How To Freelance In Hawaii

Whether you’re an established freelancer or someone who’s just planning to become one and you’re thinking about relocating to Hawaii, it’s a big and responsible step. Many people dream about living in a paradise and managing their own schedules, but what steps should one make to reach this goal? We’ve prepared a detailed guide on how to be a freelancer in Hawaii!

Step 1. Understand Freelancing

If you’re an aspiring freelancer, first, you have to grasp the idea of what it really means to be one. 

Freelancing is a form of self-employment that often means working for numerous customers, instead of being tied up to a single company. Unlike remote or full-time employees, freelancers have much more freedom in selecting the customers and projects they like. Also, they’re free to define their own schedule, terms, and scope of work.

Step 2. Understand Why You Want to Freelance in Hawaii

Relocating for the long term is very difficult, especially if you have to acquire new skills to meet the demands of the Hawaii job market. Thus, having a clear understanding of your reasons and objectives is a MUST for everyone! To get you started, here are a few possible reasons why you might want to freelance in Hawaii:

• An endless source of inspiration – Hawaii is known for its stunning views, crystal clear ocean, white sands, and good weather. What else do you need for inspiration?! Many freelance jobs are creative in nature and being able to get inspiration from everything that surrounds you is definitely a big advantage.
• High and stable income – although Hawaii is considered as an expensive state, there are possibilities for a good income.
• Adventures – most established freelancers work a few hours a day, and then they have lots of free time for doing whatever they want. Unfortunately, there aren’t too many exciting activities available in a big and crowded city. However, the island life is full of adventures! You can work from home and then go for adventures, isn’t that the dream?

Make sure to write down your own reasons and prioritize them. As you investigate your options, return to this step and revise. Expanding of your knowledge about the topic will open up new reasons for you, and will help reach your goals.

Step 3. Search For Freelancing Jobs in Hawaii

If you’re an established freelancer with a base of customers and an excellent reputation, you might be already ahead in the game. However, if you’re just starting your journey, it makes sense to research what freelance jobs are available.

The easiest way to search for available opportunities is to use SimplyHired. Just enter relevant keywords (for example, “freelance,” “Hawaii”), and you’ll see listings of available career opportunities.

Once you’ve conducted some research, it’s time to analyze the available offers. The main goal of this step is to make sure that there are at least some opportunities that either match your current skills and expertise or are things you’re willing to master. 

Step 4. Learn What Jobs Are In Demand

You may already know that there are many freelance opportunities available online. However, it’s always a good idea to know what jobs are the most demanded in the area you’re looking to relocate. This knowledge will give you an idea of what you can expect from freelancing in Hawaii.

Let’s look at the most popular Hawaii freelance jobs, as of the time of this writing.

Make-Up Artist

Searching for freelance positions on SimplyHired or Glassdoor with a tag Hawaii, one can discover that freelance make-up jobs seem to appear in the list most often. So it’s fair to say that professional make-up artists shouldn’t suffer from the lack of customers if they decide to relocate to Hawaii.

Child Care

Among other jobs highly demanded in this area, according to SimplyHired search results, there are quite a few offers for specialists in the field of child care. Many locals are seeking freelance nannies and babysitters to help them out, so this might be another opportunity worth considering.

Nurse

If you dig deeper, on the same websites, you may find lots of positions for nurses, nurse assistants, and home health aid professionals. If you possess the needed expertise and skills, you may use one of such opportunities.

Content Specialist

Without a doubt, different jobs related to the creation of content are extremely popular in the modern world, and many positions are offered on a freelance basis. Hawaii isn’t an exception – if you search for freelance jobs in this area, you can find lots of offers for content writers, editors, managers, etc. And this job doesn’t limit you to Hawaii, you can take projects from companies anywhere in the world.

Developer / Programmer

Finally, software, app, game, and website developers are also in demand of freelance specialists. This is another job, where you have access to positions far beyond the local pool. But you can often find offers for developers in Hawaii, when looking on Glassdoor, SimplyHired or similar platforms.

Step 5. Join Popular Freelance Platforms

Apart from searching for jobs in Hawaii exclusively, you can also register on one or several freelance platforms and apply to projects worldwide. In doing so you’ll have a wider spectrum of opportunities, a bigger number of potential customers, and higher chances of obtaining a stable high income from freelancing in Hawaii.

If you haven’t worked with any freelance platforms yet, here are a few good ones to start with:

• Fiverr
• Upwork
• Guru
• Freelancer
• Indeed
• SolidGigs

Step 6. Look at Additional Resources

Becoming a self-employed freelancer and settling in Hawaii is a big step that requires lots of research. To help you get on track, we’ve prepared a list of helpful resources that will help you continue the research:

Websites that hire writers

If you’re a writer or looking to become one, there are plenty of freelance opportunities for you! First of all, there are numerous blogs that pay writers for their publications. Speaking of Hawaii-specific resources, Hawaii Magazine is willing to pay you for writing. There are also online writing services like EssayPro that are always hiring talented writers. 

Websites for job search

There are quite a few resources that specialize in connecting specialists and employees from Hawaii. Some of the most useful websites are Jobs On Demand, Real Jobs, and HireNet.

Helpful resources for starting your business in Hawaii

Finally, being a self-employed specialist means running your own business, so here are a couple of helpful sources on how to begin.

Business Action Center can help start and register a business in Hawaii and obtain proper tax license. They also have business counseling and workshops.

Hawaii Small Business Development Center has offices on all major islands, which offer workshops, online training and even free business counseling.

Hawaii Business Magazine has compiled lists of best places to work every year since 2010. You can check to see if any of these companies hire freelancers.

Step 7. Visit Hawaii Before Making the Final Decision

Coming to the island of your choice to see everything with your own eyes is recommended. It will also allow you to find possible living arrangements and help reaffirm your desire to permanently relocate. But don’t forget to have some fun in the process – check out our information on local events, things to do and money saving tips.