|
Every designer wants to quit their 9-to-5 and ‘go freelance’. And why not? Going freelance means you’ll be master of your own destiny and that’s got to be a good thing. The bad news is that you will be pitching yourself against a slew of designers who have already made the leap to freelance-ville. The good news is that there’s a huge gap in the market for quality freelancers and it’s just waiting to be filled. Follow a few simple rules, and the next successful freelance designer could be you.
1. Keep your portfolio up to scratch: You could be the world’s greatest designer but if no one knows about it, you won’t make a penny. The best way to remedy this is to create a really good portfolio web site. Your portfolio site should be simple HTML (unless, of course, you’re a Flash expert in which case you’re allowed to go to town with Flash). Your site should have simple navigation, do away with anything fancy, confusing or unusable. The key is simplicity. Make it easy and quick for potential employers to learn what you’re good at and how to contact you.
Make your site reflect you and your design skills but be careful not to pigeonhole yourself into one genre of design. Ensure that you have examples of the full range of styles you are capable of. If you can work on web application interfaces just as easily as print media then ensure that you show examples of both. If you don’t have any examples from paying jobs, create some and put them under ‘personal work’. And please, please, spell check your site and re-read it at least once to check that the text makes sense. Spelling errors make you look unprofessional.
2. Promote Yourself: You need to get out there and put yourself in the public eye — start promoting yourself and your skill set. You could…
1. Speak at an event — Sounds a bit daunting I know, but it can be really refreshing and there are always people in the audience who will be interested in what you do. They could even be your next client or know your next client. (BD4D is always looking for fresh talent, so feel free to get in touch!)
2. Attend design events and pass out your business card like a mad man. This is great way to get the word out if you’re not very outgoing. Events are jovial affairs where people are usually having a good time. It’s the best time to catch them in a good mood and away from the office. Arrive early so you can chat to people before their second drink!
3. Network, network, network — This is similar to the point above but this time it can be anywhere and everywhere. You can pretty much treat any situation as a networking opportunity if you are genuine. In general people will like you and want to work with you. You don’t have to be on the big sell the whole time, be yourself.
4. Promote a cause — This can be anything from a political or social cause to gathering funds for a relief campaign. Be careful with this one though. Only promote causes that you believe in and are passionate about. If you’re not genuine it could backfire on you.
5. Add a blog to your site — You may think that you have nothing to write about, but you’d be wrong. Each of us has something about us that it interesting to others. You might start a blog about trying to go freelance, or starting your own business, or the software you use. Try to make it something design related so that you attract design-led people.
6. Make a killer business card — This speaks for itself. Make your business card memorable for its design — not its tackiness.
3. Pro-actively seek work: You’d be surprised at how many times I’ve seen a freelancer approach a potential employer with an idea and get hired. Make a list of the brands, or agencies, or the people that you want to do work with and go after them! Just remember, be positive and always think about “What’s in it for them? What do they need?” and try to meet those needs. Be warned though, being proactive doesn’t mean it’s okay to stalk people.
4. Be contactable: Always, always keep your mobile phone charged and in your pocket. Your phone is your lifeline. If a potential employer wants to get hold of you for some work, make sure they can reach you. This is important early on when your schedule isn’t fully booked yet. A busy employer probably won’t call again after the first time so make sure you’re available. And always answer the phone in a professional manner; either say your name, or your company name.
5. Be cheerful: This may sound obvious, but I’ve met a lot of freelancers who are miserable. Let’s face it - no one wants to work with someone who is negative and difficult to get along with. The more friendly, easy-going and positive you can be, the more work you’ll find walking through your door.
6. Continually improve and expand your skills: Whenever you’ve got a bit of spare time, brush up on your skills or teach yourself some new techniques. This will be especially important for web designers, as the technology is always changing and updating. A great man once said that you are 25 percent worse than you think you are, and your competitors are 25 percent better than you think they are. With this in mind you can never improve yourself too much.
7. Go nuts on the pitch: When pitching for a job, it’s worth spending the extra bit of cash to make the pitch really impressive. I’d always recommend finding a good local digital printer and getting your pitch documents printed up and mounted. Sure, you’ll lose a bit more cash on the jobs you don’t win, but the ones you do win will easily repay the extra cash you’ve spent, plus you’ll gain the reputation of really going the extra mile and putting the effort in.
If you take these seven things to heart, you should be well on your way to a successful freelance design career. In my next article, I’m going to talk about how to get repeat freelance work, how to market your skills, and how to manage your cash flow.
|
