Employers Are Paying Freelancers Big Bucks for These 25 In-Demand Skills

Want to join the freelancer revolution? Did you know that there are thousands of freelancer jobs that pay six figures?

Over the past ten years, I’ve both worked as a freelancer and hired countless freelancers, some for six-figure positions. And along the way, I’ve noticed that there are a few freelancer skills that pay more than others. Want to join the ranks of six-figure and other well remunerated freelancers? Here are the skills that hirers are looking for:

1. Natural language processing/Twilio API Development

Thanks to the emergence of voice-activated assistants, such as Amazon ($AMZN) Echo and Google ($GOOG) Home, natural language processing has become one of, if not the most in-demand freelancing skills.

This particular gig, in which you enable machines to understand human language, requires a background in computer science, artificial intelligence, and linguistics, and can command at its highest levels a salary of well over $100,000 annually.

2. Swift development

The Apple Watch was developed using the programming language Swift. Since sales for the Apple Watch broke records during the 2016 holiday season, demand for freelancers skilled in developing this iOS app is surging, with an average salary of $85,000.

3. Social media management

This one shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, businesses of all sizes are in need of talented individuals to implement and manage the day-to-day activities for their social media marketing campaigns.

While not as high-paying as more-tech related skills, social media managers average between $67,750 and $94,250 per year.

4. Amazon Marketplace Web Services (MWS)

Amazon Marketplace Web Service (Amazon MWS) is an integrated web service API that assists Amazon sellers to programmatically exchange data on listings, orders, payments and reports. Since this online ecommerce site is showing no signs of slowing, there’s a need for freelancers with python skills. This also includes devops companies.

The amount freelancers can charge clients will vary depending on the scope of the project.

5. AngularJS development

With this skill, you can extend HTML vocabulary in order to build either mobile or desktop web applications. Since this is the framework for dynamic web apps, the demand for this skill should continue to increase.

The average national salary is over $102,000. For a better understanding of this job, check out our programmer guide.

6. MySQL programming

As the world’s most popular open-source database, this skill — which requires knowledge in web-scripting languages like PHP — can earn freelancers between $45,495 and $99,187,depending on their experience.

7. Instagram marketing

Out of all the social media channels, Instagram is rapidly becoming the most popular. It’s also underutilized for anyone wanting to grow a business. That’s why the company is searching for marketers experienced with the Gram.

While there professional “Instagrammers” who are making six figures, the average Instagram marketer should expect around $15 per hour.

8. Twilio API development

Those who can build SMS, voice and messaging applications on an API — specifically, Twilio’s cloud-based communication platform — are in high demand; and they can also earn up to a solid $35 per hour.

9. Brand strategy

Branding is all the rage these days, which is why both individuals and companies are searching for people who can develop positioning recommendations, guide market research analysis and define brand elements and tone.

The average pay for a brand strategist is $61,044 per year.

10. Business consulting

Business consultants work with clients on everything from strategy, planning and problem solving, to the development of business skills and knowledge. On average, a business consultant earns $71,254 per year.

Here are a few tips to becoming a better Instagram consultant.