You can hardly surprise someone by being a freelancer, unlike just a few years ago. Freelance is one of the most popular jobs nowadays. Some people leave their office careers and start their highest paying freelance jobs online.

It’s no wonder because working from home has tons of benefits. You do not even have to leave the comfort of your home and last but not least, you can earn much more than working full-time in some company. You can meet freelancers in almost any field nowadays.

However, becoming one of the best highly-paid freelancers is not that easy. It is not enough to just wish to work from home. People must possess a wide range of freelance skills to be successful in this area. Of course, those skills depend on the niche. However, some of them can be generalized and regardless of the field you pick for your freelancer career, you will hardly manage to succeed without possessing those skills and qualities.

If you want to run your freelance projects successfully and do it not just as a hobby but as the main source of your income, check this freelance skills list and make sure you have them all. If you don’t, work hard on yourself and gain them. 

1. Self-discipline 

The first but one of the most crucial qualities for every freelancer is self-discipline. You may argue that this is not a skill and cannot be learned or acquired. However, if you are not self-disciplined, it will be very difficult to run freelance projects.

The truth is freelancers have no bosses and they are bosses themselves. No one is going to control you, the process, and whether you stick to deadlines. You must do it by yourself. And if you cannot control when exactly you must start the project, how much time to devote, you procrastinate, you risk missing the deadlines and just failing.

Although self-discipline is not a professional skill, you should not neglect to learn it and train yourself until you work according to a certain schedule. Otherwise, you can forget about the career of a freelancer. 

2. Time management

Everything seems to be very easy — everyone must manage his or her own time to run freelance projects successfully. In reality, not everyone is a perfect time manager. As a freelancer, you may get many offers from different people and companies (of course, not at once but after you gain some good reputation).

Naturally, you cannot accept all offers and take all projects on. You simply won’t be able to cope with them all. Moreover, you will have to manage your time very wisely. Freelancers rarely work on one single project at a time regardless of their niche. Therefore, apart from time management, you must be able to set your priorities very thoroughly.

For example, essay writers often work on several papers simultaneously. Quite often, the deadline is the same for more than one project. It means that you must cope with several projects successfully within the same time frame. It is not easy but possible. For that purpose, it is necessary to manage your time and set your priorities appropriately. If you don’t do this, you will simply fail one project after another and eventually, will have to look for another career path. 

3. Negotiation

No matter what field you are working in, you must have good negotiation and communication skills. If it is difficult for you to deal with people, understand their needs, and be stress-tolerant, you will have to acquire good communication skills first.

Let’s say, you decided to work for a well-known (or not really) paper writing service as an author. Most likely, you will be able to communicate with your clients directly. At least, most writing services practice this way of communication between their writers and customers. It means that you will have to be patient enough and know at least basic rules of etiquette.

If you cannot negotiate with your customer properly, he or she will most likely complain about you and thus, this will be your last order in this service. To avoid such unpleasant consequences, you should develop your negotiation skills very well. If you believe you do not possess enough communication skills, try to attend free webinars and masterclasses and improve your skills.

4. SMM (social media management)

If you believe social media is just to communicate with your friends or post photos, you are wrong. Nowadays, they play a great role in your career. Social media is crucial not only for bloggers but also for business owners, as well as for freelancers. 

Maintaining public relations is impossible without social media platforms today. They have become the best marketing tools. No matter whether you are the owner or CEO of a big or small company or just a freelancer looking for new projects, you must have a social media account and very often, more than one.

However, creating your profile is not enough. It is very important to lead your social media properly and it is a very time-consuming process. Your profile or account will show people who you are, what you are doing, and whether you are professional in your business. 

Getting your new customers and projects through social media is the best way to develop your freelance career. To do this, you must have a deep knowledge of SEO and marketing. There are plenty of bloggers, SMM managers, and targetologists, and other professionals who give free masterclasses and webinars online. Do not neglect the opportunity to learn SMM skills and develop your social media account. It will help you build your own brand, get your “face” in the world of freelance, and get many new devoted customers.

5. Content writing

Do not think that content writing is necessary only for bloggers or copywriters. We get back to skill number four now. If you run your social media account, you must have great content writing skills. 

If your freelance job is somehow related to content creation, then you simply must improve these skills. What will you post on your social media? Of course, video content is great, as well as appropriate photos but good content is a must. Regardless of your field, you will have to work on content writing hard.

Conclusion

These are the top 5 skills each freelancer is obliged to possess. Do not forget that each of the areas brings more and more other qualities to learn and develop. Thus, you may need to learn web design or graphic design, data entry, accounting, and many other skills that are so crucial for someone working online. Pick your niche first and then, learn the required qualities.

Remember that the online market is developing really fast and you must really stand out from your competitors to become a successful freelancer. The main thing each freelancer must do is never stop learning and mastering new skills.