How to Use AI to Revolutionize Your Freelancing Career

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that AI has recently revolutionized the way we work. While the public adoption of artificial intelligence has been slowly been increasing for decades, the market exploded in 2023 when ChatGPT took the world by storm and acquired over 1 million users in just 5 days.

Since then, it’s rapid adoption paved the way for tens of thousands of AI-powered tools to transform the tech landscape.

I believe this is our modern-day industrial revolution. There’s simply no going back to the way things were before the global adoption of artificial intelligence.

This is incredible news for freelancers. In just a few months, amidst widespread economic turmoil and mass tech layoffs, freelancing has become easier, more efficient, and more accessible. There are also endless new opportunities to generate income through entirely new revenue streams faster than ever.

What is AI?

First, let me set context for those who are behind the curve or concerned about the rise of robots. According to FreeUp, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the simulation of human intelligence processes by computer systems. It’s the ability of devices to imitate cognitive functions such as learning and problem-solving that are typically associated with humans.

Simply put, AI has become the popularized, all-encompassing acronym for the underlying technologies like algorithms, machine learning, neural networks, and large language models that have all been in the works for decades.

The History of AI

This article isn’t a history lesson on AI, but I feel compelled to remind everyone that artificial intelligence didn’t just appear out of nowhere:

• Spell check dates back to the 1970’s
• Apple launched Siri in 2012
• Amazon launched Alexa in 2014
• Grammarly launched in 2009 and popularized in 2016
• Parking Assist in automobiles was popularized 20 years ago

Have you ever interacted with a recommended playlist on Spotify, suggested videos on YouTube, autocomplete on Google, or predictive text on your phone? What about a chatbot on a website or an automated voice messaging system?

Those features are all powered by AI.

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Generative AI Technology

So what caused AI usage to skyrocket in 2023 and suddenly blow people’s minds all over the world? Well, there’s a big difference AI and generative AI.

Until recently, algorithms could interpret input data and suggest existing output data. For example, matching a users listening history with existing songs the system “thinks” they might enjoy.

Generative AI, on the other hand, can create something new that’s never existed before. It’s able to have conversations and create images that are truly unique.

So if you’re a little apprehensive about signing up for ChatGPT, don’t be. In fact, I’d suggest embracing it and using the technology to your advantage — and that’s what this article is all about.

Using AI in Your Freelance Business

You won’t have to look far for AI. Most of your favorite tools have probably already announced AI-enhanced features of their own to supercharge their software. While some AI tools such as ChatGPT and Midjourney allow you to generate unique text and images, most of the emerging software products are focused on enhancing productivity and efficiency.

For example, Loom is a simple tool that lets you record your screen while keeping your face in the bottom corner. I use it often to present my work to freelance clients without the need for a live meeting. With Loom AI, you can automatically summarize the video content, add titles, summaries, and chapters, remove filler words, remove awkward silences, and generate key tasks — all with the click of a button.

But there’s also new standalone software available.

For the sake of this article, I’ll primarily focus on the two AI tools I’ve been using: ChatGPT and Midjourney. I think these will be the most relevant and useful to my audience, but there are hundreds of relevant AI-powered tools for freelancers available. First, let me introduce you to each of them:

ChatGPT

ChatGPT is a highly advanced computer program that can understand and generate human-like text, making it capable of engaging in conversations and assisting with various language-related tasks. You can use it to learn about any topic, solve math problems, brainstorm ideas, write Etsy listing descriptions, or even generate code.

Midjourney

Midjourney is equally revolutionary. It can generate unique images, icons, artwork, characters, and other visual depictions through short text prompts. These can range from fictitious 3D renders to photographs that are indistinguishable from reality. You can control the style, aspect ratio, and many other parameters to create the exact image you want in a matter of seconds.

Here what that means in practical terms: you no longer need a four-year college degree to create 3D images, illustrations, logos, artwork, photographs, design websites or even write code. If you can master the art of prompting, you can create almost anything you imagine in seconds. There are even emerging tools that will write functioning programs based on a simple drawing.

