How To...Expand Your Skills

Are you really good at 1 thing? Or even just a handful of things? Do you not have the time to learn more skills? Or do you only have the time to learn 1-3 skills? This episode is for you!

I go over how much you can really expand out the skills you already have, and give you real-world jobs you can start making money from. It is the 🔑 to becoming a full-time freelancer.

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Transcript

00:00:08:17 - 00:00:26:05
Catherine
Hello there. My name is Catherine and I'm 23 years old, working as a full time freelancer in the media and entertainment industry. And welcome to the How I Diaries podcast. I'm here to debunk all your fears and doubts surrounding the topic of freelancing and more importantly, get you on your way to a happy and stress free lifestyle. Doing that creative passion you love.

00:00:26:05 - 00:00:46:29
Catherine
So if you find yourself stuck at a job you hate, wondering how to get your dream started. You've heard of freelancing before, but you're skeptical about what it entails. I'm sharing everything I wish I knew earlier and the tips and tricks I gain every day for my own freelance work. This tip is one of the keys to success in freelancing, using your skills to the fullest potential they have.

00:00:46:29 - 00:01:06:27
Catherine
I think this is what has led me to be able to make this a full time job. If you know me, I'm a workaholic, opportunist type of person and I'm literally always on high alert for new things and other things. I can make money from using what skills I already have. I'm all for learning new skills, but honestly, not everyone has the time for that and it's not as appealing.

00:01:06:27 - 00:01:22:26
Catherine
I got it. You want to work with what you've got? I'm in the same boat. I think this is also just something that comes from the nature of being in a creative world and being a creative individual. We just like what we like. Writing skills are more than just writing skills. Editing skills are more than just editing skills.

00:01:22:27 - 00:01:43:06
Catherine
Art skills are more than just art skills. I know there is the notion of, you know, being a jack of all trades isn't as trustworthy compared to someone who is really, really good at one thing, but has always hear me out. I would like to flip that and say Don't get good at one thing. Get really good at a package of skills.

00:01:43:06 - 00:02:11:01
Catherine
Skills that work well together and then also by themselves, I'll use myself as an example. Surprise, surprise. So we'll start off with my areas of interest music, media, technology and working with people. My package of skills that are related to each interest are anything from in lines of editing, recording, leadership, audio, video, social media and writing. And I know all of these are still pretty big umbrella terms, but that is good.

00:02:11:01 - 00:02:39:01
Catherine
So let's start out by naming a few jobs off the top of my head that could use all of those skills producer, educator, business owner. In any of the areas of interest I listed before. Now let's think of a few jobs that only use three of the skills that could be audio content creator, video content creator, social Media manager, editor, blogger, educator.

00:02:39:01 - 00:03:00:03
Catherine
Again, all in those areas of interest. I could even think of a few more, but notice the options have gotten bigger and more streamlined. Yet we've shrunk the amount of skills. So now what's really good about all of these things too is so like, let's pick one to narrow down on our audio is too obvious. So I'm going to pick writing.

00:03:00:03 - 00:03:23:18
Catherine
If I just wanted a job that was specific to only needing to work in the writing world, I could be a blog writer, a copywriter, an editor for, you know, journalism or a publishing company and educator, a transcriptionist, an administrator, an author, a publisher, or a social media manager. And again, this is just literally off the top of my head.

00:03:23:18 - 00:03:43:09
Catherine
If you sat down and like had a thoughtful, dedicated, you know, approach to this, I bet you can think of a lot more because there's even subgenres in every one of those, like what kind of blogs would you want to write? What kind of copywriting wouldn't you want to do? What you know, like what kind of things would you want to teach or books you would want to write and types of books and stuff like that.

00:03:43:09 - 00:04:05:14
Catherine
Now what we can do too is break everything down one more time and see where the context of each of those skills come into play with jobs and job titles and basically opportunities where you can get paid for using any of those skills. So yes, people will pay you to turn their other content into blogs or just write blogs from scratch.

00:04:05:14 - 00:04:33:05
Catherine
Copywriting businesses will pay you to take a chunk of their information and format it, rewrite it, repurpose it for, you know, all of their marketing needs. Then, yes, people and companies will hire you to edit their writing for, you know, spelling and grammar checks proper citations and formatting, etc.. And yes, people will pay you to teach them how to write better or take a course you made to help them become what you are or any of the other things we've mentioned.

