As a freelancer, you should always be looking for new ways to expand your business and make money. It’s also important to make sure the service that you provide is valuable. One way to increase the value is to improve your skills and the quality of your work. This will happen with experience anyway, but taking a course could also give you a much-needed boost.

Here are five different types of course that can improve your business:

Marketing

Marketing is an essential part of running a business. You can’t expect clients to flock to your website if they don’t know about it. It doesn’t matter how good you are or how reasonably priced you are, if people have never heard of you, they won’t hire you.

If you feel that your marketing skills are lacking then a course could help cover the basics that you can then apply to your own business. The better you are at marketing, the less time you’ll have to spend on it. This then frees up your time which you can spend on client work, therefore increasing your income.

Website management or design

All freelancers really need a website in order to compete but where do you start if you’re not familiar with this? Some people turn to courses about web design and management to help them get the basics on running a successful website. If you can design your own website and maintain it, this will keep your website in good condition and save you money that you might have spent on help for it.

Finance

If you’re working alone, then you’ve got to manage your finances alone. This means setting aside enough money for tax and National Insurance and making sure you’re meeting tax deadlines throughout the year. The best way to handle this is to hire an accountant to handle this for you but if you’re short on money and want to do it yourself then a course could be useful.

Service related

Depending on what services you offer it’s always worth doing a course to either improve your services or to add additional ones that clients might be interested in. Both can end up increasing your earnings as you’ll be providing more value.

Freelance business management

With freelancing on the rise, the need for courses on freelancing has shot up. There are plenty of freelancers online looking to share their wisdom with you. They often cover things like how to manage your time, increase your fees and find clients. You can learn a lot from people who have been doing this for longer than you.

Have you ever taken a course to improve your business in some way? Which would you recommend? Let us know what you think.