Freelance niche: the art of going from generalist to expert
Selling yourself as an expert can lead to better customers, bigger budgets and more freedom.
Here's our guide to finding your freelance niche.
Content:
Customers want the best
As a self-employed freelancer, how you sell yourself determines what price tag you can put in the window and which potential clients come looking.
Especially as a new freelancer, it can be tempting to brand yourself as a jack of all trades who can write razor-sharp copy, animate videos and write backend code because you're hungry for work.
But customers don't buy services, they buy results.
And when you buy specific results for specific projects, you also want the best the market can deliver.
The most important step you can take to grow your freelance business is how you shake hands with prospective clients and show them the promised land.
Choosing a niche doesn't mean you're limiting your income - quite the opposite. Although it may feel a bit contradictory: a smaller pool of potential customers means fewer opportunities, right?
Choosing your niche is the difference between setting yourself up as a "freelance copywriter" to being a "copywriter for fintech scaleups". We've seen several cases where freelancers have made a small shift in their approach and increased their earnings dramatically.
The basic reason you should choose a niche is to maximize your freelance income. The riches are in the nichesand it's all about understanding the needs of the market, selling yourself right and of course building the confidence to charge.
Freelance with Factofly
Use Factofly to invoice and get paid without having your own VAT number or registered company. We take care of all the boring stuff so you can spend your time where it's most fun.
What is a freelance niche?
If you're new to the glittering freelance scene, "niche" is a word you'll hear a lot. Essentially, it's about specializing and reaching for the expert brand.
A niche is your specialty, but it's not an industry. Finance is an industry, crypto is a niche. Fitness is an industry, yoga for pregnant women is a niche. As a freelancer, you can have multiple niches, but most people choose to zoom in on one and aim to be at the top.
With a well-defined niche, you can create a clear brand and be consistent when it comes to your hourly or project rate.
Why is it important to find a freelance niche?
Potential customers often need a little help dreaming and seeing how your magical solution will make all their problems disappear.
The more concrete your expertise can be formulated, the easier it is for potential customers to see themselves in previous cases, for example.
You can think of it this way: you have a bag full of chocolate buttons and three bowls of cookie dough. You can either split your chocolate between all three and get three mediocre results, or empty the bag in one bowl and throw out the other two.
The result is a baking tray with the best cookies on the market, and people are willing to pay big money for them.
When you choose your niche, you're also making a choice to deliver the very best performance in a narrow field. But this is also where the real work is hiding.
Freelance with Factofly
Use Factofly to invoice and get paid without having your own VAT number or registered company. We take care of all the boring stuff so you can spend your time where it's most fun.
How do you choose your freelance niche?
When finding your niche, there are three circles you want to overlap: skills, passion, and money. There is no right or wrong way to find your niche, but you can use these three circles as a guide:
- What are you good at?
- What are you passionate about?
- Where is the money?
1. What are you good at
We often don't see our own strengths and weaknesses in the same clear light as others, which is why it can help to think back to why you've been chosen for previous projects. In other words, why customers have come to you.
Across projects and jobs, you can find a common denominator and this is your niche.
2. What do you like to do
I remember once hearing someone say "there's nothing worse than being good at what you hate doing". Google doesn't agree that it was ever said, but that doesn't change the fact that you should build your freelance career on passion.
After all, you're the one who controls which projects come in the door, and if PR work is one of your core competencies, but you're about to jump out the window with every new assignment. Well then, you might not be looking forward to a career filled with excitement.
3. Where is the money
When the famous American bank robber, Willie Sutton, was asked why he robbed banks, he replied "that's where the money is!".
Don't follow the same path, but take inspiration from Sutton. Make sure to do your homework and keep an ear to the ground on what areas are trending. Succeeding in a down market is quite a difficult exercise.
What do you do when the circles don't overlap?
Sometimes - especially in the spring of your career - there's a bit of a gap between the different circles and you can't zoom in on the perfect spot where money, passion and skills meet. This is where the art of compromise becomes essential to your happiness in your freelance work.
It's not a popular thing to say in Denmark, but we need money in the bank to make things run smoothly.
