 2022 and beyond.
For each skill, I will also tell you where you can learn them and what would be the best strategy to find freelancing projects as well.
- Coding
- Graphic Designing
- WordPress Website Development
- Video Editing
- Audio Editing/ Podcast Editing
- Content Writing
- Copywriting
- Digital Marketing (Paid ads)
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
- Social Media Manager
- UI/UX Designer
- Why courses are the best way to get started?
- Important! Why I don't recommend freelancing platforms?
- Conclusion
Coding
Coding is going to remain one of the most in-demand skills in years to come.
With all the new technology coming like web 3.0 coding is going to become more and more important.
If you get yourself in this domain you could have a lot of opportunities in the future in terms of a job as well as freelancing.
There are mainly three roles you can look for in this field-
Front-end Development: As a front-end developer you have to look after the front end of the application, software, website, etc. how the interface looks and interacts with the user. In this role, you have to learn HTML, CSS, Javascript, and ideally, some JS frameworks like React, Angular, Vue JS etc.
Back-end Development: In back-end development, you have to look after the back-end of the application, and how it interacts with the database, servers, and data. Some of the most in-demand technologies for backend are Python, Node Js, MySQL and MongoDB.
Full stack Development: If you know both front-end and back-end you can become a full stack developer. As you might have guessed as a full stack developer you have to manage both the front and back-end of the application or website.
According to the 2021 survey of Stackoverflow these three roles are the most popular among developers.
Where to learn?
You can easily get started using these online courses
How to get freelancing jobs?
The best approach for getting freelancing jobs is to create projects on open source platforms like Github, and Codepen where people can see your coding standards. Show your work instead of telling.
You can participate in various coding forums, Facebook groups, question and answer sites like Stackoverflow, and Quora. Genuinely help others, this will not only improve you as a coder but will increase your credibility in the eye of your clients.
Graphic Designing
According to Upwork’s latest report graphic designing is among the 10 in-demand freelancing skills right now and with ever-expanding social media and ads, the demand for graphic designers will continue to grow for years to come.
In the online world, people need custom graphics to tell their stories be it their website or social media posts. In fact, graphics is one the most important element of Facebook advertisement and video marketing.
With the emerging technologies, graphics designers are facing a challenge but if you are creative you can thrive in this.
Because machines can’t replace human creativity at least not in near future.
So if you love designing and have creative thinking then this can be a perfect skill for you.
You can easily start with Canva for free and for advanced designing you can use softwares like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.
Where to learn?
Check out the following course.
How to get freelancing jobs?
You have to build a portfolio on sites like Behance and Dribble. People who look for designers often check these sites and contact them.
Besides this, you can look for clients in design-related Facebook groups as well.
You can make designs for your friends and families ideally something online that you show to the clients.
If you get highly skilled in any particular type of graphic like illustration, or mockup design you can sell them directly to places like Freepik or Envato on a royalty basis.
WordPress Website Development
WordPress website development is another skill that is going to remain in demand for a long time.
WordPress holds 43% share of the entire web and 65% of the CMS market. As you can see it already has a huge market share and it will grow so the demand for WordPress developers will grow as well.
But because of its huge market share, there is stiff competition as well.
As WordPress has evolved over the years it is getting easier and easier to make a website in WordPress and most people can do it themselves.
So to succeed in this niche you must have decent programming skills to go beyond just basic WordPress development, like plugin development or customization.
Because most of the competition is on the basic level of WordPress and you can have a huge advantage over them.
Where to learn?
You can get started with these WordPress development courses as you need.
Where to find clients?
One of the best places to find WordPress projects is Facebook groups, there are many active Facebook groups with thousands of members posting problems every day.
Consistently participate in them by answering the questions you will get clients for sure (my personal experience).
Sharing your knowledge through a personal blog or guest posting or youtube videos will give you much needed exposure and an edge over your competitors.
You can also check the WordPress job board to find new projects as well.
Video Editing
Next is video editing, nowadays people are consuming more video content than text content.
Hence the demand for video content will continue to grow in the upcoming years and equally the demand for good video editors.
If you know how to tell a story with engaging content and good graphics you can make greater progress in this field.
Apart from the skills, you need to have a mid to high-range PC/laptop to make high-quality videos this makes an entry barrier so everyone can’t get into this domain easily.
