I have actually had 2 freelancing careers in my life. The first one wasn’t so successful. As a result, I had to get a corporate marketing job and later I struck out again as a freelancer and enjoyed a far more successful foray into the biz the second time around.

One of the differences (although certainly not the only one) was that I specialized in a specific kind of writing the second time I freelanced.

You see, the first time I tried freelancing I accepted every job, no matter what it was and what industry it was in. And it wasn’t very profitable. I hate to admit it but I did a whole bunch of things and not a great job at any of them. Every new project required me to research new things (and that’s time consuming!).

But the second time around I gathered together a bunch of skills I had acquired, as well as some technical expertise in that corporate marketing position, along with a recent industry certification, and I offered a specific set of writing for only one kind of industry.

Some people thought I was crazy: I was turning down jobs left and right because they weren’t in my industry or they weren’t the kind of writing I was willing to do.

But the jobs I was accepting? They were completed faster and far more profitably.

Here’s why:

• Less research time was needed because I knew the industry and only needed to stay current in that one industry.
• There were fewer time consuming rewrites because I knew the industry.
• I could complete my writing assignments with excellence and hone my skills effectively since I didn’t write any kind of assignment but only specific types of writing.
• My marketing was far more effective because I wasn’t trying to advertise everywhere to everyone. I was spending a little more money on marketing, marketing far less, but it was far more effective because it was targeted. I know it sounds counter-intuitive… but it’s true!
• I could charge more because I was an expert in the field. People were willing to pay more because they could trust that I had the experience they needed.
• I could offer meaningful insight to clients who were new to the industry, which allowed me to branch out my services to provide some value-added coaching.

So, if you’re thinking about freelancing, you may want to consider finding a market and specializing in it. You’ll need to make sure that your market is big enough to support your specialization and has enough money to pay you for your expertise. And you’ll also want to cultivate good relationships with other freelancers who can help you if you get a great industry-specific client that needs something that you don’t do.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with being a generalist and if you can provide good quality, high value content and make money doing it, all the better. But in my experience, a specialist is the better way to go.