A few years ago, a job involved leaving your house to resume in a building called an office. Times have changed and the office is no longer restricted to a physical building. With the internet and technology, we have been exposed to endless possibilities; you can earn money from anywhere if you have freelance skills.
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To make money in the freelance world, you need to hone your marketing skills. Recently, people are beginning to see the gold in freelancing and are equipping themselves with the right skills. To stand out and earn as much as you want with your freelance skills, you need to be more and do more.
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Companies no longer focus on degrees alone when hiring. They are looking for individuals with multiple skills who can get things done smartly in this fast-paced world. So, aside from having a college or university degree, having the most in-demand freelance skills will land you your dream job faster than someone who doesn’t.
In this article, I shared the top fifteen most in-demand freelance skills you can learn within a short period and start making money.
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Top 15 Most In Demand Freelance Skills In 2020
1. Content Writing
Content writing is one of the skills that come to mind when you think about freelance skills. Needless to say, this is a very saturated area. Nevertheless, there is still an incredible opportunity in freelance writing if you know the nitty-gritty.
There are over 600 million blogs on the internet and new ones keep emerging every day. These blogs need content to stay afloat and most times require the service of freelance writers to provide them with content.
A good way to separate yourself from the crowd and attract your prospective customers is to niche down your writing. If you are knowledgeable in a particular industry, you can focus on strictly writing content related to that industry only.
Some of the niche you can focus on include but not limited to: business writing, product description writing, food recipe writing, love story writing, scriptwriting, motivational writing, CV writing, and copywriting.
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Another strategy is to build a personal brand around your niche and dish out contents that will make prospective customers see you as an authority in that area.
See your writing skill as a product or service you are offering and promote it in that light. Nowadays, the pay rate for freelance writers is low because the supply is high. it’s easy to find freelance writers on freelance sites who charge ridiculously low prices.
This is why I’ll strongly recommend copywriting. Not every writer can write a compelling copy. If you are a good copywriter, you can charge high rates from your customers.
2. Digital Marketing Skill
Technology is continually evolving and it’s constantly making marketers and entrepreneurs dive into digital marketing to create brand awareness. Most job descriptions now include digital marketing skills as one of their requirements. That is how important this skill has become. Every business owner wants to penetrate the digital space, so there’s a ready market available for you to tap into.
That said, digital marketing is vast and broad. And it requires patience, determination, and hard work to hone the skill. Interestingly, you can acquire this skill by enrolling in an online course. Also, it takes practice to understand what works and what does not before you can become a professional.
To become a digital marketing guru, here are few skills you need to get acquainted with:
- Data analysis
- SEO and SEM skill
- Email marketing skill
- CRM skill
- Social media skill (including paid social media advertising skill)
- Mobile marketing skill
- Writing and editing skill
- Organization and management skill
As a digital marketer, it is important to be rounded and grounded. An under-skilled digital marketer is not what prospective clients need. So, take your time to equip yourself before launching out.
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3. Wikipedia Contributor
If you’ve ever tried contributing an article on Wikipedia, you’ll agree with me that their content moderators are tough. Many people desire to publish an article or their bio on Wikipedia and have not been able to achieve that.
So, if you can patiently learn the modalities involved in publishing an article on Wikipedia, people will be willing to pay you to help them get their content up on the viral website.
You can connect with Wikipedians already publishing on the site and learn how to go about it from them. As a matter of fact, being a Wikipedia writer will help you learn a lot of new things.
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4. Graphic Design
Graphic design skills are in high demand because every business needs to project themselves to their audience. There’s hardly a way businesses can market their product or services without some form of graphic design.
While there are many software people can use on their own to create awareness for their business, not many business owners are patient enough to sit and create noteworthy designs.
Just like writing, you can explore graphic designs in different ways. You can choose to focus on a particular niche or combine as many as you can. Some of the profitable graphic venture are:
- Logo Design
- Advertisement Design (Pamphlet, flyers, posters, banners etc)
- Illustrations
- Merchandise design
- Product packaging design
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Interestingly, if you can master one of these skills, you are good to start. As you progress, you can include other aspects of these skills or even open an agency of your own.
By undergoing some training for just a few months, you can get yourself equipped with this skill. Some of the software you need to learn are:
- CorelDraw
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Illustrator
- Canva
- Adobe InDesign
- GIMP
- Inkscape
- Xara Xtreme
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5. Proof Reader/Editor
Have you ever written content and you feel it’s perfect, only for someone else to read it and detect major errors? It happens all the time. So, there’s always a need for a second eye to peruse a book, content, or article before publishing or printing them. Therefore, proofreading skills is a needed skill if you market it to the right set of people in need of it.
Editorial jobs require hard work, commitment, and patience. In addition, proofreading requires that you have a good eye for details and a strong grasp of the language. Hence, you may need to acquire quality training in that area.
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6. Software Developer
This is another very important freelance skill in our time. Several opportunities abound for software developers as many establishments are willing to invest in a profitable app.
This skill involves the ability to research general societal challenges and create solutions through software. Amazingly, one successful software application can make you billions. You can develop more than one software and sell it to companies in need of them.