If you have both then this can be a great skill to acquire.
Most video editors use Adobe Premiere Pro but you can also get started with the free version of The Vinci Resolve. Whichever software you use the concept remains the same.
Where to learn?
How to find clients?
You must demonstrate your skills to find clients, you can use Youtube itself for this. On Youtube, you can show how you work or have some portfolio projects.
Once you have a portfolio you can pitch your video editing services to small to mid-level Youtubes.
Making a video takes a lot of effort and time so if you can offer video editing services to them this can save a lot of time and they can focus more on producing better content.
If you have specialized on a particular type of video like intro videos you can sell them to various marketplaces like Envato.
Audio Editing/ Podcast Editing
Similar to video editing audio editing can be a great freelancing career option especially podcast editing,
Podcasts are starting to grow and there is huge room for its growth when you compare the numbers between websites (1.7 billion) and podcasts(2 million).
On average podcast episodes are about 30 mins to an hour long so for the host this can be a tedious task to edit such long audios.
Here you can fill the gap with your audio editing skills.
Podcasts are quite popular in the US but in India, it is slowly starting to grow. So this can be a great opportunity to target both the market.
For audio editing, you must have the patience to listen to the audio over and over again to remove noise and mistakes.
If you can do this then you can take advantage of this growing market,
Where to learn?
How to find clients?
Most of the time existing content creators like YouTubers and bloggers start podcasting, so you have to find those types of creators who are just starting out in podcasting.
You can search for creators in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify but here most are well-established creators and most of them might already have a dedicated audio editor so there is very little chance to make a breakthrough there.
But if you could find some new creators on these platforms pitch your services with some sample works.
Content Writing
There are more than 600 million blogs and they need regular content. As a blogger myself I know it’s not an easy task to create high-quality content regularly.
So the demand for good content writers will be there as the number of blogs continues to grow every year.
If you have expertise in any particular niche for example gardening and love writing then content writing can be a long-term freelancing career for you.
From my personal experience, I can say finding a good content writer in a specific niche is very difficult so there is very little competition if you could show your expertise.
The only requirement to succeed in this field is you love writing and can explain things easily through words.
If you are just doing it for money and don’t have a passion for writing then it is going to be very difficult to sustain it for a long period.
Where to learn?
How to find clients?
In order to find content writing gigs, you should have some content online to show as a portfolio ideally on your own blog and as guest posts on other blogs in your niche.
People reading the blogs can contact you or you can contact various small blogs in your niche to check if you could help them with your services.
If you could offer high-quality engaging content you could have clients for years.
Copywriting
Next is copywriting which is similar to content writing but is primarily used in marketing and promotion like ad copy or landing page etc.
Since it is directly related to the revenue of a company copywriting can be one of the highest-paid freelancing skills one can have.
If you have content writing skills and some marketing knowledge you can definitely look into this domain.
The copywriter’s job is to write content for paid ads, landing pages, newsletters or websites in such a way that readers are willing to take action.
Your work will be measured by the ROI of the ads spent or actions taken by readers.
Copywriting is a highly skilled job everyone can’t get into easily, so if you could get yourself skilled enough you can easily charge premium rates.
Where to learn?
How to find clients?
As mentioned earlier this is a very result-oriented skill so you must have some previous results to show for it. You can look for clients in various ads related groups or business groups.
To build your portfolio you can offer your copywriting services at a low rate or if you have the budget you could run some campaigns yourself and show the result to your prospective clients.
Digital Marketing (Paid ads)
Digital marketing especially paid ads is one of the best skills one can have in this online world.
We know how competitive every market has become today and it going to get more competitive in years to come, growing a business organically takes time.
So businesses turn to paid ads and if done properly businesses can grow very quickly.
This is why businesses look for digital marketers, especially paid ads.
This is totally result-driven skill if you can give positive results for your clients you can have many retainer clients without having to look for new ones frequently.
You must have some copywriting skills along with marketing skills to succeed in this field.
Where to learn?
You can choose from the course list which social media platform you want to explore.
How to find clients?
If you have the right skills and some budget you can easily find new clients through paid ads yourself, this can work as your portfolio as well.
Besides this, you can look at various business and ads related Facebook groups.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
With over 1.7 billion websites online today, businesses need good SEO experts to show their websites in Google search results.
