Scalability is a business concept that should not be mistaken for growth. Freelancing in its nature is not easy to scale up yet it is possible. Scaling your business can be done in many ways and one of these is automating some of the business processes and make more without adding more resources. Growth on the other hand is expanding your business by increasing assets and your operations. This might include adding your staff complement and relocating to a bigger working space.
How freelancers scale up their business
Freelancers that scale their business charge far more than what others charge for a similar service. For example, if I charge $ 5.00 for editing a 1 minute video and another one charges $ 20 for the same, then the other one has scaled up his service. This mostly is a result of goodwill and quality of service. You get known as an expert and take the lead similar to what a specialised medical practitioner is perceived. You become a well-known professional in your space and avoid falling for small offers and less paying clients.
The easy way to quickly scale your services as a freelancer is to study and get certified by a credible institution. Presenting a certificate to a client makes a huge difference in the way you are perceived compared to just your experience. Experience is the best teacher yet it is not the best bet for a good deal.
In that light, I wish to put it up front that taking the challenge to learn and be certified is often takes courage which might not only cost you some money but also your time. I also want to reveal one place where you can get a free yet certified course that will give you a good start in your online freelancing journey; and that is the Grow with Google Programme. This programme is also known as Rise Up.
Grow with Google is specifically targeted to developing Africans. As if Google understands the challenges that I will mention in the next section that Africa faces, they have made their programme relevant to Africans.
The challenge in Africa
Freelancing seems to be the future of employment in the world yet like in most areas of development; Africa is following from a distance. Next I outline two things that I have found to be limiting to scaling up a freelancing business in Africa which a freelancer must be ready to face from time to time. I know that this might change with time and by the time you read this post the conditions might have improved.
- Poor adoption of the freelancing concept in Africa. Even when work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic times indirectly introduced the concept of freelancing, very few companies adopted the model in Africa. However, it is encouraging that a few of the companies that found the work from home idea more productive have sort of made a hybrid model where employees have mandatory physical office contact at least once a week.
This therefore means that the companies and clients that find freelancing the perfect way of doing business are far away from you as an African. The further they are, the less you will feel the vibrancy in business. You therefore find it tough to win those far away clients, especially if you are offering general services.
- Limited or restricted access to tools of the trade. As an African freelancer, you don’t just take people at their word for the glitters they mention about their success. They have proof for it that may make you think you will do the same and get to their level of success in no time. I advise you, the African freelancer, to take it easy and try out the steps they outline knowing that it might not work for you. I have experienced restrictions in marketing my freelancing services, payment methods and access to automated tools.
These are limiting yet it is still possible to make it in freelancing in Africa. You just have to find a way around a challenge. The advent of social media has made things a lot easier because once you have a sizable following; it then becomes easier to get support from people that like your business. For example, a colleague told me that he is selling postcards on Facebook without necessarily having his own website or being affiliated to a freelancing platform like fiverr.com.
Conclusion
If you have an interest in the freelancing business, I encourage you to get started with a realistic mind set. It is possible yet it is not automatic and it may not be as easy as it seems. The good thing is that trends are showing that African is adopting freelancing at a relatively high rate. The struggles and restrictions are likely to grow less and less as the time goes.