You no longer need a four-year college degree to create 3D renders, illustrations, artwork, photographs, design websites or even write code.

In fact, prompting is the next trend in marketable skills. You can learn to use these tools and sell the results to paying clients. You can even productize and sell the prompts themselves — this is already a trending product category on Etsy.

Now, if you’re thinking these these powerful new tools are going to disrupt every industry — you’re right. But that doesn’t necessarily mean your job is at risk either. I’ll touch on that more later.

How to Use ChatGPT as a Freelancer

ChatGPT is an incredibly powerful tool and there are dozens of creative ways you can use it as a freelancer. There are endless ways to use ChatGPT to become a better, smarter, and more efficient freelancer, but I want to inspire you with a few specific ideas:

🧠 Learn about freelancing

Ask ChatGPT for best practices, tips, tricks, context and more. Trust, but always verify. Oh, and don’t forget to keep getting advice from my blog too.

✉️ Write better emails

If writing emails to clients isn’t your strength, ChatGPT is your new best friend. You shouldn’t copy and paste whatever it generates, but you can definitely use it as a starting point. You can also use it to refine or proofread your own draft emails.

Another great use case is writing bullet points of what the email should contain and what it should accomplish. Then, ask ChatGPT to write an email based on the bullet points and tell it what the writing style should be.

🗺️ Navigate specific client situations

If you’re navigating a unique client situation and aren’t sure how to respond, tell ChatGPT what’s going on and ask it to recommend a professional response that aligns with your desired outcome.

💵 Estimate project revenue and tax liability

Tell ChatGPT how much you’re making (or how much you want to make), how many hours you’re working (or want to work), and ask it to calculate your gross income, net income, and tax liability in your state.

Click here to read the conversation I had with ChatGPT.

🔍 Research clients, companies, and industries

This is a great way to learn about potential clients and their projects. If you’re not familiar with an industry, you can research it quickly and glean insights that can help you serve that client better.

💡 Generate new ideas for projects (or side projects)

If you want to generate more side income, ask ChatGPT to help you generate ideas. Try altering your prompts. The more details you give it, the more unique results it can provide!

👨‍💻 Write, learn, or understand code

If you’re a developer, ChatGPT is a great way to optimize existing code, generate ideas for new code, or even interpret and simplify complex functions on your behalf. If you’re not a proficient developer, but want to expand your skill set, ChatGPT can become an invaluable asset.

Click here to view the output

📝 Summarize long articles

Try copy and pasting one a long article into ChatGPT and ask it to summarize it in a few key points for you! Ask it to do it in a specific format thats easy for you to digest. For example, 5 key bullet points. You can’t just paste a link to the article, you have to paste some or all of the article into ChatGPT so it can respond to the text.

🖥️ Generate content for your website

If you’re struggling to write content for your website, you can lean on ChatGPT to fill in the gaps. Ask it to write titles, subtitles, paragraphs, case study material, or even blog content.

📋 Summarize client contracts

Contracts are notoriously long and difficult to understand. Most require an attorney just to make sense of them. Paste your client contracts into ChatGPT and ask it to summarize them. You can even ask it if specific terms and conditions are present.

🛍️ Write product descriptions

If you’re good at creating visual assets, but not great at writing product listing descriptions to help you sell those assets on stock marketplaces, ask ChatGPT to help! Describe what you created and ask it to write you a compelling listing description.

🗓️ Schedule your day and optimize your routine

Input some details about your life, your habits, strengths, weaknesses, awake time, sleep time, and your desired goals and ask ChatGPT to schedule an optimal day or week for you. The more details you give it, the better! It’s built for long-form prompts.

Understand the Risks

The obvious risk here is that leaning on ChatGPT too much can cause you to become lazy. If it writes every email, summarizes every article, and analyzes every contract for you, then you’re never sharpening your skills — and eventually you’ll lose to the freelancers who are sharpening theirs.

