The Secret to Getting a Lot of Web Design Work
Each week I get two or three requests for design work. They come sometimes from contacts, but more often than not they come from random people. Sometimes they even come from web-famous people or well-known companies. What is interesting about this though is that I no longer freelance, advertise for work or even have a portfolio.
Actually it can be pretty hard to contact me, though I did finally put up a little website for myself two weeks ago.
Although these days I turn away all this work, for some years I did in fact work as a freelance designer and happily always had more work than I could do – despite being inclined to overwork.
So how do you get web design jobs? Or any other type of job? Here are some things that have worked for me.
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Push Yourself and Get Good
I’m not the best designer out there, and you don’t need to be either. But you do need to be pretty good. I like to think that there is an 80/20 rule applying here. That is to get 80% good takes a few years of work, to get that last 20% and get to the top of your field takes a lot more effort (and/or talent). I think I’ve gotten to 80%, I design things that are solid. I’ve never won any awards, but my work is functional, appealing and generally well-liked. I admire really great, cool and clever designers, but know that I’m probably never going to be one of them.
So how do you get 80% good? You push yourself of course! I started out years ago as a mathematics major who liked photoshop tutorials, not exactly a recipe for good design. But I read a lot of really good design books on typography, grids, aesthetics, colour, more typography, branding, advertising, even more typography … you get the picture. I went to design events and conferences, talked to designers as much as possible, got a job at a small agency and endlessly talked to the senior web designer there.
I also did as much work as I could find. First I wrote tutorials, then I started entering competitions (never mind that I never won, or even had anything worth competing most of the time), then I started taking charity jobs, then freelance work and the whole time I would design my own sites and brands over and over and over. Do I think you need talent to be a good designer? Not particularly. It sure helps, but I like to think I made up for a lack of talent or artistic background with sheer hard work.
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Be Likeable, Excited and Enthusiastic
I have met some really talented people who I would never want to work with, simply because I didn’t really like them. The people who are going to hire you are … well, people. And like any other people, they are going to like someone who is nice, friendly, warm, interested in them and interested in their project.
It’s often the little things that make a big difference in this area. Cyan likes to tell a story about a photographer she knows who takes cups of coffee with him to photo shoots for his clients, and has noted that a few times this has been the deciding factor in winning him future jobs. A friendly tone in emails, a genuine interest in people, enthusiasm about work, it all helps!
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Be Referrable!
A large number of jobs for most freelancers come from referred clients. Do a good job for one person and they tell others for you. 80% of all the jobs I’ve worked were referrals and I think being referrable is extremely important. Focus on the characteristics that make people want to work with you, and be reliable, very reliable.
Reliability is one of the most prized characteristics for a freelancer. As a client finding someone you can rely on means solving a problem permanently. Many freelancers are not reliable, and this presents and easy way to stand out from the rest.
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Design the portfolio you think your clients want to see
It never fails to amaze me how many designer portfolios I see that feel like they are aimed at other designers. The language you use on your portfolio site, the pieces you choose and the presentation should all be pitched at the clients you are trying to land. When hiring designers for corporate work I’ve had people present me portfolios of grungy, edgy or just arty work. This is a huge turn off and for a client, rather confusing. People want to see what they want to buy, not something completely different. So if your target market is edgy, make it edgy, if it’s corporate, make it corporate. Spend the time defining your brand and target market and then create a portfolio that will appeal to them.
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Focus on Clients and Be Flexible
To be a good designer you need to do work that fits your brief. You should not do work that you happen to want to do, use a trendy style just because, be fixated on designing how you like or any of the other many sins designers regularly commit. If you focus on solving your client’s problem, are flexible and adjust to their needs and within the framework of your brief put together the best possible design solution you can, then you are going to be a designer in demand.
One common complaint I hear from designers is, “my client has bad taste” or “my client demands changes that ‘ruin’ a design”. First of all, let me say, I *completely* understand. Unfortunately that’s rubbish, and you’ll need to get over it.
If you want to make things to please yourself, go be an artist. If you want to be a designer you have to learn to manage your client, explain why some things are good and others bad, fit their requirements, be flexible and compensate for external issues out of your control (your client’s love of pink or their horrid logo). That’s just part of the job description.
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Get a High Profile
Most of what I’ve said so far applied to me when I worked as a freelancer. In February of this year I stopped taking freelance work and started working fulltime for Eden. Since then the visibility of some of the sites I have designed has gotten a little higher. Sites like FreelanceSwitch, FlashDen and PSDTUTS get seen by a lot of people and generally result in the plethora of job offers that still trickle in.
