When you become a freelancer, a question often comes up about specialization. Should you focus on just one skill or be versatile? There is no one answer, it will depend on you, your needs and your skills!
However, these two options each have advantages and disadvantages that Codeur.com proposes to review in this article!
Choose your specialization as a freelancer
Selecting an expert is an important decision that should not be taken lightly. For this, it is necessary to take several elements into account and ask the right questions:
- In which area are your skills strong enough to claim you as an expert?
- What do you enjoy doing?
- Do you have elements (experience, diplomas, etc.) that can justify your knowledge and expertise?
- Is there a customer need in this area?
Also, specialization can take various forms. It is up to you to find the degree best suited for your situation. expertise in:
- A specific field of activity: communication, graphic design, web…
- A specific mission: the creation of advertising brochures, the creation of logos…
- For a specific audience: associations, luxury companies, etc.
Financial capability will vary depending on the type of audience you are addressing. For example, associations will usually have less budget to give you than a larger group.
free rates
For starters, if you have a skill that few other freelancers have, you can even make it your specialty. This will allow you to justify higher prices than in highly competitive areas.
It’s the same principle that holds in commerce: the rarer a product, the more expensive it is. Conversely, in the face of increased competition, brands are forced to reduce their prices. View your business this way.
Plus, your clients will be willing to accept a higher price for a service if your skills are recognized in this area. In this context, every recommendation is important.
Your experience, your knowledge and evidence of your professionalism are all elements that will allow you to earn your client’s trust. Establishing your reputation and your successes in your field is ensuring that your client will be willing to pay the price.
Competition among freelancers
Essentially, if you specialize, the competition will be weak. As a result, you increase the conversion rate of your quotes because your prospect has few options.
If you manage to bring a complementary service or higher quality to your activity, you are sure to win the vast majority of contracts. And it doesn’t matter that they are less, as mentioned above, your rate will be more profitable.
Be sure your expertise is on an upward research trend!
Nature of projects of a freelancer
It’s great advantage of versatility is to position you on many projects. When a freelancer is able to take on multiple missions, he or she will have more opportunities but will face increased competition.
In addition, in the beginning, he may have to accept uninspired projects in order to make his business profitable, but also to fill his portfolio. Nevertheless, as his many quality works are recognized and his address book grows, he will be better able to choose his projects and will eventually have inspiring and rewarding missions.
A typical freelancer will have faster access to rewarding projects and will be able to choose carefully from the start, attesting to their expertise. The word of mouth will then spread to people in his business environment, giving him more missions related to his expertise and hence inspiration for him. But be careful, he has to be on top of these skills.
Important: Ongoing training is essential for a specialized freelancer. He must ensure that he is always informed about new developments in his field, thereby running the risk of being overwhelmed and not being able to offer the best to his client.
Freelancer’s e-reputation
Good at doing everything = Good at doing nothing? This isn’t necessarily true, but that versatility sometimes inspires in the minds of prospects.
If you don’t have a strict specialization, try to narrow your scope anyway by choosing two or three areas. In any case, never accept an assignment that you are uncomfortable with, as it is your image and your company’s performance that is at stake!
Finally, you still have the potential to break into any views you receive, thanks to an active presence on social networks. Through quality content, you can showcase your experience, knowledge and versatility.
Regularly posting informative content on LinkedIn is one way to show that you are active and project a professional image to your network.
For a particular freelancer, his e-reputation can quickly snowball if he completes projects correctly. It will be easier for them to establish their image as an expert and leverage this to recruit prospects.
Freelance: Organization and Communication
When you choose to specialize in an area, setting up your tools becomes a lot easier. Your communication process will be focused on a single topic and your services will be more readable to prospects.
Blogging can be a great way to showcase your skills and expertise. It’s an investment in time that’s well worth it: If it’s updated regularly, it’ll serve as a professional showcase for your clients.
Furthermore, your commercial proposal and your quotes can have a general framework, which you only have to adapt according to the client’s request. In the end, your prospecting documents are more accurate, really targeted and save you time!
In contrast, versatility requires regular customization for each customer request. If the freelancer can have multiple frames ready, the communication is broad and so are the requests! This leads it to continually review the entirety of its commercial offer.
read this also : How to find Freelance Mission? (coder.com)
conclusion
Exclusive or not, it is up to you to make your choice according to your skills, your experience and your needs!
In any case, the next step is to find clients who need your skills. To do this, register on Codeur.com and get access to published assignments and offer your services to potential clients.