If you’ve missed parts 1- 4 of my freelancing fails series, feel free to go back and read about the dangers of being a control freak, never saying no, workload overload and failing to prepare for rainy days that crop up in every freelance career.

Part 5 was about the importance of diversifying to build your freelance career and make it more financially secure. So why am I warning you about the dangers of freelance diversification in part 6?

Because there’s a limit to how much you should diversify – and not all diversification is wise diversification.

The Dangers of Over-Diversification

• You risk not doing anything well.
  Your attention and time may be spread too thinly.
• Initial training and set-up may be expensive and time-consuming.
  If you’re using a skillset you already have, not a problem. If you need to refresh old skills or train in a whole new area, that’s taking time and money away from your existing enterprise. You need to be very sure it’s a sound investment.
• Establishing yourself in a new market can also be expensive and time-consuming.

It will take time to build your new client base and disparate services will need very different promotion I very different places – meaning you’ll need more time and possibly money to manage it.

• Keeping your talents sharp in all areas will take time, effort and money.
• You may lose your reputation as an expert if you’re not consistently doing what you’re known for – or seen to be doing something else.
  If people become aware you’re doing a host of other things and you’re not regularly producing work in the area you’re know for, their opinion of your expertise may fall.
• Your previous work, knowledge and client list won’t be transferable between projects.

Writing, editing and proofreading make sense as co-offered services. Writing itself can be as diverse as a freelancer wants to make it, covering a vast range of areas and endeavours from writing novels to producing online learning materials. It’s a diverse offering, but it makes sense.

Writing, cake decoration and the production of ornate, bespoke leather saddles aren’t quite so compatible. That much diversity will make clients question whether you’re committed enough to what you’re offering – and how much of an expert you really are.

Remember:

If you’re going to diversify, the first rule is: make sure there will be market for what you’re offering. Otherwise, you’re wasting resources on something that will never pay back your investment of your time or money.

Beyond that, ensure that you either:

• have two or three specific offerings/groups of services – in which case, it’s worth considering different branding or business names for each of them
  OR
• make sure that the services you offer complement each other or are at least related, so that they make sense when listed and advertised together.

Diversify by all means – but do it wisely and know your limits. I’m off to find my leather-working tools and buy some icing…

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About The Author

Karl Bilby

We work very closely with our expert accountants to bring you the latest factually correct tax and accounting news. We also enjoy writing about small business news that we hope you find useful!

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