Many companies want to reduce their expenses. So, if you can provide them with software that will help reduce their expenses and fast track operations, they will be more than willing to do business with you.
To get started, you can get a degree in software engineering. Alternatively, you can choose a good software engineering language to learn; for instance, you can learn Ruby on Rails, Python and Django, MEAN Stack, etc. Once you know a particular language/stack well, it will be easy to transition into new languages, frameworks, and technologies. Fortunately, Udemy has courses on very specific areas of software development you can purchase and get started with.
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7. Voice Over Skill
It is not only written content that’s in high demand. Audio content is in high demand as well. This is because businesses want to explore the different available marketing channels.
Everybody does not have a good voice or the proper diction to project a brand. Hence, you can acquire a voice-over skill and get paid for it.
Usually, voice actors are being hired to handle:
- Jingles
- Podcasts
- Radio advertisements
- Audiobooks
- Short film characters
- Narration
- Event Commentary
It will interest you to know that top voice actors charge up to $1,000 per hour. As said earlier, there’s a lot of work you need to put in place as a voice actor other than just reading out a script like everyone does.
Also, there’s no limit to the number of people or brands you can work with. So, the best time to start honing this skill is now. All you need for a start is a good sound recording setup and some training.
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8. Social Media
Celebrities and busy high net worth individuals hire social media managers to manage their social media platforms. Also, businesses know that most of their potential clients are on social media. Hence, are in need of someone to handle their social media platforms. Social media management is not just about posting content and inputting random captions.
Actually, it takes a lot of hard work, requires good content and consistency to stand your brand out on social media. If this is the only skill you can acquire on this list, be rest assured that you have a large customer base awaiting you already.
To become a social media guru, you need to learn how to create compelling content and social media designs. Other things you need to learn are how to run social media campaigns, post timing, and a good knowledge of how each social media platform works.
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9. Photography
Photography is one of the in-demand freelance skills to acquire. Yes, people can now take pictures with their smartphones, but there’s always a need for a professional photographer for professional purposes.
If you have the basic knowledge of point-and-shoot cameras, you might just need a little training to start photography on a professional level. With constant practice, you’ll become better with the skill and become a respected authority in the industry.
Once you are equipped with this skill, post samples of your photographs online, take a few free pictures to show your talent to your prospective customers.
As a photographer, it’s good to always go out with your cameras because
you can never tell when a shooting opportunity can surface. Besides, photography is an additional skill you can explore as a side hustle if you have a full-time job.
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10. Website Design/Programming
Companies and organizations need a website to project their product or service to their prospective customers. Not everyone can build a user-friendly website themself. So, they would be willing to pay handsomely to get one created for them.
Web designing has been made easy unlike before. The best way to begin is to get yourself acquainted with WordPress. WordPress is easy to learn and many websites you see today were built using WordPress.
Programming is usually one of the difficult skills to develop but at the same time, one of the most profitable and highly sought after skill. Also, apart from web design, there are other types of programming you can explore. Some of which include:
- Mobile application programming
- Back-end web development
- Front-end web development
- Data Science work
- Enterprise Software
Like every other freelance business, you can run a web design business from the comfort of your room. Alternatively, you can take up a full-time job with a reputable tech-savvy organisation.
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11. Translating
Translating also made our list of freelance skills in demand. You can take out time to learn a second language if you can only speak one language and work as a translator for establishments in need of a translator.
Duolingo is a very good app that will teach you different languages within a short period. One of the ways to make use of your translating skill is to do radio or TV jingles for people in other languages.
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12. Video Editing
People engage more with videos and brands are realising that video content projects their brands better. Hence, they are on the lookout for someone who can help them collate clips that will communicate their product or service in the desired manner.
In addition, video editing is a skill that brings recurring customers. This is because a brand will continuously patronise a video editor that already understand their communication style and can convey the right feeling to its target audience.
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13. Tutoring/Coaching
This is another freelance skill that is always in demand. Tutoring is wide so, you can select the niche or area that interests you. Tutoring or coaching is not just a venture you jump into without appropriate skills.
As a matter of fact, there are certifications you need to get to become a professional coach/tutor. Some of the areas you can venture into are:
- Preparing people for international examinations
- Helping people learn certain languages or subjects
- Career coaching
- Business coaching
- Life coaching
- Health/Fitness coaching
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14. Virtual Assistance
The online space has made many business opportunities available, and one of these opportunities is virtual assistance. Basically, a Virtual Assistant works remotely for a company or business and reports to the employer(s) daily or as agreed.
You need good secretarial and organizing skills to function as a Virtual Assistant. Once you acquire this skill, begin to tell everyone around you about it, market yourself on social media and other relevant platforms.
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15. Accounting
Every business needs proper accounting records for taxation and accountability purposes. Accounting is a course of study on its own and can be difficult to understand for business owners who are not good with numbers.
But, with basic accounting software, you can carry out basic book-keeping and other accounting services for businesses on a freelance basis. The demand for this service is high because most businesses love to outsource their accounting job.
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