00:04:33:06 - 00:04:56:23
Catherine
And yeah, people and companies will pay you to transcribe video and audio content into writing. This is one of the things I do. And this one you knew people and companies will pay you to onboard people and do other writing related admin tasks like writing emails, writing pitches, hotels, etc. That list even goes on in itself. Then yes, obviously people will buy your book if you write it and market it properly.

00:04:57:13 - 00:05:20:03
Catherine
Yeah, people will pay you if you know the ins and outs of the publishing world and can help them get their writing published. Yes, people in small businesses will pay you to handle social media and all of the writing and posting that is entailed on each of the respective platforms. Now, may I remind you all of these job ideas just came from focusing in on one of the seven skills I claim to have and be confident in.

00:05:20:03 - 00:05:42:23
Catherine
So here are some math for you. One of those skills generated just nine jobs nine times. All of my skills, which is seven, is 63, 63 job opportunities. If I chose to focus on the skills exclusively and that's great and awesome way to start building a portfolio is to just narrow down on each skill. Then you also have the added jobs and added power.

00:05:42:23 - 00:06:01:15
Catherine
When you're able to package your skills, this gives you more job opportunities and also builds credibility and trust. So do you see what I mean? This is just me thinking off the top of my head for the sake of making an Easy Digest podcast episode. But I could go on for days thinking in ways where your skills are needed and how they are applicable.

00:06:01:15 - 00:06:22:22
Catherine
Your dream job ultimately has a lot of micro skills that trickle down and can be focused on to find more specific jobs. And this is how you freelance. This is how you gain that stability. Now, I know doing 63 jobs at once sounds very overwhelming, but don't think of it like that. These are just options and that is what freelance gives you options.

00:06:22:22 - 00:06:44:25
Catherine
If you want to pick one thing right away and focus all your attention on being successful with that one thing, then do it. But I can assure you, I can assure you in the freelance world, more often than not, the more marketable skills you have, the better. It's just showing and proving that you are a well-rounded worker. Think about it like this The more options you have, the higher job stability you are creating for yourself.

00:06:44:25 - 00:07:00:13
Catherine
Essentially, you know, I even use myself an example and I'm not even using any of those options as a writer, but the thing is, I could, if I really needed to. Freelance is the best because you're not stuck in a box. Someone or some company is putting you in. There is freedom and however many options you can come up with, really.

00:07:00:13 - 00:07:24:24
Catherine
So just a little recap for what you need to do to sort of find these things out for yourself is pick 3 to 5 umbrella terms for your areas of interest, then you're going to find about 5 to 7 technical skills. You have that work by themselves, but also packaged and grouped with each other. Then start brainstorming in whatever way makes sense.

00:07:24:24 - 00:07:44:11
Catherine
First, pick one skill to brainstorm off of, then group three together or group all of them together. Just, you know, start getting some ideas out. Nothing is off the table. So once you get to that point, then you can just start researching those job descriptions and ideas you've come up with, see what other people are doing in that market, and start seeing the price tag each of them holds.

00:07:44:11 - 00:08:04:27
Catherine
And don't worry, I know it may seem like the freelance world is oversaturated, but trust me it is not. If you're having particular struggles on that goal, listen to my imposter syndrome episode that'll get you out of that and hopefully on your way to your freelance path without those, you know, mental blocks we all have. So that is it for this episode.

00:08:04:27 - 00:08:26:20
Catherine
Let me know what your skills are and if this reaches you and you have any other burning questions or stories, I'd be happy to use this as an outlet to connect and build a community. Does this kind of freedom scare you or excite you? You know, follow me on Instagram. How I diaries and show me a medium. In the meantime, go binge all my other episodes for various other topics relating on how to get started, doing what you love and please.

00:08:26:20 - 00:08:46:12
Catherine
Any episode recommendations I'd love to hear. Let me know what your particular struggles are. You're probably not alone. Please subscribe to this podcast so you stay up to date on what I post the next batch, give it a rating and share with a friend who also needs to listen. I post five new episodes at the end of each month, so stay tuned and thanks for listening.