Skills

[a489cf62]

I have watched a couple videos about how to be successful on Upwork from one individual in particular.

Some of the advice is to get good at something and stick with it so that people will come to you for that skill and also for SEO reasons.

My question is, is there a way, or possibly a website that would help me narrow down which freelance skill I should pick as far as my personlity goes or any knowledge I already have?

I would not want to propose to 100 jobs that need different skill sets rather than know what I can do and only apply to those jobs.

[martina_plaschka]

Generally, people know which skills they have. I would try to stay away from low-skills jobs anyway, competition is high, especially from people charging much less. 

[gilbert-phyllis]

Caleb, the skill categories you mention are very competitive on this platform. It's veyr challenging to get started even with years of experience. To get a better feel for where your opportunities might lie, I recommend you look at each category separately. Take data entry, for example. Pretend you're a client and search the FL pool here on UW. Find the most successful data entry FLs and take a look at the kinds of projects they are doing, what they are earning, and study their profiles -- what kinds of experience and credentials do they have? Then do the same with video editing/captioning, website design, etc. Each skill set you feel like you have a start in.

Then, check out those same skill categories on other platforms, e.g., Fiverr, People Per Hour. What is the competitive landscape like? Who's earning and how are they doing it?

It is absolutely true that successful FLing requires zeroing in on a specialty, finding a niche where you can stand out. But regardless of which category or field you choose, you will be competing with people who are highly skilled and have lots of experience. Each one of us started from scratch but it is not easy and there are no shortcuts.

Good luck!