Ever wanted to know how to choose between offline and online freelancing? Well, it is not as easy as it looks like from the outside. Offline or physical freelancing and online or digital freelancing as I call them, have different positives and negatives and one should choose based on her abilities or skillsets, desires or aspirations, and feasibility. Not everyone can get online, hit the apply button and start working! Similarly, it may not be feasible for everyone to walk up to the client in her office and talk to her directly for a job. One might seem very simple than the other to you, but many are enjoying full-time employment doing the other one! Right?

To start with, I can tell you that choosing between offline and online freelancing is largely dependent on the three things we just saw:

Skillset:

The most important thing that decides whether you should work offline or online is your skillset. Your skillset will decide whether you CAN work offline or online. There are few skill sets that need to be showcased physically – remember the person who plucks the coconuts from your trees? In his domain, he has to work physically. He has to come to your house, climb up the tree and get those nuts down for you. His skillset is that – and it is hence, restricting him to working offline. He cannot offer such a skill to anyone online. Similarly, a plumber, a carpenter, an electrician or a gardener has to work only offline as their skillsets won’t allow them to offer those kinds of services online (Yes, they can teach their skill to others using online videos and live video sessions, but we are talking about direct service providers here). Correspondingly, a web researcher who provides web insights to his clients has to work online as all the material he needs to search is only available online. He can go to his clients’ office only to maybe pick up his paycheck or have a cup of tea together. But the main crux of his work has to be done and delivered online.

Can you think of a few other service providers like this who have to work online because they are bound by the limitations of their skillset? Do write to me in your comments.

We can say that skillset is a major (probably number 1) attribute of a freelancer who wants to choose between offline and online freelancing.

Aspirations:

This point is more like ‘aspirations of the workplace.’ Few people, right from their childhood develop some aspirations towards their place of work and the environment that they want to work in when they grow up. 

Online freelancing can also be done in a group, sitting in an office, under common supervision – but the moment this happens, it rather becomes a corporate scenario. Don’t you think so?

Feasibility:

Now, the third attribute is feasibility. Even if you have the right skill set and the correct aspirations, it may not be always feasible to choose one of these two formats of work – offline and online. Let me give you an example.

Suppose you are an expert in Microsoft Excel and you work as a freelance consultant or analyst and help the local firms with their finances. You work offline and visit the clients’ offices to build and deliver your work. All of a sudden, if you need to help someone sitting in a distant country with a quick problem in one of his Excel Workbooks, can you work offline? NO! You probably cannot physically go to that person’s place and help him solve the minute problem that he has. It has to be done Online!

What are you going to do? Offline or Online Freelancing? 

Let me know in your messages!