Creative Freelance Career Opportunities

When searching for the perfect business opportunity, experts advise following your passion. For those with an artistic eye, you easily can turn a flair for the creative into a thriving freelance career. You may prefer a more traditional arts-and-crafts interest, such as custom pottery or glassblowing. However, you can just as easily add an innovative twist to a more typical freelancing opportunity and make it your own. Here are ten ideas for creative freelancing careers that you can start with a relatively small initial investment.

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Scrapbook Design Consultant

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Scrapbooking and rubber stamping can be more than simple hobbies; they now comprise a multi-billion dollar industry. If you have a talent for layout and design and a passion for creating lasting memories, then freelancing as a scrapbook design consultant could represent a viable business opportunity. You can provide scrapbooking services to others through an online site, or you can use your talent to create gift cards and other custom products to sell direct.

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Niche Freelance Writer

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Writers make up a large segment of the freelancing community. If you want to write professionally, think beyond composing copy for brochures, white papers, and magazine articles. For example, consider putting your talents to work writing brief, witty copy for online greeting cards. Or, sell your services to people who will hire you to create custom party invitations, thank you notes or love letters.

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Color Consultant

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Color consultants work within the interior design business, and the demand for their services continues to increase. Anyone who has noticed how the color of paint can look disastrously different than it did in the store is a potential client. Color consultants who utilize elements of Feng Shui to affect the mood of a room and its inhabitants can attract wide followings.

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Waterscapes Design Consultant

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Waterscapes are an ever-popular segment of a booming industry that focuses on outdoor living spaces and custom-designed gardens. As a waterscapes design consultant, you will guide homeowners and businesses who want to feature aquatic elements in their outdoor spaces. This may include designing waterfalls to complement pool and spa areas, ponds, custom water fountains, and backyard water centers. If you enjoy the outdoors, feel comfortable working with contractors, and have a knack for employing stone or other natural elements as a function of design, this is a field you should consider.

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Home Staging Consultant

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Selling a home has become more competitive than ever and that challenge opens up an ideal freelance career for home staging professionals. These consultants charge handsome fees to declutter, rearrange and organize homes to maximize their appeal to potential buyers. Real estate agents are obvious clients for this service, but you'll also receive calls from people who want to sell their homes without an agent's assistance.

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Social Media Consultant

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Many businesses hope to expand their customer base through social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and SnapChat, but they don't know how to do it. As a social media consultant, you can help clients pick the most cost-effective means of advertising on these sites, create viral videos and implement and maintain corporate blogs.

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Event Coordinator

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People in this role should think beyond simple wedding planning and organizing corporate functions. The modern event coordinator is a project manager who can use mobile platforms to interact with clients and can work within a budget to create events that turn a profit for clients who expect a monetary return on their investment. Event coordinators also hire out to create intimate, romantic dinner parties for two and to plan memorable end-of-life celebrations.

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Jewelry Designer and Buying Consultant

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Using precious gems or intricate beadwork to design jewelry is a wonderful way to express your creativity and earn money, and your business opportunities aren't restricted to selling standard necklaces and earrings. Instead, consider designing custom necklaces and jeweled collars for pampered dogs and cats.

Or, you might design jewelry that teens and young adults can use to dress up their electronic devices. You can design custom pieces to add to cell phones, digital cameras, and MP3 players. If you have extensive knowledge about silver, gold, and gems, and would rather buy it than design it, consider offering your services as a buying consultant to upscale clients.

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Graphic Artist

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Graphic design remains a profitable freelance option, but with new outlets. Whereas you may have once designed advertisements and corporate logos, now you might specialize in online graphics. For example, you could use your artful imagination to design avatars, or graphical representations of people, for use online. Similarly, you could design web-based artwork for video games, ads, and online videos.

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Play Consultant

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Companies have long paid big money for people who could create team-building programs for their employees. Many of those same companies are writing checks to play therapists, consultants who teach employees and managers how to use play and creative thinking for better brainstorming. Play consultants also advise on how to use fun activities to de-stress overworked, burned-out employees. Don't think you must restrict your clientele to companies. You also can market yourself to school programs that will hire you to provide creative play sessions for students.