What It’s Really Like to Be an eLearning Freelancer

Psssst, you there! So, you wanna be an eLearning freelancer, eh? We’re guessing you’ve done a lot of research— read some books, listened to podcasts, hit the internet forums, googled, “what are a eLearning freelancer and how?”

That’s all well and good but do you want to know what it’s really like to be an eLearning freelancer? Ya know, the nitty-gritty. The surprises! The great and the not-so-great! You’re in luck, because that’s what today’s blog is all about. And we should know—IDLance has been in this game for quite some time and we’ve seen just about everything!

What follows here are our personal takeaways from the freelance ID biz. While we find these experiences to be pretty, universally common in our field, we urge you to keep in mind that every journey is unique! Pretty please with a cherry on top—never be deterred from following your dreams. If you can dream it, you can do it, no matter what obstacles may be in your way!

Let’s jump into it!

There are lots of different ways to carve out your niche in the industry.

No one career path in instructional design is quite the same. We discovered early on that there are a million different ways to carve out your niche in the industry. Not sure what a niche is? That’s ok!

A niche can be your field of expertise, or it can be a specialized segment of the market for your particular type of service. You don’t have to be a traditional eLearning ID and developer, you can develop a niche based on your own set of skills and passions. Think of your niche as your calling card!

For example, IDLance carved out a niche to help people like you transition from their “9-5” to part or full-time freelancing. Yes, it’s still the instructional design industry but it’s far more focused and tailored to our particular interests and skillset.

Assess where your strengths lie in areas like visualizing, writing, learning, planning, or problem-solving to name a few. Once you’ve found where you excel, take some time to cultivate that skill set and improve upon it. Becoming an expert in your field takes some time, so be patient.

The earning potential is limitless, but there can be dry spells.

As they say, “more money, more problems” and freelancing is no exception. We love that there’s no income cap in sight as an eLearning freelancer. In a typical 9-5 setting, your salary is capped right from the jump, but as a freelancer you’re getting paid based on the value you bring to your clients. With some hard work and experience under your belt, you too can amass a swimming pool of gold coins.

The down side to that? Well, you may have some dry spells where gigs are few or far between. One day you may feel overwhelmed with work and the next wondering if you should pawn your Great Grandma’s highly valuable, albeit haunted, locket. Hear us out— this is very normal and not a reflection on you personally. And honestly, we kinda like the struggle and hustle of those down times too!

You get to meet tons of cool, new people all the time.

You’re always meeting new people in the L&D industry, ranging from newbies to seasoned pro’s. It’s one of the major perks of the job. If you’re worried that you’ll be missing out on that “office camaraderie” as an eLearning freelancer, trust us, there will be tons of opportunities to build your community. Whether it’s through social media, IDLance, conferences, message boards, snail mail— you will find your peeps.

It’s easy to get sucked into your work.

It’s a wonderful gift to be your own boss, but it can also be really tricky to pull yourself away from your work— especially when you enjoy it. As a freelancer, your work is available to you at all times. It’s just sitting there staring at you! Beckoning to you! “You should be working right now,” it commands. Freelie, try your best not to drown yourself in your work. It’s crucial that you strike a healthy work-life balance as early in your career as you can.

Make time to take care of yourself, spend time with friends or family, or just bask in the things you love. Plus, burnout is real when you push yourself to work every waking hour of the day. If you’re looking for permission to take a break— consider this it!

The variety of work is awesome, but there can be some duds.

Variety of work is a big plus to being an eLearning freelancer. You may find that after x amount of years at your “9-5,” you feel pretty fed up with the stuffiness and idiosyncrasies of a big organization. As an ID freelie, the work is always on your own terms. When it’s your own dream, you can tolerate and compartmentalize a lot more— no one owns you! Plus, it’s so exciting to see how one project leads to another.

The work will be varied and exciting with every client having their own unique set of expectations and needs. Every project is completely different from the next! That being said, some contracts will be tedious and boring. But like we said, it’s a much easier pill to swallow when it’s not your full-time job. This contract too, shall pass!

Your time is your own.

It’s all about flexibility! There’s no overlord watching over you or the clock. If you wanna get a banana split in the middle of a weekday, you can. Sure, that means staying up late on Saturday, but when you consider the entire week your oyster, the opportunities for productivity are endless! You can also follow the natural rhythm of your brain. For example, if you work better at night, you can totally do that. Plus, if you don’t feel like working, you don’t have to force it.

As long as you’re meeting your deadlines and checkpoints (and doing it well), your clients do not care what specific hours you’re clocking. Just don’t forget what we said about striking a healthy work-life balance!

There’s always help available to you when you need it.

Alright, the last one is a big one— there’s always help available when you need it. There will be times in your ID freelie career where you don’t really know what the HECK is going on. We want to let you in on an industry secret— we’re all just pretending that we know what we’re doing all the time. You may lack clarity on the parameters of a project, you may not understand how to do your taxes, you may be wondering how to invoice a client or where to find one!

This is all totally normal, and while it can be scary, there will be lots of help available to you along the way. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, whether that's to a client, a mentor, or to us ! Being a freelancer is all about independence, but that shouldn’t come at the cost of support. Remember, you’re still a human being with limitations and we all need a little help sometimes. And IDLance is one click away!

Conclusion

If you’ve made it this far, you now possess the divine knowledge of what it’s really like to be an eLearning freelancer. Now you are enlightened!

We hope you’re feeling more pumped than ever to begin your freelancing journey. Sure, it’s not all rainbows and lollipops, but you’ll experience the joy of knowing that any success you achieve is entirely because of you and your own hard work.

And that truly makes it all so worth it.