This is different than task automation. Generative AI tools can actually think for you — and that’s a brand new kind of risk.

The other obvious danger is trusting everything it says. Like any software, ChatGPT isn’t perfect. It can make mistakes and if you trust it blindly, you could end up making mistakes — maybe even mistakes that cost you or your clients money. Trust, but always verify the output with all the time it’s saving you.

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How to Use Midjourney as a Freelancer

I can’t recall many times in my life when I’ve been left speechless, but that’s what happened when I discovered Midjourney. I was instantly hooked. For days I threw my wildest ideas at it — from hyper-real to completely nonsensical — which proved to be an excellent (and entertaining) mental exercise.

It didn’t take long for me to realize the way we work, the way we create, and even the way we think were about to change forever. Then I began wondering, how can freelancers use this to generate income? Here are a few ideas to get you inspired:

📸 Generate photos for client websites

Have you ever searched for stock photos only to realize you couldn’t find exactly what you were looking for? Now you can use Midjourney to generate the exact photos you need for your client’s marketing websites. If you look closely, you’ll find imperfections. But these should pass inspection for hero or supporting background photography.

🖼️ Generate icons and assets for your projects

Midjourney can do more than just generate photos. It can also generate minimalist vector icons or detailed 3D vector icons. The output is still JPG format, but these are ideal for both client and personal projects.

🔮 Generate moodboards for design projects

Sometimes you need inspiration before starting a design project. As designers, we often do this with a mood board, which is a collage of inspiration images that capture the essence or “mood” of what we want the design to feel like. This is generally done using images that aren’t directly related to the project — and that can be challenging.

But with Midjourney, you can instantly generate a mood board for the exact project your working on, in the exact color scheme you want to work with.

🔶 Generate artwork that you can sell on Etsy

An exciting new way to generate additional income (and have fun doing it) is to tell artwork on Etsy. This is something I’ve been doing and you can find my work for sale at Matthew’s Print Shop. I can assure you this isn’t easy. It takes a lot of work and there’s no guarantee you’ll earn enough money to make it worthwhile, but it is undeniably a viable business opportunity!

🛍️ Generate creative assets that you can sell on marketplaces

Freelancers can embrace another new revenue stream by creating digital assets that can be sold on stock marketplaces such as Getty Images, Shutterstock, or Envato. You can certainly use Midjourney for this, but the output is still JPG format. You can also use Photoshop and Illustrator to generate editable vector art AND automatically recolor it.

Here’s a quick YouTube tutorial on how to get started with Midjourney using your own Discord server and a comprehensive guide to prompting various image styles.

How AI Might Disrupt the Freelancing Market

The next few years are going to be quite exciting and transformative. I believe AI will change our careers and disrupt industries in the same way the internet did in the early 1990’s and the same way online marketplaces made way for the gig economy in the 2010’s.

AI tools will absolutely cause some people to lose their jobs, but the technology will also pave the way for many more new jobs. So I want to take a minute to address a serious question you might be asking yourself if you made it this far into my article:

Should I be concerned about my freelancing career?

The reality is that if you’re a freelance photographer, 3D artist, web designer, web developer, copywriter, videographer, or logo designer — your job is likely going to change because the industry is changing. However, I don’t think many jobs are in imminent danger either. Here’s how I see the disruption playing out:

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Freelancers will be split into two main segments:

• One segment will use AI to make their existing workflows and processes more efficient
• The other segment will offer new services on top of AI and have little traditional or fundamental skills. AI will do the work for them
• The most valuable freelancers will be the ones who can do both, using AI to supercharge their foundational skills

Clients will be split into two main segments:

• One segment will use AI to do more work themselves rather than hiring freelancers
• The other segment will see the value of custom work more than ever in a market saturated by AI-generated content
• Clients will value freelancers who can leverage AI to supercharge their work most of all

New skills and freelance services will emerge:

• Prompting will become the next big marketable skill
• Freelancers will invent creative new services using AI
• You’ll start seeing far more social media accounts and blogs using AI-generated images. Some will be created by the account holders — some will be created by freelancers.
• People who previously didn’t have access to the skills or opportunities needed to become a freelancer will now have a world of possibilities at their fingertips.