Yes, paid ads are great but businesses do look to diversify customer acquisition channels.
Organic search is one of them, it takes time but can give results for years.
As an SEO expert, you can help a business get organic traffic from Google and other search engines.
Since organic results take time, on average a small SEO assignment can last for a minimum of 3 to 6 months.
So you just need 2-3 clients to book yourself for months if not years and earn a good income.
Where to learn?
How to find clients?
You must have some experience of sorts before you could find any client. To get an experience you could start your own blog or you could find someone in your friends or family circle and try to rank their websites.
This experience will go a long way in attracting clients.
Again you could look into various Facebook groups or you could target various low-ranking blogs in your niche (not any random niche) and show them how you can improve their rankings.
SEO is a long-term game so if you don’t have any experience you should prepare at least 1 year before getting into this. Because bad SEO practices can harm a website so no business will take a chance with inexperienced people.
Social Media Manager
We are living in the age of social media, and every business has a presence there be it online or offline business.
Nowadays businesses adopt an omnichannel approach which means they bring audience/customers from various sources like search engines, social media, paid ads etc.
When it comes to social media you have to post regularly to get attention otherwise you’ll get lost in the crowd and there are so many social media platforms it can be a challenging task for businesses to maintain the flow alongside their main work.
That is why businesses hire dedicated social media managers to manage and grow their social media channels.
As a social media manager, you have to come up with engaging content and plans to grow the channels.
At least you should have knowledge of the most popular social media platforms like Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, Twitter etc. to increase your chances of success.
But even if you are great at any particular platform you can still get hired if the business mainly focuses on that particular platform only.
If you love social media and know how they work this can be a great freelancing career.
Where to learn?
How to find clients?
You should use the knowledge of your social media to attract new clients. If you have grown your own social media profiles you can easily use that as an example as well.
UI/UX Designer
UI stands for user interface and UX stands for user experience, this is a sub-division of graphic designing.
UI/UX designers are mainly responsible for designing the user interface of mobile apps or web applications.
They also design the user flow means how users will interact with the app.
The success of an app is very much dependent on the user interface and experience, so designing companies often charge premium prices for this.
That is why small businesses or individuals with limited budgets often try to hire freelancers for this.
For UI/UX design you can use applications like Adobe XD, Sketch or Figma.
Where to learn?
How to find clients?
You can follow the same strategy that I’ve mentioned previously in the graphic design section.
Why courses are the best way to get started?
You can of course get started by watching free Youtube videos.
You have to search for various videos to clear your doubts and most of the time you’ll be learning from different creators which can become a problem, and because they are free often people don’t follow them seriously and end up just wasting their time.
On the other hand, courses are designed in such a way to take you from point A to point B and because you are paying (a small amount) you will hold yourself accountable for finishing the course at least.
So you’ll quickly discover whether the skill you’ve chosen is the correct one or not and you can quickly move to something else.
Please keep one thing in mind, courses or any tutorial will be just the stepping stone for you in that field you’ll learn a lot more yourself while working.
Important! Why I don’t recommend freelancing platforms?
In my personal experience freelancing platforms like Upwork, Freelancer etc. are not the best place to get started.
The most important reason is that you’ll put yourself in the rat race for the lowest price and often you’ll end up getting underpaid if you get any projects.
Because on these platforms without reviews you stand absolutely no chance of getting any project.
With the methods I’ve mentioned here you’ll get a lot more opportunities to show your expertise and get lot higher prices.
Of course, this is my personal experience but if you feel like you can definitely try these platforms.
One piece of advice if you do start getting projects on these freelancing platforms try to build some client base (from other sources) outside those platforms as well.
Because there have been many instances where an account is suspended (mine as well) without any reason at all, in that scenario you’ll not only lose money but your entire client base.
Remember you’re building your portfolio on a 3rd party platform and you have no controls at all.
So building a client base outside those freelancing platforms can be your second lifeline.
Conclusion
So we’ve discussed some of the best skills that you can acquire to advance your freelancing career and make it more future secure.
If the list doesn’t cover your current skill and you are still getting freelancing projects so no need to worry you are on the right path just keep an eye on what the future holds and adapt accordingly.
I hope this post will help you in finding the right skill that suits you the best.
