Freelancing is on the increase since people are in search of work-life balance. Whether you decide to become a full-time freelancer or working part-time to increase your income, you need to take into account your field. You will also get to choose the type of work you will do and with whom to work with.
Freelancing gives an individual the freedom to choose the time to work, the amount of work to get done, the location you want to work from and the volume of work you want to take on. This way an individual gets to work based on their strengths and needs. Freelancing gives an individual the chance to make money worth of the time put in a project.
Being a freelancer is not about fitting into a company’s culture and a specified work schedule. It instead offers an individual flexibility. Some of the benefits an individual gets to enjoy include; being your own boss, getting to control the workload, being able to avoid the long commute, being able to control work relationships, being able to take as many breaks and get as much sleep as needed, the likelihood of getting sick is minimized, and an individual gets lots of time to schedule their exercising routine.
Freelancing has led to the emerging of the “gig economy” which allows an individual to solely make money from freelancing. An individual is then able to balance their home-life and work-life with ease. Have I entice you to break away from traditional workforce? If yes, below are the top 5 in demand freelancing jobs come 2018. 
Web Designers & Web Developers
Since there are so many websites up and running, more companies need someone who can take care of the backend process. The person is also to ensure the website does not load slowly or go down. Web development is a skill you can learn and master and use it as a freelancer. From this, you will be able to work several hours a day and make a considerable amount of it. Web development is not limited to maintaining a website but can also involve you setting up a website for a company and thereafter keep it up and running.
Freelancing as a web developer you get to work from home on either large or small project. These individuals can either work individually or be part of a remote team of web developers. App development is another sought-after skill. Some of the skills you need to have an app developer include backend computing, mobile UI designing, programming just to mention but a few. With more people browsing the net using their smartphones, the demand for app developers is and will be on the rise.
You can learn some of the required skills if you want to work as an app developer and be able to make some extra cash along with your regular job. If you enjoy doing design work, you could also opt to specialize in infographics. Lately, people are into seeing their information rather than reading it. The more difficult the information, then infographic will help people visualize it. You can study infographics, work on a few projects apply for jobs using your new skill set.
Software developers are also in-demand in the current times. Cars, computers and most of the home devices run on software. Online coding schools are on the increase owing to the rise in demand for individuals who develop programs. Computer programming can be done from anywhere all you need to have is a computer and reliable internet connection. Knowing to program puts you in an even better position since you already have a portfolio and the needed experience. Even though you may be starting out, the net offers numerous places where you can learn how to program.
Graphic designing is another in-demand freelance skill. A lot of digital marketing companies, newspapers, magazines and blogs are on the continuous lookout for brilliant graphic designers. The individual needs to be able to design striking graphics within the least time possible. What you need to get started is to learn Photoshop and all the other relevant software then you can start cashing in on the various opportunities existing in this field.
Writer
There are hundreds of thousands of websites, magazines, numerous newspapers, blogs and other kinds of writing opportunities available for a content writer. All the material written both online and offline is done by someone sitting at their computer. For this freelancing job, you will be required to polish up your writing skill, work on your grammar and work towards content that actually sells. When it comes to blogging, you can either work for someone by blogging or start your own blog. Both opportunities can and will give you the chance to make money.
There are numerous niches available such as fashion, travel, technology, entertainment, internet marketing and personal finance for you to choose from. You can about the different niches depending on your interest and then get started. People nowadays have a lot to share but lack the time to do so, thus the need for a freelance blogger. You can choose a few niches to get you started then specialize as you go along. Even then beware; there are low paying writing gigs available in the market. Therefore perfect your skills, do some research to ensure you do not end up making less than you should.
Advertorials use the skill of an article writer and copywriter to help sell a service or a product in story form. This is aimed at helping both large and small businesses from using the traditional hard-sell approach. They instead use more personal and emotional driven story to get the readers to try and even buy a product. You can learn the copywriter skill, article writing or journalism to be able to grasp the how’s advertorials work.
Research papers are academic assignments that give students the chance to carry out extensive research and think seriously about some issues in the society. The individual can use others research to build upon and even come up with their insights to particular questions. The discipline varies in the ways the research is conducted. The skills needed are research conducting, time management, organizing information and presentation of insights regarding the research done. Editing and proofreading are also needed once the research has been written to ensure there are no writing errors.
