How to Find Your Freelancing Niche

Don’t wait for your freelancing niche to see you (like I did) but instead, start to think about it actively.

Do you have any professional expertise?

Think about what expertise you can bring to the table as a freelancer. Then, you should think about how you can carve yourself a niche within your field of expertise.

Johnny’s primary area of professional expertise is in online advertising. Now there are thousands of other online advertising freelancers on Upwork, so we started thinking about how he could stand out.

He then decided to niche himself and market himself as an expert in Facebook Advertising alone. He immediately saw results with clients preferring to work with someone who was an expert in one particular type of advertising.

What are your passions?

While my professional expertise is in online marketing, I do have other interests and passions as well.

I used to write for a health and fitness blog. I got this job because healthy living is something I’m very passionate about it. Although I’d never written about anything to do with health and fitness, I was able to convince the clients by writing an article about my personal experience of attending a Body Pump class (which at the time, I attended twice-weekly.)

When you have a passion or a hobby, you tend to become very knowledgeable about it. So start to think about your emotions as a marketable skill.

How big is this niche market?

Before you niche yourself, it’s essential to consider whether there is a demand for the niche. You might be an expert in little knitting mittens for kittens and have a wealth of knowledge in the area, but how many clients are looking for kitten-mitten experience?

Always consider the demand for your expertise because, without need, you won’t get paid.

Learn by practicing

While niching yourself is essential, don’t put too much pressure on yourself to find your niche right from the beginning. You may have to try on several different hats first to see which one fits. Give yourself the time to experiment with your skills and passions.

Practice and pay attention to what you enjoy, which projects inspire you, which clients you enjoy working with, and what type of work makes you feel passionate. Gradually, you will be able to hone in on your niche.

Should you only have one niche?

I don’t necessarily think we need to limit ourselves to one niche as freelancers. As I’ve mentioned above, as a freelance writer, my niche is online marketing but also health and fitness and travel.

These are all topics I’m passionate about and know a lot about, so I believe clients can see my expertise.

I definitely think you can be an expert in 2-3 different areas; however, I don’t recommend trying to sell yourself as an expert in 10 different regions. Your approach then becomes too general, and clients are not going to see you as an expert in anything.

The employer’s perspective on niche freelancers

As someone who now employs freelancers as well (for our agency), I definitely know that clients would also instead work with someone who’s an expert in something.

When I advertise jobs and get responses from freelancers, who want to be everything from an SEO expert to a web designer to a WordPress developer, they almost always go in my reject pile. The lack of focus is very often proof that they don’t have the time to hone one particular skill.

This is an example of all the skills listed on the Upwork profile for a freelancer who applied for a job I had advertised.
No freelancing niche expertise.

Their profile had no specific focus, and by trying to be a jack of all trades, they definitely didn’t stand out to me at all.

You are understanding yourself as a freelancer takes a bit of time. You’re not going to wake up tomorrow and have it all figured out. Have patience, experiment, and you will soon figure out what your freelancing niche should be.

If you want to run a successful digital marketing business, don’t be a jack of all trades and attempt to provide all the services thinking. This way will improve your chances of getting clients. When you find your freelancing niche, you will easily become a digital marketer well.

I definitely believe having a niche is one of the critical strategies for those.

Good luck to you!