ZoopUp recently completed its two years since ideation and inception, and just as we cross this milestone, the year is also on the verge of ending. Our optimism towards the future of our business stems from the knowledge that the freelance economy has become closely integrated with the business world.

Every day since we have gone live, we are receiving sign-ups from freelancers and businesses. Projects were being posted within the hour of our going live and freelancers are successfully bidding for projects and in three months, our lead freelancers have completed an average of 7 projects and our most regular clients are posting an average of 3 projects each month.

Trends we have spotted

The fields that are attracting the highest number of clients and freelancers are –

• Web development
• Software development
• Mobile app development
• Graphic design
• Video production
• Content writing
• UI/UX designers

From the above list, it is apparent that the highest demand is for digital solution providers. The majority of the clients are MSMEs and start-up business owners from tier 1 and tier 2 cities. The highest paying clients are from tier 1 cities such as Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad.

What does the market say?

Many fields such as interior design, photography, event management, recruitment and others always had full-time freelancers and moonlighters who picked a gig while working -time. The demand for freelancers from these fields continues to endure. It is the demand for freelancers in the digital and technological sphere is rising at an incremental pace. India is experiencing a conducive environment for start-ups and the easy access to the internet and a wider market through it has given confidence to many entrepreneurs to take the plunge and launch their businesses.

Online marketing services for branding, search engine optimisation, data analytics, and web development and design are highly demanded skills. Even among large companies that are resorting to layoffs, there is a necessity to maintain a lean human resource structure as a cost-cutting measure. These businesses are opting for freelancers to provide services wherever the project requires someone with a niche skill.  Companies whose core operations do not require a full-time software developer are outsourcing the development task to freelancers and hiring someone for maintenance and updates. Thus, they can get platform specialists for the development work and engage someone for daily operations and maintenance as a cost-saving measure.

Non-IT Skills in demand

In the non-tech spectrum, there are many projects listed for recruiters and HR professionals. Business relies on recruiters to take up the initial parsing and information collection of prospective candidates. HR professionals give an outside perspective and enable businesses to make hiring choices aligned with current market trends and business-specific requirements.

There is also demand for freelancers for Book-keeping and Accountancy. There is a demand for certified chartered accountants with skills in bookkeeping, finance, tax filing, GST, and auditing. Many finance and tax filing roles are seasonal or pertain to a project. Finance Specialist for GST filing, tax advisory, and project planning is being outsourced to freelance finance professionals.

The demand for freelancers in the education industry is also rising as new courses are being offered both online and offline. There is a demand for academic writers who are subject experts such as lawyers, psychologists, and post-graduate degree holders in Mathematics or Sciences, among others. Besides academic writers, there is a demand for skill trainers to teach an array of skills that can be for professional growth or personal interests.

There is an increased interest in hiring freelance fitness instructors, dieticians, and nutritionists. People want personalised services that can be accommodated their busy schedules and this is accomplished with certified professionals offering their time.

Skills to specialise and master in to be prepared for the 2023 freelance sector

No matter what interest one pursues, one will find demand. The freelance economy runs on the demand for niche skills, so more than the generalist, it is the specialist that has an enduring career in the freelance market. One can be a graphic designer, but if you specialise in creating interactive content for a particular industry or area, such as marketing content, or documentation content, then you build a reputation in the industry, which will automatically reflect an increase in demand and prices.

For enduring success as a freelancer, the most important thing is to be agile- one must show agility in responding to opportunities, applying for projects, staying in touch with marketing trends, staying connected with people in their industry and in finding avenues of using their skills for earning. The freelance market teaches us to apply our skills in multiple ways to monetise them. One can apply it to provide a service by creating something for a client or teaching it as a skill trainer.

Freelance job portals such as ZoopUp have many avenues for monetising one’s skills. In the coming year, we plan to create avenues through which a freelancer can explore and market their skills by writing opinion pieces, selling their products and services, creating skill training programmes and much more.

We hope that you as freelancers and clients will continue to remain a part of our journey and share in our success story in the freelance economy.