Telemarketing
Customer service skills are in demand in all businesses. The skills you will require for you to get a freelancing job include attentiveness, ability to communicate clearly, use of positive language on clients and patience among others. Here you may be required to handle customer emails, calls and respond to their questions. This type of a job can be done remotely and at times you may be required to make and take calls from the company’s customers. Therefore you may consider polishing your telephone skills.
Surveys will require you to have skills in conducting research online and be able to do internet surveys. Analysis skills also come in handy. One thing to keep in mind, before conducting any survey, familiar yourself with the product and service you will be researching on. This way you know what questions to ask thus getting accurate data.
With the growing use of the internet, marketing has taken a new direction. As a freelance marketer, you will more likely be involved in the formulation of strategies, making use of social and other media available as well as forging relationships with existing and potential customers. Sites like LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Reddit have grown as some of the major media platforms for marketing.
Many businesses want to have interactions with potential customers using these social media sites and thus the need for an expert. When working in this position you can leverage your skills and help companies increase end user engagement and in turn make some money. For you to deliver in this capacity, you need to be able to interact with people using the different platforms available. Therefore, technical expertise is not required.
Virtual Assistant
Businesses in the recent past have been moving global than ever before. Companies lately conduct meetings virtually with people who speak a different language from them or are even hearing impaired. Therefore there is a growing demand for freelance translators and interpreters. A good knowledge and understanding of foreign and regional languages will help you make a decent amount of money.
Being able to write, read and speak more than one language will help you find endless opportunities in the translation field. Payment is made depending on your skill level, the language involved and the task you are required to accomplish. This field offers many gigs in almost all combination of languages you may possess. You can start by learning a foreign language, if you already have one language, polish your skills and then search and apply for jobs online.
For websites to survive and bring in an income online, they need lots of traffic. Search engines like Yahoo, Google, Bing, together with the social media sites, are some of the main sources of the needed traffic. Businesses for that reason engage freelance SEO specialists every now and then to help them rank on the opening page of the main search engines available. You can master SEO skill and ensure you get good exposure before starting to apply for these jobs. Research before getting started to see whether this skill is something interesting to you.
As an Executive search specialist, you will be able to help companies find and hire suitable candidates for their job opening and you, in turn, make money from it. Since you are the recruiter and help keep the HRs at peace, the company will not mind paying handsome incentives to you in return. This field has many opportunities.
Private Tutor
Private tutoring is aimed at facilitating learning and helping students achieve success. This job is in demand as more parents seek help for their children to help them improve their grades. Teachers offer their services depending on the subjects of specialization. These services are not limited to one student, as a teacher you can work with groups, individuals or even offer online teaching support. There are parents that prefer to have their children to be homeschooled. You can work using a timetable to help guide your students and to also create a schedule. This can be done weekly depending on the subject that the student needs help with.
Before starting and engaging with students for your services, it is advisable to have a terms and conditions agreement. This will help facilitate your payments. Remember to include a cancellation policy for your students to understand what missing a lesson will mean for them. In using a business attorney they can help draw a contract for you. You can have two different contracts drawn for your convenience; one that will be used by individual students and another that you can issue to companies when they engage your services. These contracts are aimed at ensuring you get paid therefore make sure they are signed and dated.
Conclusion
Freelancing is on the increase since more people are in search of work-life balance. Being a freelancer is not about fitting into a company’s culture or a given work schedule. It instead offers an individual freedom and flexibility and at the same time being able to earn some decent money.
Currently there many websites up and running, more companies need someone who can take care of the backend process. These jobs range from web and Logo designers, Writers for Blogs and Advertorial, Private Tutors both online and 1 to 1 Tutors, Virtual Assistant doing translations, Secretarial work and Web Research, Telemarketing which covers Customer Service, social media marketing and carrying out Surveys.
There are plenty of freelance gigs in the market and a high demand for unique skills, if you are willing to upgrade yourself. In fact, freelancing is just a step away from being an entrepreneur.
