Freelancing is tough. As a freelancer, there will come a time where need to decide whether to gear your career towards being a generalist, or market your services as a specialist. It’s a common dilemma, and it can be tough to decide.

In the early stages of your freelancing career, you might feel as though you need to a master of everything. This means you need to take on everything you can. You try to lock down all the projects, clients, and challenges. This approach can help you to rapidly grow your skill set in the short-term, but it won’t help your career in the long-term.

As your career in freelancing starts to take off, you should start working to identify your niche. This can be scary, as it will mean you have to turn away projects, clients, and challenges that don’t fit your niche. Rejecting work can be just as important as accepting it.

Why Choose A Niche?

Outsourcing can be very risky. A new client doesn’t know you yet, so when they hire you, they’re taking a risk. If you have a well-defined niche, this signals to a client that you’re a lower risk, and that you have specialist knowledge and experience of their business area and clients like them. Whether you already have a background in their industry from before you went freelance, or have expert knowledge in software like https://www.petrobase.io/pro/, a niche generates confidence. Having a strong niche also means you could develop a reputation as the ‘go-to’ professional in your industry, which can attract even more clients as they know you are trusted in their line of work. As a specialist, you have more chance of being hired and can charge more for your services too.

Put yourself in the shoes of your potential client. You need someone to build some software for your business. You shortlist two candidates. One is a generic software designer who works with all kinds of clients, and one has a background in your business area and has a list of clients who work in the same industry as you.

The generalist has a website that is about him. He has a great bio, a strong portfolio, and a smart site. According to his site, he is an accomplished software designer and is skilled at what he does.

The specialist has a very different site. All the content tells you that they work for people in your area of business, and tells you exactly what they can deliver. You understand the jargon he uses and the case studies he uses. While this person can probably build software just as well as the generalist, he has an edge over him, as he understands your needs and how to properly meet them.

You’re going to have to spend the money on the software you need either way, and you need that software to work for you. Would you hire the generalist or the specialist? If you’re leaning towards the specialist (which you probably are), you’re likely to be willing to pay them more money for their services too.