When first starting in freelance business, it is best to pick one thing you do well. This is called specializing. Beginners in a freelance business often get stuck because they have many ideas about the overall big picture for their business. Going around in circles gets you nowhere. Finding one thing that you do well now will launch your business and build a community of followers that are ready for the next thing you offer when you expand.

Finding Your Strengths

It starts with finding out what you are already good at doing. Strengths as a definition by Princeton Word Net Web are “the property of being physically or mentally strong.” With your freelance business, your strengths define what you feel confident in doing.

As a writer, I realize there are different styles of writing. One style that I write everyday is journalism. I feel confident in my skills that I can offer this style of writing to clients for projects in my freelance business. Even in journalism, a particular subject interests me more than others do and in a freelance business, this subject would be your niche.

If you have strengths in creating websites, focus on these offerings to begin your freelance business. Offer what you know to do whether it is setting up WordPress sites, creating or uploading headers, or details like styling with CSS and adding coding to the site.

TIP: Take a sheet of paper and list what you already know how to do well in your freelance business. Write about ten to thirty items on the list. Make a column for “Weaknesses” and write what you don’t know how to do well yet. You can work on these over time.

After you write your list, carry the paper with you throughout the week. Notice your reaction to certain strengths and weaknesses you listed on the paper. Does the item excite you? Do you feel bored while doing the item? Do you procrastinate on any items?

Deciding on Your Main Specialty

After about a week of noticing how you feel about the items on your list, you will begin to see which items match your passion and excitement and which are not that thrilling. By doing this exercise, you are better able to decide on the main specialty you want to focus on.

To start your freelance business, you will use this main specialty to launch your business and might perform the item for several months before adding the next item to your offering list.

TIP: Separate each item into a list of likes and dislikes. Rate each item with numbers 1 to 10. The number one is your top choice with ten being the last choice. This exercise will help you gauge which item is a priority for your freelance business to offer and that you perform well.

Plan to Launch Your Specialty

After deciding on the top one specialty you will offer, you have different methods of creating a sales funnel around this specialty. Now the tasks to launch this specialty begin. Create your portfolio and samples for the clients to see. Making a list of the different ways you can add money to this specialty will help you create more ways for earning money.

Examples of various items to sell include: classes to people wanting to learn how to do this specialty, provide service for your clients and write an e-book for do-it-yourself type clients.

TIP: Set up a website for your specialty using search engine optimization for your freelance business. Create a separate page for each program you offer and a main page to filter visitor’s interests.

You are all set to launch your freelance business using the minimal steps needed. After you set up your specialty and your website, begin driving traffic to your site offline and online.

We would love to hear your comments or questions about how to launch your freelance business specialty. Do you have any steps to add to these? What can you do today to start on these steps?

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