Upskilling yourself in today's fast-moving world is crucial to remain up to date and relevant. Everyone is now – hardworking and sincere. To get an upper hand on them you need to stand out. Apart from such adjectives your skills and talents need to be better than the rest.

The day you stop working on your skills is the beginning of the end of your freelancing career. You need to learn every day either on the job or sitting at home. Upskilling yourself makes you a better person and freelancer.

Role of education
Basic primary education plays a huge role in shaping your skills. Confidence, communication, hold over language, flair in writing and so much more depends on the school and college one goes to.

Education expands one's knowledge base. As a freelancer, your education doesn't end after college. You need to learn every day. If you are a writer you need to improve your language, writing style, and flair. If you are a freelance photographer you need to learn about the new technologies entering the field, and editing techniques. If you are a freelance graphic designer you need to learn about the new software's and designing tools. The journey of learning never ends.  

Add on courses
If you feel that you are facing difficulties, having a creative block, or just feel that your skills are not fully developed and matured then you can opt for doing a short course.

People say once you start working it is really difficult to get back to books. But that is not true. If you want to up your skills you can study anytime. Age is no barrier to education.

Today apart from master's courses there are various diploma courses, certificate courses, and distance learning courses available. If you have the means you can opt for a diploma and relive your college experience for a few months. A diploma adds a lot of weightage to your CV too!

If you want to work and study at the same time then you can opt for distance learning. These courses are designed especially for people who like to do both. All the study material is provided to you and all you have to do is prepare and give your exams. The pandemic has boosted the importance and standards of distance learning courses.

Many websites such as coursera.org , udemy.com  provide free as well as paid certificate courses where you can learn anything under the sun from the comfort of your home. 

Or else you can jump into a full-time Master's course in the field you like!

Workshops and seminars
Apart from degrees you can also attend workshops by industry professionals and learn hands-on from them.

If you have any role models or would love to learn from particular professionals see where they are conducting workshops and register for them. Some certifications might be awarded after these workshops which will add weight to your resume.

In certain fields such as physical training, writing, makeup, fashion, etc. these certificates help in landing big clients. It adds value to your brand name and helps you in establishing yourself in the freelance community.

Working under professionals
Nothing can teach you better than actually working in the field you love. While working you learn what happens in reality and how it is different than what's written in the books. It teaches you how to troubleshoot, manage clients, work efficiently and meet deadlines.

Many freelancers hire others to help them. You can reach out to such well-established professionals and work under them for some time. This way you will learn as well as earn at the same time.

Build contacts in the industry
Building contacts help at every stage of one's career. Build contacts across fields. You can connect with them if you want to upskill yourself. Learn and cross-pollinate with other similar fields. This will help you in expanding your skillset.

For example, you are a freelance photographer and you want to learn something new. But you want that skill to compliment your work too. Then you can get in touch with your graphic designer friends and learn digital art. Digital art will help you explore your creativity. Along with your photographs, you can also give your client digital art of their photographs.

This extra touch will help you in retaining clients and more referrals.

Show recruiters and clients, you are ready to learn
If you are given a tough task or are entering unchartered land with your work never run away from it. Always ensure your clients and recruiters that you are ready to learn. Even if you make mistakes, you are ready to learn from them and improve them.

These are some ways you can remove the mid-career crisis and upskill yourself. Some of the options need a financial investment but the returns are worth it.  

Did these tips help you? Let me know in the comments section below. 

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Shimbi Growth Labs
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