Please help me choose a freelance career to supplement full time work!

[Dreamer75]

Hoping someone can help me!

Currently employed full-time as a fundraiser/development manager in the environmental sector.

Thinking about developing a freelance career on the side. Partly because I don't hugely enjoy my job, but also because I'm a single mum and I've just bought a flat and now have a scary mortgage + loan + credit card which is keeping me awake at night could do with a bit more income.

Stuff I could do:

Freelance fundraising? Despite the job title, I don't have years of experience so am not very confident about offering this freelance;

Social media management/copywriting - have done a bit of this in the past via a friend's marketing agency, but pay was really poor, which puts me off. I also don't have any much experience of the analytics side of things so that makes me feel less confident about selling myself in my own right.

I've got the Adobe CC suite and am slowly learning Indesign, Illustrator and Photoshop. I really enjoy this a lot.

I've post-grad qualifications in Marketing (CIM) and Public Relations.

I suppose the question I'm asking is: if you were me, what bit of the above would you work up and focus on as a potential second income stream?

Thanks in advance,

Dreamer75

I also freelance alongside a part-time job. I am probably a bit similar to you, but in another sector/specialism.

The most useful thing I did was a scoring exercise where I looked at what I could earn from different types of work, versus other factors such as convenience (doing it at home or needing to go elsewhere), how much liaison was involved, stress and how far it was aligned with my other career aims. Gave it all marks out of 5 and then added up a total. It was actually quite surprising to see it laid out in that way.

This helped me come to the conclusion that copywriting is not worth the bother. I realised that consultancy in my own field was a much better option. I am now putting much more effort into getting freelance work that builds on my professional skillset - I am working with a couple of organisations now and hopefully I am building some traction.

For you I think that is fundraising. What about going on a one-day course or similar? Read blogs and subscribe to all the funder emails/updates. Perhaps that will boost your confidence.