What
Spend time to understand the current state of the market you’re going to be playing in.
See what others are offering, charging, understand supply and demand, and get a sense for where the work is heading.
Why
It’s entirely possible that you’d never considered “new business” when you were in employment.
Someone would give you work to be done, and often you didn’t need to think about the effort which went into finding and securing that work.
But when you’re self-employed, you’ll need to be actively finding and converting work, not just delivering it.
Understanding the current market in your skill area will help inform a number of decisions - such as when to go freelance, what rates to be charging, whether to differentiate yourself, or even the future of the role and industry you’re in.
How
Spend time on jobs platforms and marketplaces to see how frequently briefs appear for the type of work you’ll be doing. This might give you a gauge of how much work is out there
Speak to fellow freelancers in the same space to get a sense of how busy and how much work is currently available - is it currently quiet, or booming? Have things changed over the past 12 months?
Speaking to recruiters can be really valuable too - especially those who are specialists in your space.
Join industry communities or trade bodies to get a further sense of what the upcoming trends and growth in your sector might be like - for instance, what is the potential impact of AI on your skillset, or will changes in legislation or attitudes have a positive or negative impact on your work in the coming years.
Review pricing and salary benchmarks to understand what sort of rates you might be able to demand for someone at your skill level.
Do a quick google and linkedin search, or look on key platforms to see how competitive your space is - are there many many freelancers with similar skills, or is your offering more unusual? Consider what this might mean for finding work.
Remember
As with most things in life - just because the markets are high or low today, doesn’t mean that’ll be the same in six months or two years time. Things change. A quiet spell now could be a calm before a rush.
And most importantly - even if there are many other freelancers with similar skills - self-employment is not a zero-sum game, there are also many clients who are increasingly working with freelancers too.
