Students That Freelance

Fields of Freelancing for Student Freelancers

Learning
by: Amber Leigh Turner
When people often think about freelancers, most of the time the types of work they do are design work or writing work.  This often casts a preconceived notion that if you aren’t a designer (or web developer) or writer that you can’t be a freelancer.  Well, I am here to tell you that there are many fields in which the student-wanting-to-freelance can freelance in.  In this article, you will see that the sky is the limit in what you can offer as your freelance service.  And this article isn’t all-inclusive--let your imagination take you to freelance places you never though could be possible!

Photography

A quickly-becoming-popular field of freelancing is photography.  For students who major in photography or even those that have a passion for it can benefit from indulging in the freelance life as a photographer.  Freelance photographers range from portrait photographers, wedding photographers, even editorial photographers.  Have a keen eye on how to take beautiful pictures of rooms in a house?  You can offer your services to real estate agents and offer to take pictures for them of the properties they list.  Know of a wedding planner?  They always need photographers for events such as engagements, weddings, and rehearsal dinners.

Illustration

Probably one of the oldest freelancing fields, illustrators are still on demand.  Matter of fact, for one of my most recent projects I had to hire a freelance illustrator to come in and illustrate figures for my client.  Those students who are great drawers and animators can have a great career as a freelance illustrator illustrating things from comics, to editorial cartoons, to figures and mascots, to beautiful landscapes.

Mobile Application Development

A growing field, students who have the knowledge and experience to build mobile applications can find themselves in a growing freelance field.  With so many people buying and using smart phones, the need to develop special applications on platforms such as iPhone and Android is growing among businesses.  Student freelancers have the opportunity to get in while the field is booming out of control and take a piece of the pie when it comes to mobile app development.

Video Production and Editing

Yes, even those skilled in video production and editing can make a great freelancing career.  I see many more students getting involved with video production and editing and more and more classes being offered at the college level for such work.  Students who take these classes and start building on their skills can work from home editing videos and such for agencies and work on projects such as commercials and advertising videos that are found on websites.

Translations

Often students have to take a foreign language class (or two) while in college, and some of these students often take a passion for the foreign language.  Those students who are pursing degrees in a foreign language can offer their services as a freelance translator for companies who need their marketing materials or website content translated for use in other countries.

Even though I only mentioned four different types of fields here, the sky really is the limit.  Think about the things that you are passionate about, or even better the field you are majoring in, and start searching to see if there is a need for such services.  Join freelancing forums and post topics about if a certain service is a viable freelancing career.  Other freelancers can surely guide you in the right direction to help tailor your thinking about what field you are thinking of pursuing.

So what field of freelancing are you interested in?