But you don’t need to own a high traffic website to get a high profile. Most of the job offers just get sent to our various contact forms saying things like “Who is your web designer?”, “I have a job for your web designer” and so on. In other words you just need to design a site that has a high profile. You can do this by getting your work into CSS and web design galleries or by offering to design a high profile blog (lord knows, some of them could do with a redesign).
There are other ways to get a high profile too. Positioning yourself as an expert and achieving credibility are great ways to make clients come to you. Often becoming an acknowledged expert has more to do with deciding you are one than any external nomination. One excellent strategy to achieving is outlined in Leo’s recent article on giving away your services
Those are my insights into why work offers come easy for me. I hope they help you too on your way to freelance and design success!
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Great article. I love your new website! It’s really simple.
A great deal of this applies to freelance writers (and no doubt freelancers in other fields) as fittingly as it does to designers, I assure you! An encouraging post for freelancers climbing up the ladder; and better yet, it’s practical ‘actionable’ advice. Thanks much.
Yeah, this is great advice, Collis. You’re spot on.
If anyone is wondering whether this advice works or not, I give a hearty “YES!” My first week as freelancer was the only week I ever advertised my services or really actively asked (begged) for work. After that, it began to come to me in a fairly constant stream.
It’s also an interesting point Collis brings up about the quality of his actual designs. While he’s being modest, it has never seemed to make any difference for me either whether or not I’m the best designer. The fact is, your clients just want help. If you have a good attitude and can simply do the work, they’ll be happy and spread the word. They don’t care if it wins awards.
Thanks guys!! I’d been meaning to write this post for months, nice to finally have it up
great post & we’re all happy to hear about your success.
so, where does that overflow work head to? =)
Really enjoyed reading this post because it’s something I can relate to. I’ve been in the industry now as a freelancer for 7 nearly 8 years and word of mouth is the magic of the moment, every moment. A good solid 90% or so of my income derives from work gained by referrals and word of mouth.
How have I done it? The same way as Collis mentioned, by being approachable, friendly, energetic and knowledgeable.
Awesome post, definitley gets my digg
@Celsius: I used to shuffle it off to a couple of designers here in Sydney, these days I’ve been writing back saying they can try advertising on the job board, though I don’t know if many actually do.
@Anthony: Thanks!!
Collis – I’ve been a big fan of your work ever since I found you when you first started PSDTuts….I think found that you had been working for many other sites that I was fond of. I recently started an IT company (http://www.trimegatech.com) managing and doing the work for the design aspect of what we offer. Both myself and my partner both run the company part-time (we do have a full-time tech), so especially for me doing the design work, I do feel like a freelancer many times.
Great article, inspirational, and I wish you the best, and keep doing what you do
Wow Collis I really enjoyed reading your article so so nice. Post more collis. Thanks
I really like the simplicity and concept of that “little website” you put up two weeks ago.
I’ve always spent too much time working and reworking personal portfolio sites (usually designing it with other web designers in mind – #4 on your post) when all the client really needs is a quick overview of my experience and talent, with a few examples in the mix…
This is great advice. In fact we, designers, tend to take design personally, just like many other creative fellows, but since design can’t be measured objectively, opinions on it becomes a no-man land.
While software developers can generally put arguments on the table that are objective enough to be quickly understood and artists… well.. they don’t even try to do it, we designers live in the middle of an artistic and a technical world. Utlimately, design is a solution to a problem, and not merely ornamentation.
A great book I know, that can be interesting reading after this great thoughts here is Talent is not enough: Business Secrets for designers, by Shell Perkins (non-affiliated link, I don’t make a penny with it). It is really down to earth about how to take design as a profession, as opposed to how to be a designer.
I think the big thing is to BE VISIBLE. Whether that’s through networking, online directories, advertising, putting your link on the sites you do, giving speeches, writing a blog… WHATEVER! Make sure the clients who are looking for you can find you and they find you first before they find someone else.
Once they find you, make sure that the messages you send (your enthusiasm, how you dress, your online portfolio, the price you quote, etc.) are all supporting each other so that the client gets how great you and your work will be and how lucky the client is to find someone like you.
Good post, Collis!
“If you want to make things to please yourself, go be an artist. If you want to be a designer you have to learn to manage your client, explain why some things are good and others bad, fit their requirements, be flexible and compensate for external issues out of your control (your client’s love of pink or their horrid logo). That’s just part of the job description.”
That’s the best quote I’ve read in a while. While it may be funny, it’s certainly something every designer has to come to terms with at some point, and when he or she does, they’ll be much better for it.
Great post – very interesting!
