Author Interview – Amit Joshi

Author – Amit Joshi

Amit Joshi is a Corporate trainer for Behavioral and Leadership skills. He’s an experienced trainer having trained more than 3000 participants from more than 40 leading MNCs and has authored the book – ‘Freelance training- How to crack the Freelance Training business in India’. Certified from The British council and Instructional design (TISS), he has recently started his own company for Corporate training.

I got an exclusive opportunity to interview him. Here are some of the excerpts of the conversation:

Q) Tell us something about your book ‘Freelance Training’ and how different it is from the books of similar kind.

Amit – Before I give information about my book, I would like to set some context. There is an immense scope for Training in India because of the skill gap between the Industry requirements and the skills provided by our educational institutes. There is also an immense need for training the existing workforce to meet the challenges faced by modern day organisations. A lot of companies are now realising this and have increased their focus on Learning and development. The training industry is quite nascent in the country and needs to evolve at a rapid pace to meet this challenge. Companies either have a dedicated training team to up-skill their workforce or tie up with Training partners to achieve this. Thus there is a growing need for trainers specialising in a wide array of subject areas and skills to keep up with the requirements. This need is being addressed either by full time training professionals or through Contract/Freelance Trainers.

Although there is a huge number of Freelance trainers who are either established or aspiring, there is very less visibility in terms of how one navigates his or her way in the Indian Freelance Training business.

About the book:

My book “How to crack the Freelance Training Market in India” aims to address this very challenge. It is the definitive guide for people wanting to make freelance training their career with the knowledge, skills and tips to tap into and sustain in the market. The books contains –

• A step by step guide to help trainers in their journey in the Freelance Training market

• Practical tips and insights based on first-hand experience

• Tools to help them implement and carry on the learning from the book

• Guidance from the Top trainers in India

• Ways to get an edge over your competitors in the Training arena

• Leverage the ideas to add an additional income source along with their regular job

The best part is, it is the first and only book on Freelance training in India.

Q) In the 13 years of your career, what are the key takeaways and the things you learnt in your journey?

Amit – Some of the learnings from my 13 year journey –

• Plan for a career and not a job

• Constantly up-skill and upgrade yourself, differentiate yourself from the others by adding value.

• A full-time job may kill your creativity in the long run

Q) According to you, what are the pros and cons of being a freelancer? What are the key risks involved?

Amit –

Pros:

• You are your own boss.

• You get to do what you choose rather than what you are told to do.

• You can work as per your own schedule, take leaves as per your choice

• Your income is directly proportional to your ability and effort

Cons:

• Difficulty in getting consistent work in the beginning

• Financial instability and low income, especially in the beginning.

Q) The world is a bad place. Freelancers are often cheated and have to wait long until their pay is dispatched. What are precautions to be taken before taking up work as a freelancer?

Amit – Fortunately, in my 6 years for Freelancing, I have not faced a single instance when my payment was not made. There were a couple of occasions when there were delays but they got sorted with a bit of follow up. One precaution one may take is to do some due diligence about the company on some trainer forums to find out about their payment history etc.

Q) As a freelancer, it is very important to manage time as you are not bound by a time like others working in a 9 to 5 job. What’s your take on this?

Amit – I think it gives you more flexibility to choose your own hours and work as per the priority.  The only drawback is that if one is not self- disciplined, then there is a tendency to procrastinate, delay the work and get unorganised. Hence I agree that we need to manage time well to be productive consistently.

By the way no job nowadays is 9 – 5, all companies expect you to work beyond regular hours and even on weekends if required.

Q) What is your advice to someone who wants to take up freelancing full-time?

 

Amit – One key thing to do is to take a long term view and set your own benchmarks and roadmap for Freelancing career. Do not compare yourself to your peers doing a fulltime job, in the initial years. It will leave you frustrated and demotivated.

Click on the link below to buy the book. It provides useful insights and relevant information about being a freelancer in India.

Freelance training