When it comes to becoming a thriving freelancer, choosing the right services is super important. What do I mean when I say a “thriving freelancer”? Well, one who loves what they do, earns a great income, and isn’t constantly burning out.

First and foremost, you have to feel passionate and actually like what you’re doing. After all, that’s why you want to work for yourself right? So before reading this list, know that factor comes above all else. If you don’t like performing the work, don’t do it. Case closed.

Other factors that contribute toward being able to thrive as a freelancer with your chosen service include:

Demand
The more in-demand your service is, the better. In 2022, the services that are most in demand are not the same as they were five years ago. Choosing a service that people already know they need is much easier than choosing one that you have to convince people they need.

Competition
The higher the number of other service providers in your chosen service area, the harder it is to secure work on auto-pilot. That being said, just because you’re a graphic designer, photographer, or social media manager doesn’t mean you can’t absolutely crush it as a freelancer and grow to 6 figures.

Skill Level
The better you are at what you do, the easier it’s going to be to grow with it. Being great at what you do also means you’re going to have plenty of happy clients, which means more referrals, which means more leads.

So with all of this being said, below are some of the top services to offer in 2022. These services all have high demand, and relatively low competition at the present moment:

Video Editing

Video has officially become an undeniable staple in any brand’s marketing strategy. With video assets now being required for success in both organic and paid social media, the demand is surging. We’re also seeing an uptick in the need for editors in the online course creator industry as well, which has seen massive growth in recent years. If you want to fast track your success as a freelance video editor, choose a niche. Here are some examples: real estate videos, online courses, social media videos, digital ad videos, commercials, corporate training videos.

Potential earnings: $25-$100+ per hour

Podcast Producer

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you know that everyone and their dog has a podcast these days. These hosts often have busy lives and businesses, and are using their podcasts as a means to market their businesses or other endeavours, which means they often don’t want to be spending their time producing and editing their own podcast episodes. Producers often do research and planning, guest research and scheduling, editing, and sometimes even marketing.

Potential earnings: $500 – $10,000+ per episode

SEO

Search engine optimization has been a hot topic for many years now, and even though seeing a first-page organic google ranking is becoming more difficult to achieve with each day that passes, there’s no arguing the value in having a website that appears on the first page or two of search results. In my experience, this is an area that has relatively low competition compared to other freelance services, so if providing this service is appealing to you, and you become good at it, you’ll never be hurting for clients.

Potential earnings: $50 – $150+ per hour (though I recommend charging by project)

Paid Social (Digital Advertising)

Over the course of many years, paid social has managed to become the bread and butter of my freelancing business, and in 2022 it’s still going stronger than ever. With platforms limiting organic reach, engaging ads to reach new and existing audiences is essential to growing many types of businesses in 2022. Whether it’s Meta (Facebook + Instagram) Ads, Google Ads, Tik Tok Ads, or Pinterest Ads, there’s a lot of opportunity for those who have a knack for this service. In order to become successful, I’d say you’re best suited for this type of work if you are equally creative and analytical, and you have an interest or knowledge of psychology.

Potential earnings: $750 – $3,000+ per month, per platform, per client

Email Marketing

With platforms and operating system updates making other marketing channels a little more difficult than they used to be (looking at you, iOS14+), a lot of brands are becoming more aware of just how important email marketing is to their sustained growth. When you grow and nurture an email list, you own the data and you also know that when you send an email blast, it’s going to end up in everyone’s inbox, not just the ones the platform chooses to show it to. This is another service where it’s really beneficial to have a mix of creative and analytical aptitudes.

Potential earnings: $200 – $500+ per email

Wedding Photography

COVID restrictions are lifting around the globe and with that, a lot of couples who previously put off their “I do’s” are finally tying the knot in 2022. While wedding photography isn’t for everyone (it comes with some long days and sometimes some difficult client situations), it can be very lucrative. If you’re already versed in photography and want to scale your revenue quickly, adding on wedding photography can be a great way to do so. People who thrive in this service tend to like being around people, are okay to be on their feet for long periods of time, enjoy culling and editing large quantities of images, and are able to communicate healthily with clients about difficult situations.

Potential earnings: $2,000 – $10,000+ per wedding

Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants are one of the first types of service providers other freelancers hire in their businesses, so there is no shortage of work to go around. Furthermore, becoming a virtual assistant is one of the easiest ways to break into freelancing. At the basic level, you can provide admin support, client management, inbox management, and at the more advanced level it’s not uncommon to see virtual assistants managing their clients’ social media accounts, building sales funnels, and even more advanced skills.

Potential earnings: $20 – $75 per hour

House Cleaning

Every house cleaner I’ve ever hired has always booked up incredibly fast and always has a waitlist of new clients who want to hire them. If you’re a trustworthy person who is also a self-starter, making others’ homes sparkle might just be for you. This service is great for someone who doesn’t mind driving to multiple locations each day and is physically able to perform the service. If you get in with the right type of clients, you can easily charge $60/hour or even more if you’re really good at what you do and go the extra mile.

Potential earnings: $20 – $70 per hour

Coaching

In 2022, hiring a coach is becoming more and more common and accepted by every day people, and there’s a reason why. Personally, I’ve had a life coach, a relationship coach, and a business coach. Each one of these coaches added invaluable and lasting change to my life. If you’ve got a knack for helping people achieve their dreams and goals you might excel as a coach. To earn trust it’s best to offer coaching in an area where you’ve seen struggle followed by success in your own life. For example, if you struggled with your love life and then found the way to turn it around and now you’re in the relationship of your dreams, maybe you can pass that knowledge and process on to others.

Potential earnings: $100 – $1,000+ per hour (the sky is the limit depending on the change your coaching creates in your clients’ lives)

If you’re already freelancing, do you currently offer any of these? If you’re contemplating freelancing, could you see yourself offering any of these? Let me know in the comments section, and if you’ve got any questions pop them there as well and I’ll do my best to respond.

If you’re already freelancing and you want to scale to $10k months without burning out, take my free quiz to discover your next step!