Soft Skills in Freelance:

How to Stand Out from the Competitors

The world of freelancing is an interesting phenomenon, because there is a huge number of professionals who have solid skills, knowledge and experience in their niche. But it is almost impossible to achieve success without knowledge of Soft Skills in Freelance.

You could say it depends on luck, but we say that it depends on Soft Skills. In simple words, Soft Skills are your personal qualities and skills that facilitate interaction with other people and, as a result, the process and result of work.

Therefore, instead of once again undergoing a new training in a specialty, pay attention to these recommendations:

Develop communication skills

We put communication first for a reason. Developed communication skills help to listen and hear, work effectively in a team, deeply understand tasks and the clients. Improving this skill allows you to advance faster in your career and always remain competitive.

How to develop? We can recommend a course from Udemy: The Communication Skills and Social Intelligence Masterclass. The author delves into empathy, which is the primary condition for learning to be a good communicator. Throughout the course, the author emphasizes exercises on building empathy, and in addition to this, basic communication skills are easily combined.

Don't neglect creativity

Most of the time, people use convergent thinking, which is logical and precise, based on facts and data that are already known. But in order to choose the most original and non-standard ways of solving problems, to generate many ideas, it is necessary to develop creative thinking, or in other words - divergent thinking.

How to develop? Although some people are naturally more creative, you can learn to train these 'muscles'. The course "Creative Problem Solving" from Coursera will help with this.It focuses on practical exercises to develop divergent thinking that will change your work process and results for the better.

Boost your time management

Meeting deadlines, making your clients happy on multiple projects at once, and maintaining a work-life balance sounds like a challenge, right? Time management is something that can really help.

How to develop? In our previous article, we talked about AI tools that will help you to set up time management. However, to achieve better results, check out the course "Time Management Fundamentals" from Linkedin. This course provides practical strategies for improving productivity in key areas that can be applied not only in your professional life, but also in your personal life.

How to evaluate your Soft Skills?

You can do this quickly and easily by using the Dreyfus model, which includes six stages of development in professional activity. Consider each stage - Novice, Advanced Beginner, Competent, Experienced, Expert and Master - and determine where you are now. Or use free psychodiagnostic tests and five-factor personality questionnaire (5PFQ). After the assessment, you will be able to understand which skills you personally need to pay more attention to.

And if you still do not think these courses are worth your time, go to our blog, where we share useful practical information for freelancers, for example 7 verbal active listening skills for freelancers or 8 simple tips how to improve productivity with a calendar. See you there!