How to Use AI Tools to Your Advantage and Become a Better Freelancer

July 16, 2024

Artificial intelligence solutions have disrupted numerous industries. They’ve also shaken up the freelance word. Many professionals have lost clients because of the free AI tools that have now started doing many things – from coding to image creation and text writing.

AI for freelancers, however, can work if one’s willing to embrace the technology.

An artificial intelligence solution can be employed in various strategic ways. From brainstorming to doing market research, these tools have powerful capabilities. So, instead of feeling threatened, start embracing AI and make it a key advantage that sets you apart from other freelancers in your field.

The Various Uses of AI for Freelancers

AI for freelancers has many shapes and forms. Some of the most prominent tools that self-employed professionals should consider right now include:

  • Idea generation: Creative professionals will often run out of inspiration or they’ll feel clueless about the best ways to tackle a project. AI solutions like ChatGPT provide wonderful opportunities for brainstorming, idea generation, and concept creation.

  • Website builders: Powerful AI-enabled website builders reduce the amount of time needed to set up a personal site or a blog significantly. These can be especially beneficial for the freelancers who don’t have a lot of experience or knowledge in the realm of website development.

  • Text editing and proofreading: Sending the perfect freelance proposal is heavily dependent on wording and making sure that everything is impeccable. AI text editors and proofreading tools are getting better all the time. They reduce the risk of featuring errors and typos in your business communication, which helps you appear a lot more professional.

These are just a few examples but they give you a good idea about the range of possibilities.

In time, AI tools will become more complex and powerful. They will allow for the automation of additional tasks. So, starting to acquaint yourself with such technology right now makes a lot of sense. If you’re one of the early adopters, you’ll have a significant competitive advantage moving forward.

Learn about Freelancing

AI for freelancers is great for those who are just entering the field.

If you’re making your first steps in the world of self-employment, you can count on a tool like ChatGPT to learn about best practices and things you can do to land new gigs and ensure recurring work.

Play around with this tool to learn a bit more about crafting the perfect prompt.

ChatGPT can provide a lot of useful information, as long as you know how to ask for it.

Some of the things you can research using AI tools include:

  • What freelance skills are in highest demand in your area of expertise
  • How to set realistic fees in order to land the right gig
  • Pitching tips and strategies
  • Handling taxation and bookkeeping essentials as a freelancer
  • How to build a portfolio that stands out

There is a lot more you can ask for, depending on your field and the experience you have. Playing around and learning how to perfect your prompts will allow you to dig deeper into the technology, helping you understand how it works and how to use it for various purposes in the future.

Use AI Tools to Enhance Your Freelance Skills

Most freelancers can use AI tools to do research, acquire new skills and broaden the scope of services they can offer clients.

If you are a designer, for example, you can employ AI to brainstorm for creative ideas, explore new logo design styles, create easy mockups, and even do image editing.

Photographers, post-production professionals, artists, and most other creative professionals can also acquire niche skills through the use of AI tools.

What you need to understand is that artificial intelligence cannot replace human creativity. If you’ve ever explored AI art or photographs, you know how much these are missing. Very often, the composition is wrong, there are unnatural elements and serious issues that make the visuals unusable. Hence, you can count on those tools to become a better professional by learning from their limited capabilities.

AI can also make your job faster. You can use such a solution to come up with a rough frame that you can build upon. Many parts of the creative process can be streamlined, as long as you’re willing to put your distrust of such solutions behind.

Use AI to Optimize Your Workflow

As already mentioned in the introduction, AI can optimize your everyday workflow.

Most freelancers have to go through tedious, repetitive, and boring administrative or project management tasks on a daily basis.

Many such tasks can be automated. You can use AI tools to automate invoicing, data entry, scheduling. You can track progress and generate reports about performance and project execution. When these tasks are automated, you’ll have a lot more time to dedicate to your clients and the work you do.

Through the power of AI, you can also simplify project negotiation, contract creation, and various other preliminary steps. Tools like ChatGPT can give you information about benchmarks, market specifics, and the particular client. Armed with such information, you will make the most of the negotiation to ensure the best conditions for the upcoming interaction with the client.

The Downsides of Using AI for Freelancers

You can accomplish a lot if you choose the right artificial intelligence tools and you incorporate them strategically in your freelance workflow.

Employing new technology, however, doesn’t come without risks.

You need to understand the shortcomings and the limitations of such solutions. It’s also very important to find a balanced approach towards AI utilization. Becoming overly reliant on AI tools can lead to problems down the line.

Some of the risks and limitations you need to understand include the following:

  • AI tools can decrease quality of work, especially in creative fields. Thus, get in the habit of using AI solely for basic tasks. The bulk of the job will require human execution to make sure that the deliverable meets quality standards.

  • There is a risk of relying on faulty information. AI tools comb through large databases of information. They don’t analyze and they don’t research in order to verify accuracy. While ChatGPT can be a great research tool, you should always maintain a critical mind when reviewing the information.

  • Right now, various AI solutions are available for free. In time, however, more specialized tools will probably start being offered on a subscription basis. You should be prepared to spend some money on accessing AI tools of preference. Also, specialized solutions come with a learning curve. You’ll need to dedicate some time on educating yourself and understanding how to make the most of the respective tool.

Also, be mindful of the fact that AI could lead to job replacement and increased competition. In time, more people will become aware of such technologies. That means clients will begin employing AI tools to do some jobs on their own. Freelancers will start doing the things you’re already counting on to become more competitive.

The key to staying ahead is to continue learning on an ongoing basis. The fact that you’re ahead of the game right now doesn’t mean you’ll maintain the position forever. Keep on educating yourself about new developments in the AI field if you want to maintain that strong position.

Final Thoughts

New technologies shake up sectors and contribute to polarization. Some love the opportunities, some feel incredibly worried about the massive impact such disruptive forces can have.

Artificial intelligence is here to stay. It will have an even more pronounced effect on numerous professional fields and industries in the future. If you haven’t embraced AI tools yet as a part of your freelance career, the time has come to consider the change.

Many AI tools for freelancers are free and easy to deploy immediately. Test them out to get a better idea about their capabilities. Coming up with prompts for ChatGPT, for example, will give you a good understanding of how it can help you advance your freelance career. If you like the work that the tool can do, you can start considering more specialized and niche-relevant solution.

Don’t forget to continue reading and learning about AI. There are limitations and ethical concerns you need to be aware of. Regularly assess the work that your AI tools are doing. If you identify faults and issues, you’ll probably need to switch to a different algorithm as soon as possible.

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