How do you choose which elearning projects to accept? Most of the time new freelance instructional designers are happy to accept all projects that they are offered and that’s the best way how to gain experience and how to understand what you enjoy doing the most. The problem is that it’s easy to get used to it and this can keep you from growing professionally as a freelance elearning specialist.

In one of our elearning webinars, I talked more about specialization and how finding a niche can help you grow your freelance elearning career and eventually your income too. Watch the video below where I shared my examples from our experience and explain why finding a niche can make you a better elearning specialist.

 

4 reasons why finding an elearning niche is necessary

We truly believe that finding a niche and becoming a specialist in a narrower field can make a big impact on your professional career. So here are our top four reasons why finding a niche is the best way how to step up your freelance elearning business:

1. Build your competence

If you find a niche and create projects that are specific for this niche, you will understand their needs and problems better than anyone else. We have worked with multiple local banks and for the first time, we didn’t really know what they need and how we could meet their needs. After creating multiple courses for one bank, we grew our competence and next time when we had to create elearning for another local bank, we already knew what they might need and we could show our expertise in creating similar training courses.

2. Easier to find clients

Once you found your niche, it’s easier to find your target clients. If you create courses for pharmacies, then you probably already know a few potential clients who you could talk to. So now that you have a niche, you also have a prospect base that you can target and approach. Quite often people working in one industry share their knowledge and this is also an opportunity for you because if you work with one pharmacy, then they might have contacts with other pharmacies and they can suggest your services to them.

3. Become a specialist

With every project, you will become a better specialist in this field. After working for a few months in a specific niche you will know what pieces of training do they actually need, what are the main problems in this field that you can solve with your elearning courses. Once they see that you understand very deeply and in great detail the challenges they face in their business daily, they will trust you more and you will be able to convince them to choose the right solutions.

4. Build a Course library

During these years when you have focused on one particular niche, you will probably create dozens of elearning courses related to the industry. Eventually, you will have a library of courses that you can offer to the next clients or sell on your website.

What’s your experience?

These are only a few reasons why it’s worth considering finding a niche while working as a freelance instructional designer. If you have an example of how finding a niche has worked out for you, feel free to share your experience in the comment section below!