Some freelance jobs will remain unaffected:

• My wife is a freelance bridal makeup artist — AI can’t apply makeup to someones face
• Photographs need to capture reality — AI photos might look real, but they never are
• AI can’t design websites that are custom-tailored for a specific clients needs

So how do you navigate all of this? I think it’s time for freelancers to start viewing their skills and services through an adjusted lens.

If you’re a freelance web developer and AI can write code, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to lose your job or your freelance clients. But it might mean you need to think about your positioning and what types of work you can produce that AI can’t.

If you’re a freelance 3D artist or illustrator, you might need to start asking yourself why someone should hire and pay you instead of using Midjourney — and that starts by acknowledging the power of emerging AI tools. The same goes for every freelancer in every industry.

This is also why I encourage all freelancers to have their own portfolio website or some online property that you completely control. If you’re entire freelance business is run on an Instagram account or YouTube channel, you’re at risk.

According to Matt Goldstein, the publishing industry is facing an imminent extinction-level event because of Google’s switch to AI-powered search results. He poses some excellent questions in his article:

• Do you still have a business if Google ceases to send you traffic?
• How do you make your homepage a machine for getting users to come back more often?
• How do you get users to visit more pages once they arrive?
• How is your desktop versus mobile homepage differentiated?
• How do you use generative AI to adjust your homepage?
• Will community/comments help to grow your front door traffic, getting users to come back more often?
• What content do you need to bring in more direct traffic?

I love these questions because they don’t just apply to publishers, they applies to freelancers too. So if you want to stay ahead of the curve, you need to understand and embrace the changes that are coming to your industry to stay competitive in the evolving tech landscape.

Start thinking about ways you can use AI to make your processes more efficient or what new and unique services you can offer by leveraging AI technologies. Don’t assume clients will choose to do the work themselves.

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Other AI Tools for Freelancers

ChatGPT and Midjourney are just the tip of the iceberg. There are literally hundreds of other AI-powered tools hitting the market. Here are a few promising ones I’ve discovered along with what they can help you do:

• Solves Anything — ChatGPT
• Writes Anything — Writesonic
• Generates Art — Midjourney
• Writes Code — Replit
• Generates Video — Synthesia
• Generates Music — Soundraw
• Summarizes Meeting Notes — Wordtune and Otter AI
• Generates Avatars — Starry AI
• Generates Powerpoints — Slides AI
• Removes Backgrounds — Icons8 Background Remover
• Edits Pictures — Remini and Gigapixel
• Edits Videos — Pictory
• Creates How-To Guides & Training Manuals — Scribe AI

For more ideas and inspiration, try following the #nocode movement on various platforms.

Using ChatGPT in Your Personal Life

One of the most creative uses of ChatGPT in my opinion is generating great gift ideas. Instead of sifting through endless blogs and Pinterest boards, try telling ChatGPT about the person you need to buy a gift for and asking it to recommend 10 unique gift ideas.

Tell ChatGPT about their personality, hobbies, interests, like, dislikes, and gifts you’ve purchased in the past. The more details you give it, the better the results will be. You’re all but guaranteed to get at least some inspiration that will be tailored to the recipient.

You can also use ChatGPT to troubleshoot issues with cars, get ideas for home renovation projects, brainstorm date night ideas, or even discover new places to visit in your area. The opportunities are truly endless — and it’s fun!

What Will You Do Next?

Freelancing is undergoing a significant transformation, with artificial intelligence (AI) playing a pivotal role in enhancing productivity, efficiency, and overall success for independent professionals. I believe this is all for the best. For the second time in a decade, freelancing is about to become easier, more efficient, and more accessible than ever before.

Will you take advantage of the technology or get left behind?

Last updated on February 4th, 2024