Where to find winning ideas for freelance work is the first challenge many budding freelancer have to contend with at the beginning of their career. For some, they have no idea at all while others have so many ideas that they are overwhelmed on how to choose the winning ones. How can this would-be-freelancer overcome this problem and get into this most rewarding lifestyle?
Criteria for identifying a winning freelancing idea
A winning freelance idea is unique to each individual freelancer. However, every right idea regardless of the freelancer or the preferred niche has certain points it has to meet.
Skills
‘Do what you know’ applies in the freelancing world as well. Identify the skills you already have and start from there. Skills can be learned but if you want to start immediately, set the foundation of your freelance career with what you are already good at.
Passion
Having a skill is one thing but being passionate about it is a different thing altogether. If you have been earning a living from your skills in a 9-5 job and you didn’t like your job, it doesn’t necessary mean that you are not passionate about that skill. Cross-examine yourself as to why you think you are not passionate about it. It could be that you hated the hours, your boss or colleagues and not the job per se.
Passion about your freelancing job is a must. However, remember that passion alone will not help you to achieve your financial goals.
Market
Is there a market for your freelancing services? A good idea must have a market big enough to sustain you. Assess your market and see how big it is, other players in it and what the average going rates are for services similar to yours. You must be able to see how you are going to get into such a market and stand a good chance of success against your competition.
Competitive edge
Having skills don’t necessarily make you stand out in the crowd. Your winning freelancing idea must be the one that exemplifies your strengths. How can you identify your strengths? For some people, this is not a problem because they know their strengths outright. For others they need to do some kind of analysis to identify this quality. What other people genuinely praise you for is a good pointer to your strengths. Examples of strengths include:
- Teaching others
- Organization
- Ease of interacting with others
More factors to consider for freelance winning ideas
A winning idea must be of value in the eyes of your customer. It must fill/meet a certain need or want. The idea must meet some of the most basic human needs emotions – either to increase their sense of well-being (pleasure) or remove some obstacles in their lives (pain).
In conclusion, winning freelance ideas is not about a list of freelancing jobs you can do from home. It is more than that. It starts from what you already know or can learn. Form here you will analyse the idea and confirm that it is really a winner and that it can sustain you as you transition, may be, from a regular job to freelancing.
The internet is full of ideas on what you can do as a freelancer but the specific ideas may not be relevant to your skills and circumstances. There is only one area where to find winning freelance ideas – in you.
