Growing Your Business As An eLearning Freelancer
Being an eLearning freelancer can prove to be highly creative, and garner prolific work for you. Either you can choose to go on freelancing alongside your official job and thus back up your income, or you can decide to just be your own boss and experience that entrepreneurship feeling. One thing is for sure: you have to treat your venture wisely and take proper action to make the most of it in every way. In this article, you will find small, yet impactful, secrets to help you grow your business and excel in the competition. Here they are:
8 Secrets To Help You Grow Your eLearning Freelancer Business
1. Specialize In One Niche
As you start taking your first steps in eLearning design, it is understandable to look to cover more than one niche. You are testing the waters after all. But, as you continue and gain more experience, it is better to focus on one to three areas at the most. You don’t want to be "a Jack of all trades" but you want to specialize in some specific subjects to address specific target groups. Clients always value quality and expect to receive added value for the money they pay you. You can only meet their demand if you are well-informed about your niche and know how to present it effectively.
2. Enhance Your Visibility
For more customers to find you, you should expand your visibility. Therefore, having just a website (which is crucial, though) won’t work. You should be present on all the popular social media platforms (LinkedIn being the first and most important) and make sure you feed your profile regularly with attractive content. This can be relevant articles, eLearning market trends, or samples of your work. There are many ways to add followers to your account, as well as many ways to interact with them and engage them with your business. Polls, teaser videos, or free eGuides are some of them, so get that profile of yours moving.
3. Socialize And Do Some Networking
Positioning your business on the web increases your chances of getting noticed, but expanding your network and your associations in person is also important. Make sure everyone in your environment knows that you are an eLearning freelancer in the quest to take over new projects. Attend relevant conferences or other similar events to come into contact with professionals in the training field, and like-minded people.
Talking in person allows for the sharing of thoughts and exchanging of experiences while promoting yourself to new audiences. Your impact on others and the impression you leave after meeting them will follow you for a long time and define your future projects. Make sure you always exude professionalism and carry your business card with you.
4. Go The Extra Mile
Okay, this is a crucial one. If you want to differentiate from your competitors and transform plain knowledge into powerful and impactful eLearning experiences, don’t just settle for completing the basic requirements for the project.
Go the extra mile and always offer something more. It could be an additional service, a suggestion, an impressive feature, etc. Exceeding the expectations of your clients will have them keep coming back to you for more and your references will skyrocket. In addition, the outcome will allow you to establish long-term agreements and collaborations.
5. Vet Your Orders
As your eLearning freelance business grows you must learn to distinguish your clients’ requests. Not everything is worth your time and effort so you need to discern the value of taking up each project and meeting your customers’ criteria. "No" can be a perfectly acceptable response to a project if you realize that it won’t create sufficient Return On Investment.
Suggestions, proposals, and ideas are also welcome and you can discuss them with your (potential) clients if you see that a better result can be produced. At the same time, however, adhere to a specific "revisions rule" so you won’t get tangled up with countless adjustments and last-minute changes of mind coming from your customers. Protect your time and your profit margin.
6. Design Prototypes
This one, although it will absorb a significant amount of time in the beginning, will benefit you greatly along the way. You won’t have to start every time from scratch to create an eLearning course or other training material, you will only go for some adjustments to your existing models following your clientele’s requests.
What’s more, it will help your potential customers to choose each deliverable among predeveloped prototypes, which can offer them guidance and a better understanding of their needs and the goal of each project. Now, in case a client wants you to create a whole new project that is distinct from your prototypes, you can easily increase the cost.
7. Plan And Organize
Doing everything on your own can be quite overwhelming, especially if you don’t plan in advance and organize your tasks carefully. After some time you will have gained precious insight into how much time and effort you need to do your main job as an eLearning freelancer, promote your business online and in person, manage your bills and agreements, study, and keep up with the news.
Break down into steps and small tasks what every process requires in time, effort, and resources, and plan ahead. The more detailed your program is, the more productive will be your time. Important note: don’t forget to leave some room for rest and vacation. Freelancing can be overwhelming and you don’t want to experience burnout syndrome.
8. Invest In Yourself
Since you are the only one starring in your business, focusing on your growth is essential. This means allocating enough of your available time and resources to invest in yourself. Learn, study, and expand your horizons. Dive deeper into your preferred niche and be the best.
Examine what the competition offers and what the market needs and try to keep up with it, or even better, exceed it. Adopt relevant skills that can help you improve your services. Whatever the case, just keep getting better. It will all come back to you.
Final Thoughts
In a world that is changing rapidly with technology taking huge steps forward, eLearning professionals and training consultants can and will be at the center of this evolution. The same goes for the field’s freelancers who, in addition, have to put a bunch of critical tools in their toolboxes to not just survive but also excel in this competitive market. So, use the secrets you learned here wisely and watch your eLearning business, your income, and your fame boom!