You can therefore work with 2 to 3 niches that you keep separate. Possibly with different entrances. One you dedicate to being the money maker, with a long-term strategy to create greater profitability in a parallel niche you enjoy being in.
Freelance with Factofly
Use Factofly to invoice and get paid without having your own VAT number or registered company. We take care of all the boring stuff so you can spend your time where it's most fun.
Test, test, test!
Finding a niche is a test of a hypothesis. You should therefore treat it as such.
Therefore, choose an area where you can test the idea within 30 days, with the goal of landing a customer in your chosen niche.
Treating your niche in a test period allows you to quickly validate whether your hypotheses are correct. Both too short and too long to test an idea are equal deadly sins.
30 days is the sweet spot. Long enough to get results, short enough to move on quickly if you're left with a "meehhh" feeling.
Crucial timing: jump on the trend
As with so many other things in life, timing in freelancing is also crucial.
Because you can be too early. It means there's no understanding of how your skillset can help drive results. For example, look at how trends in searches for "ux designer" have moved and only really started to take off in 2014.
If you as a designer tried to sell yourself as a UX designer in 2012, there may have been a lot of dead air from potential customers. Clients who needed the competence, but didn't formulate it as a UX task themselves.
If you're a social media advertising wizard, it might make sense to jump on the bandwagon and brand yourself as a "TikTok Ads Expert". It can be hard to grow your business in a down market, so choose your niche where the wind is already at your back.
Freelance experts win customers
Being a freelancer is tough, and unfortunately, you don't get points for doing things the hard way.
Shifting your brand and narrative from generalist to expert - starting with your website - is one of the essential maneuvers you can make to create a better foundation for success as a freelancer.
To summarize, these are the questions you need to ask yourself to get closer to your freelance niche:
- What do I enjoy working with?
- What am I good at?
- Where can I get paid well?
- What drives customers to contact me?
- Where do I have access to customers?
- Which niches are growing right now?
Freelance with Factofly
Use Factofly to invoice and get paid without having your own VAT number or registered company. We take care of all the boring stuff so you can spend your time where it's most fun.
Freelance niche: the art of going from generalist to expert
Selling yourself as an expert can lead to better customers, bigger budgets and more freedom.
Here's our guide to finding your freelance niche.
Content:
Customers want the best
As a self-employed freelancer, how you sell yourself determines what price tag you can put in the window and which potential clients come looking.
Especially as a new freelancer, it can be tempting to brand yourself as a jack of all trades who can write razor-sharp copy, animate videos and write backend code because you're hungry for work.
But customers don't buy services, they buy results.
And when you buy specific results for specific projects, you also want the best the market can deliver.
The most important step you can take to grow your freelance business is how you shake hands with prospective clients and show them the promised land.
Choosing a niche doesn't mean you're limiting your income - quite the opposite. Although it may feel a bit contradictory: a smaller pool of potential customers means fewer opportunities, right?
Choosing your niche is the difference between setting yourself up as a "freelance copywriter" to being a "copywriter for fintech scaleups". We've seen several cases where freelancers have made a small shift in their approach and increased their earnings dramatically.
The basic reason you should choose a niche is to maximize your freelance income. The riches are in the nichesand it's all about understanding the needs of the market, selling yourself right and of course building the confidence to charge.
Freelance with Factofly
Use Factofly to invoice and get paid without having your own VAT number or registered company. We take care of all the boring stuff so you can spend your time where it's most fun.
What is a freelance niche?
If you're new to the glittering freelance scene, "niche" is a word you'll hear a lot. Essentially, it's about specializing and reaching for the expert brand.
A niche is your specialty, but it's not an industry. Finance is an industry, crypto is a niche. Fitness is an industry, yoga for pregnant women is a niche. As a freelancer, you can have multiple niches, but most people choose to zoom in on one and aim to be at the top.
With a well-defined niche, you can create a clear brand and be consistent when it comes to your hourly or project rate.
Why is it important to find a freelance niche?
Potential customers often need a little help dreaming and seeing how your magical solution will make all their problems disappear.
The more concrete your expertise can be formulated, the easier it is for potential customers to see themselves in previous cases, for example.
