A few weeks back, I was asked by an aspiring freelancer as to what freelance niche he should pursue.
This isn’t a new question for me.
In fact, I’ve had a ton of people ask me the same thing ever since I’ve become a freelancer.
But I always same roughly the same answer to them.
So, I thought, why not just create a blog post so that people won’t bother me with this question all the time (lol).
Kidding aside, I thought about writing this guide so that I can help a lot of people at once…
So, if you’re currently on the same boat with the person who asked me the question above, read this guide up to the end.
I promise you won’t regret it!
What are Freelance Niches?
First, before we dive into my answer, let’s make it clear what freelance niche is about.
In short, they are the specializations or topics under freelancing.
In general, we call people who work at home as freelancers, online workers etc.
But not every freelancer has the same skills that they offer. For this reason, we call these specializations – niches.
Most freelancers focus on 1 or 2 niches. But some are generalists and they offer a variety of them.
Why Have a Niche?
If you’re an aspiring freelancer, it makes sense that you don’t know the benefits of having a niche.
Most beginners either try the easiest online jobs or just offer anything – which is a BIG mistake…
While there’s nothing wrong with offering a lot of skills, it isn’t the best practice if you want to earn more money in freelancing.
This is because most freelancers that are paid higher have specializations.
They are professionals at their craft so it makes sense that they are paid premium.
Put your shoes at a client’s feet for a second and imagine this scenario:
You decided that you want to create a dropshipping store to make money.
But the problem is that you don’t know how to create one.
So, you go to UpWork and post a job. You’re looking for a freelancer who can create a dropshipping store for you.
The question is, would you hire someone that just knows how to create a dropshipping store?
Or would you be more willing to go for someone who SPECIALIZES in it?
A freelancer who has worked with clients like you in the past and who created the perfect store for them. Who would you choose?
Of course, you’d select the one who knows and have created lot of dropshipping stores, right?
As a further example, which among these two profile titles stick out as more of an expert?
- Virtual Assistant
- Amazon Virtual Assistant
Unless you’re just looking for a general assistant, you’d pick the second one, right?
You see, you don’t have to be the best at everything to get paid higher.
Of course, this isn’t just a point that I’m trying to make without facts.
In fact, this is exactly what happened with Rachel Cuales as she shared her freelance journey in this blog post – How to Work at Home in the Philippines (Even as a newbie!)
In her first jobs as a virtual assistant, she was offered just $300/monthly.
Hungry, she then tried to become an Amazon virtual assistant which allows her to earn 6 digits monthly today!
It’s just like Bruce Lee said, “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”
What Niche Should I Pursue then?
This brings us back to the question at the top, what niche should you pursue?
Before we answer that, let’s take a look at the actual question I got from the aspiring freelancer.
Basically, he’s overwhelmed as he tried learning several niches.
Because of that, he doesn’t know what freelance niche to focus on.
Thousands of aspiring freelancers are on the same boat as him.
In fact, I asked the same question 2 years ago when I was just a beginner!
In my research and as I asked a lot of freelancers back then, I came up with a solution that would greatly help you now. It’s not something as complicated as you might think…
The solution: GO BACK TO YOUR ROOTS.
Here’s my answer to the aspiring freelancer and anyone who asks the same question.
To help you understand this more, I’ll break this down to you step by step.
1. Ask yourself first – The very first thing you need to do is to ask yourself.
What are the things you’re good at naturally? What are your innate skills? What’s your favorite subject? What do you love to do?
You may already have the perfect niche waiting for you but you just don’t know. Asking yourself these questions may help.
2. Research about your skills – Now that you have a general idea on what skills you can offer, search about it on the internet.
You can even use this list of the 19 Most In-demand Online Freelancing Jobs in 2021 to see if there’s a market for your skills. As a guide, you should ideally pursue skills that aren’t too common.
For instance, if you didn’t know, my niche is in content writing.
Although I chose this one since I was an editor-in-chief in our school publication in high school, it was a common skill.
Millions of freelancers were offering writing services for as low as $5.00/1,000 words.
Even so, I chose this one because I’m naturally good at it and I love what I do.
3. Have a plan and niche down – Even if you have a common niche such as writing or virtual assistance, you can still make it big!
What I did was that I observed what clients were always looking for and are willing to pay a lot.
I concluded that clients were willing to pay more for those that know SEO content writing.
Aside from that, I noticed that they were more willing to pay higher fees for people that specialize in certain topics such as finance, travel, real estate and more.
Because of this, I tried to focus on 1 – 3 topics which are finance, travel and gaming.
Furthermore, as evidence of my skills and dedication, I created this financial blog Peso Hacks. As a result, I was set apart as a premium freelance writer among thousands of generalists.
In short, my answer to those that ask the same question every time is this: Try to pursue skills that you’re naturally good at.
You may be good at computers, at helping people or even at selling.
You should focus on these skills first so you won’t feel overwhelmed.
Then, nurture and learn everything you can about your skills!
What if I Still Don’t Have a Freelance Niche I Can Offer?
If you’ve read this far but you still have no idea what freelance niche you’re going to offer, don’t worry.
You don’t need to worry as this doesn’t mean that you’re not going to be successful.
It may just mean that you just haven’t realized what your true talents are.
If so, look back and think about what you enjoy doing the most. It may be singing, writing or drawing.
There’s always a skill that you can offer online that’s in line with your talents!
If you believe that you don’t have any talent (although I highly doubt this), you can still do freelancing.
Try different niches first that appeal to you the most.
Then, learn about it and devour every free resource you can find.
If you do this, I’m sure that you’ll realize what you like and don’t like doing.
Freelance Niche – Bottomline
I hope this guide has been helpful for you as an aspiring freelancer!
Let me know if you have questions and thoughts about this topic in the comments below.
If not, why not read these next:
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