When you start as a freelancer, you tend to want to do a little bit of everything in order to get referrals.The quest for visibility and the search for notoriety can lead to a professional dispersion.It is important to differentiate yourself from your competitors in order to stand out from the crowd.
How to do this concretely? By focusing on a specific field, by becoming an expert.
This article will explain in a few tips how in the following lines.
Why specializing as a freelancer is an important asset?
Building a good reputation is difficult if you don’t specialize in terms of skills. Indeed, becoming an expert in one’s field of activity allows one to attract quality clients who need a specific service.
The more the freelancer develops skills that he is the only one to master, the more clients will be ready to recommend him.
In addition to these reasons, he will not be able to charge much for his services if his expertise is not highlighted.
Here are 4 valid reasons to position yourself as an expert in your field of competence:
1. Distinguish yourself from your competitors
It is impossible to make a particular skill profitable if you embrace everything at the same time. On the contrary, it is better to specialize and have a personal touch that cannot be easily plagiarized.
This is the key to setting high prices and staying ahead of your competitors.
2. Quality clients
If the freelancer’s profile is generalist, prospects will look elsewhere. We trust a specialist more than a jack-of-all-trades. Being an expert in a specific sector gives credibility because the know-how is there.
If you like hamburgers and you have the choice between a McDonald’s and a general restaurant that offers a wide variety of menus, chances are you’ll choose the McDonald’s. This makes perfect sense: you have to be a specialist in your field. It makes perfect sense: you have much more confidence in their service!
3. Word of mouth
As we all know, a satisfied customer is like free publicity. By specializing, you are twice as likely to be recommended than a general freelancer.
You also benefit from all the potential of your network and the positive customer feedback that comes with it.
4. Avoid spreading yourself too thin
Making your marketing and communication efforts effective is much more complicated if you are a generalist. Without specialization, you’re forced to spread yourself thin across the various social networks and messages you use. Let’s imagine an Instagram account with wedding photos and photos of CAC40 executives. Most likely, people don’t really understand this and are disinterested.
How to find your area of expertise and become an expert
To find your area of expertise as a freelancer, there are 3 principles to remember:
- Know your strengths and weaknesses
- Train in a skill that you are passionate about
- Be able to assimilate it and then teach it to others.
The best way to become an expert in your field is to first appreciate yourself and feel involved. Every opportunity should be taken to communicate and bring value to the competition. You can create trainings, organize seminars to showcase your credibility and expertise.
To conclude, a good freelancer must stop embracing all the missions and focus on a service he masters correctly.
By specializing, he continuously improves his specific skills, increases his hourly productivity, builds his reputation, develops his brand image and can set his rates at a price level that has nothing to do with the average.
By Nyamga
