Yaneek Page | Advice for a 55-year-old aspiring freelancer

Question: Good day. I am a 55-year-old female, working at a job that I strongly dislike, but have always been afraid of taking risks in my professional life. In looking forward, the future is very scary as I have no savings, am in debt, and I don’t see many persons who may take a chance on someone my age. My strengths are that I have 21 years of retail and operations management experience in varying types of businesses, am very eloquent and can converse on many different topics, am charming and witty, not shy, a very good writer, and I love to drive. My weaknesses are that I do not suffer fools gladly, hate indiscipline, and I sometimes speak before thinking about the political correctness of my words. I am interested in becoming a freelancer but have no idea what to advertise myself as but feel like I have a lot to offer (if that makes sense). Any advice?

– Kingston Middle-Ager

Businesswise: I have quite a few great tips that I believe will make the world of difference on your freelancing journey.

The most important thing is to not see your age as a limitation, but instead strategically position your vast experience, depth of knowledge, and rich mix of skills as value propositions to prospective employers and clients. Notice the language I used there is akin to savvy sales pitching. Appealing but also authentic. That is key!

Your first order of business therefore is to recognise, document, and lead with the strengths that come with being a middle-aged professional. Based on what you’ve outlined, these include your strong communication skills, commitment, diverse exposure to industry, confidence, maturity, the solid networks you’ve built, your ability to easily connect with people and charm them into opening doors, and great relationship-building skills, among others.

There are many companies that value those skills tremendously over technical skills and would be willing to train you to bridge any knowledge gaps once you satisfy the other key skills needed to thrive in this digital age. Interestingly, the companies may receive a greater return on training investments in you because of your maturity and commitment.

This takes me to the next piece of advice. You have to be digitally savvy to compete in the freelance space and outperform youngsters who are half your age but competing for the same opportunities. From social media, to software, to the best mobile applications for productivity, to online content creation and powerful personal branding online – you need to build strong skills in these areas at a minimum.

Now when it comes to applying for freelance jobs, you can’t afford to be random. Taking your financial position into account, I suggest you aim for the highest and best return on every minute of your time. You will, therefore, need to research the pay scales associated with the most in-demand freelancing opportunities. Based on my own research some of the highest-paying skills in this area are programming and software development, web development, content marketing, and IT security, to name a few.

FREELANCE JOBS IN DEMAND

Based on what you outlined, content marketing may be ideal for you and possibly also sales and customer engagement, which are among the top jobs on LinkedIn. Other common freelance options that are in demand but pay a bit less are graphic design, writing, editing, photography, proofreading, and editing.

Note, too, that Upwork is one of the leading platforms for freelancers, so if you are determined to succeed, you should create a profile there and start prospecting once you’ve done further training in the area you’ve chosen, and, importantly, training in freelancing, generally.

There are some great freelancing courses you can explore online at Alison, Udemy, or Coursera to help fast-track your success in freelancing online. Some of the best-selling and highly rated courses cost US$9.99 and include titles like ‘CopyWriting: Become a Freelance Copywriter’, and ‘Freelance on Fiverr and Become A Top Rated Seller’.

You can also read articles and watch YouTube videos from experienced freelancers. I can’t stress enough how critical it is for you to invest in upskilling yourself online if you are committed to earning via freelancing.

Lastly, don’t discount the freelancing opportunities that exist locally as well that fit your talent and interest. Mystery shopping or field research may be well aligned with your interests and skills, so do some research on those and other possible freelance jobs available in Jamaica. I am truly looking forward to hearing about your success in the near future. Good luck!

- Yaneek Page is the programme lead for Market Entry USA and a certified trainer in entrepreneurship. She’s also the creator and executive producer of The Innovators and Let’s Make Peace TV series. Email: Yaneek.page@gmail.com