Freelance Job Ideas: Spark Your Imagination and Career

Maybe you’re one of the lucky ones who already knows what you want to do for your freelance business. Great!

But if you’re a little less certain (or even just open to other avenues), then this freelance job ideas list is for you.

Remember, we’re focusing on freelance positions (as in, doing work for companies big and small) versus starting your own company catering to non-businesses (for example, creating a kids party planning business or buying into a multi-level marketing company).

Before we get to the list of jobs that are commonly done by freelancers, I want you to take a minute and consider what you have to offer.

You may have a vague idea of what you want to do as a freelancer, but by taking the time to think about and answer (I mean actually answer; write your answers down!), you may find there’s an even greater opportunity than you realize. Or that you have something to offer that no one else is offering in your field.

What Freelance Services Can You Offer?

To get started figuring out what you have to offer businesses, and what kinds of opportunities are out there, spend some time answering these questions.

• What are problems you’ve seen at companies or organizations that you’ve wanted to solve? Or have solved?
• List out all of your skills. Which ones do you most like to use? Which ones do businesses most need?
• What tasks do you perform in your current (or most recent) professional role? What tasks have you performed in previous roles?
• Many careers can be just done as-is as consultants for other companies. Is this possible for you?
• How could you take elements (the ones you like best!) of your current (or most recent) career and package them as services you perform for a company?
• What things do you know or do especially well but aren’t part of your current career?
• Are you particularly adept with certain software or systems?
• What have you gotten high marks on in performance reviews?
• You know you have to be adept at the service you want to sell. (Of course, right?) Are there any services or skills you could “brush up” on or learn a little bit more about that would make you able to offer them to paying clients? What are they?
  Tip: You don’t have to be a complete and total master, but you should have enough knowledge to make a positive impact on a client’s business.
• You don’t have to be in love with your career and “passion” is awfully hard to sustain over multiple years! That said, you’ll enjoy your life most if you genuinely like most elements of your job. What things do you like to do? What tasks at work (throughout your career) have you found most engaging or engrossing?
• When you were a child, what did you dream of being when you grew up? What elements (creativity, working with numbers, etc.) of that career could you carry through to your new business?

Common Freelance Jobs

Just about anything that a company will pay for can be done freelance.

That means there are a lot of jobs you can do as a freelancer! If you’re wondering if a skill you have can be done as a freelancer, we’ve put together a list of a few possible freelance jobs to give you a sense of the possibilities.

Remember: this is by NO means an exhaustive list. And there may be multiple subcategories within each of these possible services.

Freelance Job Ideas

Your turn! What do you do as a freelancer? Or, are you wondering if you can do your job as a freelancer? Let us know in the comments below!

Last Updated on July 1, 2023.