One of the most common questions that freelancers start is asking themselves: “Should I be really good at one thing or very good at many things?” The answer is, you guessed it, it depends. There are advantages and disadvantages both for specialization in one area, and for obtaining more general knowledge in several areas. Here are the main pro / con arguments.
Advantages of specialization
- Best pay - Assuming that there is sufficient demand for a particular area of knowledge or skill, companies will gladly pay a premium for expert assistance. If you are highly qualified and competent in the field, you are an extremely valuable resource for those companies who are looking for your experience.
- Less competition - As a rule, the more focused your knowledge and skills (that is, the smaller your niche), the less you will have competitors. Due to the large number of niches, each will have fewer freelancers than the total total supergroup containing it.
- It is better to work with large enterprises. - Unlike small enterprises, large companies are more likely to be able to allow many specialists in various fields; for example, a corporation can hire all of the following freelancers: business consultant, accountant, web copywriter, copywriter, graphic designer, web developer, web backend developer, public relations specialist, SEO specialist, social networking expert, legal advisor, and marketing guru. If you prefer to work with larger corporations, more specialized ones will likely increase your value as a freelancer for large companies.
Lack of specialization
- Limited ability to adapt to economic change - Demand and supply for specialized freelance services change. If demand decreases due to advances in technology or changes in trends, or an increase in supply due to the fact that others are part of your specialty, you can lose business and income. For example, if you are a leading Facebook marketing expert, but people migrate to Google+, you can lose a significant part of the business and you need to reinvent yourself as a Google+ marketing guru (you lose money and time during this learning process).
- Smaller target market (less potential customers) - The more you specialize, the smaller the market will be for your particular specialty. For example, if you specialize in creating short documentaries for non-profit organizations, you will have fewer potential customers than if you were a more adapted independent video producer who could create a large number of films.
- Boredom “You may be bored repeating the same thing — or the like — over and over again.” I hope you love your specialty (why did you choose it, right?), But this may not be the case after 5 years.
Benefits of generalization
- Excellent ability to adapt to economic change - Without going too far in depth in any particular area, you can quickly adapt to trends in technology, business and design so that you do not lose business or income due to fluctuations in supply and demand for certain freelance services (at least , not to the same extent as the specialist). And since you are not trying to learn everything in a particular area, you save learning time. In the end, you probably don’t need to know everything (see # 3 below).
- The best idea of the "big picture" “With a diverse knowledge base, you can more easily understand larger, more abstract goals and concepts of a particular company, and therefore be able to better meet the needs of that company.” Understanding the context of the work you do is crucial in order to go beyond the client's expectations.
- Help most people most of the time - Most people are not looking for something extremely specific. Clients usually have a “fuzzy” idea of what they are looking for (whether they recognize it or not), and they are probably looking in your direction. This is usually because if the client knows exactly what she wants, she is more likely to do it herself than to pay someone else to do it for her (provided she has the necessary skills).
- Better to work with a small business - Most small businesses cannot afford to hire numerous freelance professionals, such as those listed in Section 3 in the “Advantages of Specialization” section. I have worked a lot with small businesses and, as a rule, what they are looking for is one who is not too specialized, but rather one who has a wide knowledge base is very resourceful (that is, can quickly find answers / solutions), and is creative problem solver.
Disadvantages of generalization
- Lack of focus - If you are not particularly helpful in any field, companies cannot hire you because your services do not provide sufficient value to achieve your goals. If you only know a little more than your client knows, your client will probably look for someone more specialized, or sometimes they will learn how to do the work themselves.
- More competition - There seems to be an infinite number of “generalized” freelance authors, graphic designers, web developers, etc. The more “noise” on the market, the more difficult it will be to stand out as a leader. Most beginner and intermediate freelancers will take most of any work they can get, so they eventually become generalized freelancers, thereby adding to your competition.
My personal experience is summarized.
I personally acquired a more general knowledge base and skill set. This strategy worked great for me (for now). I like to do different things; I rarely get bored with a specific task, so this is a huge advantage for me. I like working with other small businesses; I am often a very valuable asset for them in terms of developing technology solutions for business operations and in terms of their presence on the Internet and their marketing strategy on the Internet.
If I find myself in a situation where I don’t know anything (i.e. Areas where I’m not specialized enough), I do research and find the answer or find out how to do something (just Google doesn't always do the job). If this is very important or there is a large learning curve, I hired someone else to perform a specific task (i.e. I am subcontracting / outsourcing the job) to save time and frustration.
Do what you need
Deciding whether to specialize or generalize is often a personal preference. You should do what makes sense to you, based on the pros and cons that matter most to you.
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