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You hear it from everyone. You've got to niche down to make more money as a freelancer
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But how do you decide what your freelance niche should be? Well, that's what today's video is all about
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Hey everyone, Josh here with Millo.co where freelancers come to level up their business
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And today, we're talking about your freelance niche. Before we get going, remember to hit subscribe and leave a comment on this video
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telling us what to cover next. And if we pick your idea, we'll enter you to win $1,000
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Thanks to Hectic for supporting this video. More on them a bit later
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So, do you have a freelance niche? Here's what I mean. Are you a jack of all trades, offering multiple services to any client you can find
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Or do you specialize in one or two services that you really excel at
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If you haven't niched down yet, this video may convince you that it's time to get more specialized in your freelancing
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That's because when you figure out how to find your freelance niche, you tap into something special
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It seems counterintuitive at first. Smaller audience means smaller revenue, right? But in many cases, the complete opposite is true
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When you find your freelancing niche, you end up positioning yourself as an expert to your target audience
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And when you're an expert, you can charge more. Because demand for your freelance niche expertise goes up
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For example, on our podcast, we spoke with one writer whose business completely took off
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after discovering clients were willing to pay 10 times his usual rates
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for highly technical development blogs. He had to hire 50 contractors in 12 months
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with all of the demand he was getting from this new freelance niche
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Finding a freelance niche can mean an explosion in new clients and revenue
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If you're ready to finally find your niche, here are five questions that you should ask yourself
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One, what kind of work do I enjoy most? When it comes to finding your freelance niche, everything hinges on this first question
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If you choose a freelance niche you don't enjoy, you're stuck doing work you hate
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In fact, you could even become known as the go-to person for work you despise
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Now, that would be an utter failure. So start by asking yourself
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what kind of freelance work could I see myself doing for the rest of my career
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Of course, you don't have to stick to it forever, but it's good to start with work in a freelance niche you actually enjoy
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Next, ask yourself, what kind of work already pays me well? Enjoying your work is important, but it doesn't necessarily pay the bills
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And your freelance business is a business after all, not a hobby
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So the next question to ask yourself is, which freelance niche has the highest revenue potential
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Depending on where you are in your freelance career, you probably already have clients that hire you for a variety of different services
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But as you're trying to nail down your freelance niche, consider which services you already get paid more for
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This is a question that we ask our guests on Freelance to Founder all the time
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Which services give you the biggest return for your time investment? If it's also work you enjoy, you're well on your way to finding the perfect freelance niche
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If not, take a look at the second and third most lucrative services you offer
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If they're still not a match, you'll have to make a plan to slowly transition your current high-paying services
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out of your repertoire as your new freelance niche takes priority. Before we move on to question number three, we want to thank Hectic for supporting this video
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Hectic is by far our favorite resource for freelancers. It's a complete suite of tools to help you with proposals
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time tracking, calendaring, client management, and tons more. Plus, Hectic Academy is a free learning resource to help you grow a solid freelance business
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And Hectic is 100% free. There's no catch. Just sign up at millo.co forward slash Hectic and later, as your business grows
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you can upgrade to one of their very affordable paid plans. We'll link to Hectic in the description of this video
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And thanks to Hectic for supporting this video and freelancers everywhere. All right, back to determining your freelance niche
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Third, ask yourself, what do clients come to me for? If you're already known for talents within a certain niche
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finding clients becomes much less difficult and word of mouth marketing can be a huge source of new business for you
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So if clients already come to you for something specific, you may want to double down on that niche
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Of course, you don't have to stick with the same niche that you've already got clients in
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but it can definitely be a major advantage if you're already known as somewhat of an expert
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meaning you can do less marketing and charge more for your work already
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Next, you should ask yourself, who can I effectively reach? This question will help you identify a freelance niche
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in which you have easy access to potential clients. If you already have a great presence in a certain social media group
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consider identifying what that group might hire a freelancer for and explore related freelance niches
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Perhaps you're talented at public speaking and could offer a free monthly class at your
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local library or elsewhere in order to build up demand for your freelance services
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Or maybe you already have a list of previous clients you could reach back out to
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with your new niche offering in order to have them work with you again
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Finally, try asking which freelance niches are currently growing. If you plan to freelance for a long time or ultimately go from freelancer to agency
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it's smart to do some research to find which freelance niches are growing and which are declining
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For example, a freelance designer could opt for a freelance niche in UX or UI design
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which is booming by the way, as opposed to print design, which has been on a steady decline for years, for obvious reasons
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You can also watch our video of higher paying freelance skills, which we'll link on screen and in the description of this video
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For now, I'm Josh with Mellow.co and we'll see you next time
