Comments on: Talent Versus Skill — Which Leads to Freelancing Success?

By: Writing Jobs

Writing Jobs — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:38:07 +0000

I think both should have for freelancers, if you have the skills to be a freelancer then you have a talent.

By: Benny

Benny — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:16:20 +0000

“The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.”
— Émile Zola

Great article! I think the quote above is very true. There are people who don’t have talent, but works very hard, who can surpass someone with natural talent, who are slacking off.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:49:50 +0000

I think the one consensus seems to be that it is a combination. The title of the article infers that you have one or the other, but It seems to me that they are more of a sliding scale. I believe that the ratio doesn’t really matter, as long as it equals 100%. Both skill & talent are needed, if you have a lot of skill you can make it on less talent, & vise versa. Doesn’t matter if its 80/20, 50/50, 60/40, as long as the 2 combined equal the 100% effort needed.

Regarding luck (and making your own), I believe the best explanation is:

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” -Seneca (Roman philosopher, mid-1st century AD)

my 2 cents…

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Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:03:13 +0000

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By: Katy

Katy — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:00:14 +0000

Interesting discussion, everyone. I like Lexi’s metaphor about the yarn and the sweater – I also believe that some degree of talent (passion, or whatever you’d like to call it) needs to be there for skill to develop.

It’s already been touched on here but perseverance is another important ingredient in freelancing success, especially because of economic cycles in recent decades. It’s taken me about 20 years and three downturns to learn that when times are slow, take a temporary side path if you must to pay the bills and put food on the table, but stay true to your craft and persevere. Things have a way of coming back around again.

By: Top 20 News in Copywriter at MrHuddle for 2009-11-11

Top 20 News in Copywriter at MrHuddle for 2009-11-11 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:54:46 +0000

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By: simply stephen

simply stephen — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:00:01 +0000

Laura,

What a fantastic thread…it seems to me that we levitate to our talents. If we deliberately try to find purpose in our life we will discover what those talents are. Both talent and skill can be improved with practice and effort but you first have to discover that passion. Whether or not they are inherent traits can be debated forever.

I am reminded of a case study – I think it was at Carnegie Melon where a large sample group was asked to participate in a reading program to make improvements on how quickly they read and how much they absorbed. They thought that the worst readers would have the most dramatic improvement and were surprised to find the opposite. The good readers with over 500 wpm would improve quickly while the poorer readers would only make a small gain but with a lot more effort.

The conclusion – those with a natural strength in something will soar to great heights, especially if applied. Try it. Start focusing on the things you love and do well. Do more of them. Only do those things. Monitor your results.

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Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:59:27 +0000

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By: emil

emil — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 07:21:06 +0000

ha … never really thought about it like that . i’m a man that believes in a certain spark of genius that some people , from time to time , are able to – oh well – spark .

but i can’t say i’m a big fan of talent . i believe it takes hard work , determination and being fair to succeed in an area , any area . i believe this is true for freelancing . it just takes a lot of work . from knowing the rules to understanding the way things work .

and talent-shmalent the point is you can’t be good unless you actually have the know-how . sure you may come up with some great ideas for a web page … but unless you actually know how to implement them that page ain’t happening . it all comes down to skill …

and .. maybe … sometimes , some of us … are lucky enough to get a glance at that spark i was talking about earlier .

By: Laura Spencer

Laura Spencer — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:49:22 +0000

Hi All,

I love the depth the comments here…especially Robert saying “You can have all the talent or skill in the world, but no amount will save a bad idea.” What a great insight!

Andrew — some of my Twitter followers responded directly to the question on Twitter. I’m @txwriter. I believe that some @freelancefolder followers also responded on Twitter.