Build Your On-Demand Freelancer Game Plan

Key takeaways

§?You may want to try a side hustle to explore your career options

§?Freelancing can bring opportunities for self-advancement and additional income

§?The knowledge age has tools for knowledge entrepreneurs

§?Monetizing your talents can be a challenge as selling an intangible is different

§?Develop a network but better build a community to offer and test your creations

§?Your freelancing may open grander opportunities, but you need a plan

You might be tempted to take a new journey but not a sharp turn at some point in your career. If you have a full-time job, it might not be fulfilling and need more challenges. As a retiree, the prospect of a new phase in your life can be attractive. You could also be underemployed and looking for a way to keep the pipeline filled. Either way, you are looking for the promised land and that freedom is called the freelancer workspace.

Different names describe freelancing. If you hide from your employer and do projects, this is moonlighting. You might try a side hustle to utilize your spare time. Sometimes, a gig falls on your lap, and you are like a session musician; you indulge in the groove. After a dip into the gig economy pool, is there something big for me?

Freelancing is about working for yourself and performing short-term work for various clients. You determine the nature of your jobs and the value you can get for your talents.

It is about independence, flexibility, and supplementary income. Depending on the stage of your life, you may see short-term work differently. In the early phase, you might need experience.

In the growth stage in your life cycle, the attraction of extra dollars for a down payment on a new home is irresistible. In retirement, using your skills differently or even experimenting with starting your venture to leave a legacy behind might be a priority. You may see your home, computer and skills as underutilized, which annoys you.

Why freelancing is big Apart from the pull of flexibility and the push of stress in the corporate world, other forces are shaping the gig economy. Forbes magazine (2021) claims that the gig economy could become the new working-class norm. During the 2008-9 financial crisis, many lost their jobs in the United States, and workers took what they could have gotten—piecemeal work with little benefits. Then came the big disrupter, Covid-19, and the world of work had a big jolt. People had to work out of their homes unsupervised for the first time and use virtual tools they once scorned. Zoom became the generic name for video conferencing, and webinars were the chief learning forum.

What was happening was much more significant. The world forcibly was moving from the information to the knowledge age. As humans moved from hunting and gathering in prehistoric times, they were again called upon to use their intelligence to deal with a significant transformation. We did it in the past, but as always, we have a seismic shift of a different kind. The knowledge age requires a different mindset and unique tools. Just as the agrarian economy used primitive agricultural tools that differed from the industrial age farming, this mass production thinking moved the food supply forward exponentially.

The knowledge or creator economy will grow in the future. While not all of the content economy is a gig, the hustler sector has experienced a 33% increase in the U.S. in 2020, according to Forbes sources. It is expanding faster than the general economy.

The bigger picture suggests there are 1.1 billion gig workers worldwide and 2 million new gig workers in the U.S. in 2020. Statista predicts that by 2027 about 50% of the U.S. population will have done some freelance work.

Freelancer essentials Before you launch out, you may need to put some things (tangibles and intangibles) in place unless this is a one-night stand affair. You will need the usual IT tools to convert your home or apartment into a workspace. Do not start big and rent a space, and purchase expensive furniture. The key is to think you are embarking on a journey of experimentation as you proceed into uncertainty. If you need software, try a free version or monthly subscription for virtual meetings and emails. A critical tool is your ring light for crisp video meetings.

The point of being a freelancer is to be your boss. Decisions are yours, and so are the responsibilities of a businessperson. It requires a different mindset—risk taker, opportunity-driven thinking, resourcefulness, creativity and tenacity—an entrepreneur's hallmark.

Never for a moment think, will you hustle around and make it big? Hustlers are me-too, low performers who get the crumbs at the bottom of the barrel. Your critical competency: the flexibility to accept a project almost immediately.

Selling your talents First, try to establish where your talents lie. While this sounds simple, it could be a challenging exercise. Once, I came up with the idea of developing a sales training course for financial services professionals who sell to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). I was uncertain if I could finish this task, but I started anyway. While I was developing the instructional material, I found that I made headway very quickly. I was unsure how I got insights into the SME sector. However, after introspection, I reflected on a job I had as a business development manager. Most of my customers were SMEs and family firms, and the strategies I learnt on the ground re-emerged from below my consciousness. Frequently the human mind has much to offer beneath the 'water line'.

Developing a product or service to offer your prospects can be an extensive search. Focus on people and their struggles.

Many parents have difficulty raising successful kids and might need coaching skills. Organizations might not even know that they have an opportunity. Recently, I found that financial services firms have not considered that many family businesses possess significant assets. They did not segment the market by family and non-family and therefore had the same marketing strategy. This 'struggle' was my sweet spot. However, think ahead and develop 'shell' products so you have something to show when clients come.

Using your network is one way to find business. Social media expert Adrian Singh said, "Your network is your net worth". However, today we have several sites tailored to freelancers: Upwork, Fiverr, Toptal, Jooble, Freelancer.com, LinkedIn, and many others. In LinkedIn, keep your content rolling and always have hooks dangling all over your content and linking to your website. Remember the adage turned new—post or perish!

You may never leave your full-time position; however, the attraction of being a master of your destiny in your spare time offers a feeling of accomplishment. However, who knows where the journey of freelancing will take you!

This condensed version of my article appeared in my T&T Business Guardian Money Magazine column.

Sajjad Hamid is the author of Build Your Legacy Business: Solopreneur To Family Business Hero