You can think of it this way: you have a bag full of chocolate buttons and three bowls of cookie dough. You can either split your chocolate between all three and get three mediocre results, or empty the bag in one bowl and throw out the other two.
The result is a baking tray with the best cookies on the market, and people are willing to pay big money for them.
When you choose your niche, you're also making a choice to deliver the very best performance in a narrow field. But this is also where the real work is hiding.
Freelance with Factofly
Use Factofly to invoice and get paid without having your own VAT number or registered company. We take care of all the boring stuff so you can spend your time where it's most fun.
How do you choose your freelance niche?
When finding your niche, there are three circles you want to overlap: skills, passion, and money. There is no right or wrong way to find your niche, but you can use these three circles as a guide:
- What are you good at?
- What are you passionate about?
- Where is the money?
1. What are you good at
We often don't see our own strengths and weaknesses in the same clear light as others, which is why it can help to think back to why you've been chosen for previous projects. In other words, why customers have come to you.
Across projects and jobs, you can find a common denominator and this is your niche.
2. What do you like to do
I remember once hearing someone say "there's nothing worse than being good at what you hate doing". Google doesn't agree that it was ever said, but that doesn't change the fact that you should build your freelance career on passion.
After all, you're the one who controls which projects come in the door, and if PR work is one of your core competencies, but you're about to jump out the window with every new assignment. Well then, you might not be looking forward to a career filled with excitement.
3. Where is the money
When the famous American bank robber, Willie Sutton, was asked why he robbed banks, he replied "that's where the money is!".
Don't follow the same path, but take inspiration from Sutton. Make sure to do your homework and keep an ear to the ground on what areas are trending. Succeeding in a down market is quite a difficult exercise.
What do you do when the circles don't overlap?
Sometimes - especially in the spring of your career - there's a bit of a gap between the different circles and you can't zoom in on the perfect spot where money, passion and skills meet. This is where the art of compromise becomes essential to your happiness in your freelance work.
It's not a popular thing to say in Denmark, but we need money in the bank to make things run smoothly.
You can therefore work with 2 to 3 niches that you keep separate. Possibly with different entrances. One you dedicate to being the money maker, with a long-term strategy to create greater profitability in a parallel niche you enjoy being in.
Freelance with Factofly
Use Factofly to invoice and get paid without having your own VAT number or registered company. We take care of all the boring stuff so you can spend your time where it's most fun.
Test, test, test!
Finding a niche is a test of a hypothesis. You should therefore treat it as such.
Therefore, choose an area where you can test the idea within 30 days, with the goal of landing a customer in your chosen niche.
Treating your niche in a test period allows you to quickly validate whether your hypotheses are correct. Both too short and too long to test an idea are equal deadly sins.
30 days is the sweet spot. Long enough to get results, short enough to move on quickly if you're left with a "meehhh" feeling.
Crucial timing: jump on the trend
As with so many other things in life, timing in freelancing is also crucial.
Because you can be too early. It means there's no understanding of how your skillset can help drive results. For example, look at how trends in searches for "ux designer" have moved and only really started to take off in 2014.
If you as a designer tried to sell yourself as a UX designer in 2012, there may have been a lot of dead air from potential customers. Clients who needed the competence, but didn't formulate it as a UX task themselves.
If you're a social media advertising wizard, it might make sense to jump on the bandwagon and brand yourself as a "TikTok Ads Expert". It can be hard to grow your business in a down market, so choose your niche where the wind is already at your back.
Freelance experts win customers
Being a freelancer is tough, and unfortunately, you don't get points for doing things the hard way.
Shifting your brand and narrative from generalist to expert - starting with your website - is one of the essential maneuvers you can make to create a better foundation for success as a freelancer.
To summarize, these are the questions you need to ask yourself to get closer to your freelance niche:
- What do I enjoy working with?
- What am I good at?
- Where can I get paid well?
- What drives customers to contact me?
- Where do I have access to customers?
- Which niches are growing right now?
Freelance with Factofly
Use Factofly to invoice and get paid without having your own VAT number or registered company. We take care of all the boring stuff so you can spend your time where it's most fun.
