A recent survey on 2,001 internet users in the US indicates that 2.8% of them owned NFTs as of December 2019, with 3.9% planning to buy this year. Briefly, the NFT space will likely have greater success in 2022 than last year and probably drive the ambitious, yet innovative Web3.0 wave. The NFT industry is creating better opportunities for digital creators to mint and sell their artwork at six-figure values, sometimes obscene rates that you can hardly imagine.
In the same spirit of growth, several career opportunities are emerging in the NFT industry. Even better, you don’t even have to own NFTs in the first place to succeed in these fields. That said, what are some of the sustainable NFT career paths out there? Here are 6 jobs you should take advantage of in 2022 and beyond.
Become a Professional Artist
Perhaps the most obvious job in the NFT industry is artistry. Whether you’re a professional graphic designer or video animator, the NFT space has a lot to offer. Moreover, quite a number of full-time NFT artists are doing well with NFT sales only. A good example is Michael Joseph Winkelmann, popularly known as Beeple, who sells his artwork for six-figure amounts. His most expensive work, dubbed “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” fetched $69 million at a public auction.
In that regard, any user who can draw, sketch, build, design, or even customize avatars can turn that creative intuition into a full-time job. You only need a user-friendly NFT minting platform that doesn’t require coding skills and effective marketing skills to hit the ground running. If you’re good at it and luck is on your side, your first work can fetch thousands, if not millions of dollars in hotly contested bids.
NFT Marketing
Hundreds of thousands of artists, including newbies, are minting and creating NFT collections on various marketplaces. It’s just a matter of time before this number skyrockets to millions of users, especially when the industry attains 100% mainstream adoption. Moreover, we also have new NFT projects geared towards Metaverse utility coming up.
You can leverage your marketing background and skills to help these artists promote their projects. Of course, the bigger your audience, the higher your rate card. Social media influencers stand a big chance to make it in this career path because a majority of NFT discussions happen on social media platforms, such as Twitter.
Design and Development
The Web3.0 tech is gaining shape to make Metaverse interaction a reality. Facebook recently pumped $10 billion into AR, VR, and associated hardware to spearhead ambitious projects in the Metaverse. However, the whole concept is still in its infancy, creating a big niche for like-minded designers and developers to hop onto the trend.
So, how do you start? Building a Metaverse ecosystem can be pretty daunting, if not unreasonably costly for one individual. You can start by joining already established ecosystems, such as Decentraland, The Sandbox, and even the upcoming DROPP project, and pitch ideas that will help them improve their user experience. You’ll land a job quicker if you can develop or design protocols that introduce real-world utilities in the Metaverse as a NFT developer
NFT Community Associate
Currently, the NFT industry has no central regulation, making it reliant on users who make up different decentralized communities for voting decisions. The communities are also responsible for creating rules and regulations governing their underlying NFT projects or ecosystems. In a nutshell, online communities and social interactions are the backbone of many NFT projects.
Projects looking to streamline their community discussions are advertising job positions for channel admins and associates. As a community associate, your job can include moderating discussions and spearheading voting campaigns for new decisions. You might also lobby for life-changing decisions that are likely to meet resistance from some members. This job requires strong and convincing communication skills because you’ll be dealing with thousands of community members.
Freelancing: Content Creation Jobs
Content marketing is arguably one of the most powerful tools for online projects. With a content writer freelancer’s salary averaging at about $35 to $50 an hour, you can turn this into a well-paying full-time job, especially if you can guarantee a quick turnaround. Moreover, some projects are willing to pay more, sometimes double the above-mentioned rates if you can produce high-quality content pieces.
That said, content creation jobs in the NFT industry are boundless. You can work with a news outlet to feature industry trends and news on a freelancing basis. Alternatively, you can pitch already existing projects or upcoming ones to work on a contract basis. If that doesn’t work, turn to freelance sites and browse the job boards for some short-term gigs. Your commitment and ability to offer quality work are what matter the most in this space.
NFT Entrepreneurship
You can also take things a few notches higher, especially if you want to join the big industry players. If you prefer investing in opportunities that guarantee predictable returns, you can turn that habit into a full-time job in the NFT industry. However, this approach might require a sizable initial capital if you’re going to make good money without straining or overstretching your luck.
Armed with enough capital, you can buy as many NFT gaming items as possible and lend them out at a fee to enthusiastic players. Users can borrow these items using fiat currency or specific tokens that can be cashed out. You can also allow users to swap their other NFTs for yours, especially if their values correlate, or one is slightly higher than the other.
Besides that, you can channel your investment into ambitious but practical NFT projects, such as marketplaces, ecosystems, and Metaverse concepts. That way, you can sit back, relax and watch your money grow. You can chip in once in a while to complement the project’s marketing efforts by mentioning it to your peers and followers on social media.