Ask FreelanceSwitch: First Clients and Conferences
Credit: Dennis Hill
In this issue of Ask FreelanceSwitch, this week, we have two questions from the same freelancer, answered below. We’re looking at landing a first client and attending conferences. Ask FreelanceSwitch is a regular column here that allows us to help beginners get a grip on freelancing. If you have a question about freelancing that you want answered, send an email to askfreelanceswitch@gmail.com.
I’m just starting as a freelance website designer/developer (depends on how you define the job), and I mean just starting out. As in I’m still working at my full time job and still trying to find that first client, even if its for free.
So, I have a few questions for you:
1. How do you find that ever important first few clients? Do you just walk into their business with a proposal in hand saying, “So I see you don’t have a website.” Do you go onto job sites, like FreelanceSwitch, Elance and Odesk, etc, and try to find jobs? (This hasn’t worked yet either, sorry don’t mean to sound like I’m venting. You’re the good guys trying to help people, for which I thank you.)
2. I’ve seen several places on FreelanceSwitch suggest going to conferences. Where do I find things like this? I live in Kansas City and haven’t seen anything announcing this. Is there a website or newsletter I can sign up for regarding these conferences?
Again, I don’t mean to sound like I’m taking any of my frustration out on you guys, and I do thank you very much for the help you’ve provided. Also, if these questions have been answered already then I apologize for asking them again.
Thanks,
Matthew
Question 1
Landing that first gig is tough and it’s even tougher on job boards because you don’t have a portfolio that you can use to ‘prove’ to a prospective client that you really know what you’re doing. You can usually pick up a few really small projects that way, but nothing that will translate into full-time freelance income.
If you have a very specific sort of client that you’d like to work with, it’s easier. You can start networking with the goal of connecting with specific people, researching their needs and so on. You can attend events that you know they’ll be at, so that you can connect with them before walking into their business with a proposal (not an effective approach without a prior introduction, unfortunately). Talk to your own contacts and see who they know that need your services. Generally, getting hooked into a network is crucial.
Question 2
A network is going to do a lot for you in terms of finding conferences to go to, as well. There isn’t, unfortunately, one website or newsletter that collects all sorts of conferences in different places. A lot of them you simply have to know the right people to hear about.
In many cities, though, there are people stepping up and creating lists about specific types of events. Startup Digest, for instance creates a list of events in for several different cities that are useful for startups. There’s a lot of overlap in their lists with what freelancers are interested in, by the way. You’ll likely have to do a little digging to see who is collecting information in Kansas City — the sites collecting events in cities like LA get coverage, while smaller cities get less coverage.
Photo credit: Some rights reserved by Dennis Hill.
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lanyrd.com has a great directory of conferences.
I found my first jobs on Elance. Because i didn’t have a portfolio i did the following thing:
1. Search for a well described project, even PSD to HTML ones.
2. If there is enough time before the project ends, lets say, for a 5 pages website, design and code only the home page, upload it on your server/hosting account.
3. Send a proposal while including a link with the work you did. The client will be happy to see that a part of his requirements are accomplished.
Most of the time they will be happy to award the job to you, provided your prices are not higher than the competition, and the quality is good.
This is how i got my first jobs back in 2008. Its risky – but hey, you are without a portfolio.
Also, i can mention that many of the Elance clients will give you repeat work if they are satisfied with the work you did for them in first place. So if its PSD to HTML, i’d say go for it, the next job from that client may include designing & coding so you can add that to your portfolio.
I’ve seen that done successfully. Something else that I’ve seen is doing work on those job boards for practically nothing – $10 or $20. The idea is not to get paid, but just to generate a small portfolio.
I can relate to you, but mine was in Odesk. I don’t have portfolio so I bid very low to jobs just to build my feedback there and I was successful. That $3 start pay for a quite a huge job was worth it. I have regular employers now who will contact me for work.
Try reaching out to your network of friends and family for small gigs to get your portfolio started. Then, think about who you know business wise that you may be able to do some work for. Would your current company be amenable to you doing freelance work for them (I assume eventually you’d be quitting and they may need you to do some freelance work). Some of my first freelance clients were prior full-time jobs that I held.
I found my very first job by sending out an email to all my contacts (I volunteer with animal shelters nation wide) letting them know that I was starting my freelance career. I said I would offer pro bono work to them to help build my client base/portfolio. Since then, I’ve gotten my paid gigs via word of mouth, craigslist, and twitter. Not the outlets I thought I’d be successful with, but they’ve turned out to be good clients.
I have found local chamber of commerce events to be very beneficial. I actually got in with the chamber and now do all of their advertising. Smooze them with talent, good looks, and personality and I bet you will be the only graphic & web designer to participate. Do local charity events and forum luncheons supported by the chamber.
Hope this helps,
My first site came from a family friend’s car lot. Then I did the local church website, and from there they started coming in.
You HAVE to have some kind of portfolio first. Build some sites for yourself. You’ll need one that shows your services which could be the first one. After that build some small five pagers for local businesses that don’t have one. Go to Yelp and search for restaurants in your area. It will show whether they have websites. If not, get their menu and build a site around it. Then go back to them and see if they’ll pay you for it. If not, you still have something for your portfolio. Who knows, maybe they’ll give you free food. Everybody puts in time doing freebies to get started. If you build the sites without a client giving you orders you can build it the way you want and get it done faster. You need a portfolio first. You also need some time developing your skills and figuring things out. Building sites is the only way to get the experience.