Excellent article, I find myself in the same place. Studying engineering but wanting to learn more about web design, your advice is welcomed!!!
Great write-up of the freelancer/self-employed designer. I completely agree with everything you’ve written here. I realized several years ago that I would never be the best designer and that there would always be someone doing work better than I could in some capacity. The trick is to be the best designer for your clients.
Great..great post man. I’m a freelancer myself and I can relate to everything you said. Thank you!
Are you just turning away work or do you pass on the requests to another designer?
Because it sounds like you could benefit from having a commission based referral relationship with other designers. Help another person grow their business and earn some cash (usually 10% to 20% is fair) at the same time.
Be Referable – this is probably one of the most important parts of getting work. Truthfully, most of the work that comes from randoms on the web, isn’t the work you want to be landing. When you give someone a good experience building their website, they want to help you out. They will connect you, hence your network grows.
Excellent write-up.
Wow. Another fantastic post Collis.
But is it just me or are things slowing down on PSDTuts?
I really love your site, and thanks for this post, I totally agree that your portfolio should be what your clients want. I’ve done this and have got to say that it really works.
I can’t emphasize enough enough how much attitude has to do with getting jobs. I did a freelance job once where everyone was under preasure, they loved me because i didn’t let everything stress me out. that job led to more jobs.
I stopped doing sites for others some time back, and now just do them for myself. But I still turn away a fair amount of design work. If you’d rate yourself at 80% good, I’d rate myself at about 35% good. But the simple fact is that most web design “professionals” are really frustrated creatives that make life way too hard for their clients and end up charging too much.
Most clients have very simple needs. Meeting those needs in simple, elegant ways doesn’t take a lot. But “being there” for them on an ongoing basis counts for way more points than almost anything else you can do. In the end, most of the designers I’ve encountered end up leaving their clients in the lurch. You can’t do business that way…and if it’s somehow more “about you and your personal satisfaction” than it is “about the client’s needs”, I’d recommend that you really should find some other line of work.
Good article. I enjoyed it!
Collis yet another wonderful post, definitely dugg by me! I think another important area is communication, so many freelancers fail to reply promptly to emails/phone calls and fail to understand that by being a ‘good communicator’ and responding promptly to queries or requests you can immediately set yourself apart!
Giving your clients the type of service and quality of work you yourself would expect is such a priority. People will take someone else’s recommendation over an advertisement, so as Collis points out being referrable will kick-start your business and will actually do the advertising for you. I know personally that word of mouth referrals are a major driver of business for me.
I can attest to No.6 – when i launched Postscript5, i had a major flood of traffic from nearly all of the CSS Galleries and when i redesigned the same thing happened, i still continue to recieve alot of traffic from these sources and have found work through clients seeing my work showcased. So it all adds up!
Hooray, thanks everybody! I must confess I was a bit worried that it would sound like I was talking myself up a bit too much, so I’m glad it didn’t come across that way
And yay for it getting dugg, even if the site did go down for a while!
Spot on! Just getting started with a firm of our own. You folks have been very helpful and most of all encouraging. Been a Freelance Switch reader for a while now. It is listed at our news site http://www.dinfilter.com also adding PSTuts as featured content this week.
The best of holidays.
Don and Katy Ulrich
#7. Shoot lots of meth
Collis ::
Great article. I am always being asked by my students how to turn what they’re learning in the classroom into a career. The six points that you outline are solid examples on how to turn a hobby, degree or skillset into a career. The pull-quote is critical advice. The work we do for our clients is strictly _not_ about self-expression.
cheers!
Another great tip if your located in Australia – Service Seeking (www.serviceseeking.com.au). Heaps of website design jobs get posted there, and not a lot of competition for the work. It seems like it is quite easy to win work, and they don’t charge anything. Its great.
Kick-a$$ article. High-profile is definitely a huge key that a lot of people miss.
Very good insight. I just built a website for the services that I offer, previously I relied solely on referrals from customers.
the biggest boon to my business came after i joined a few networking groups in town and started getting out of my office and meeting people. i’ve been freelancing for almost 10 years, and out of that time, only 1 job was a cold cal. all the rest were referrals and from people i met thru networking.
to add to your list, two more tips for getting lots of design work:
#1: Don’t be a nay-sayer. Be enthusiastic and welcoming of more work, even when the client says “this will be a challenge” or “i know it’s a lot of work with a short deadline”. my answer: “No Problem”. and my client has commented on how much he loves that i’m always up for it. it takes the pressure off him.
#2: be accessible. i can’t tell you how many jobs I’ve landed where the reason for hiring me was “our last designer won’t answer any emails. we don’t know how to reach him. and we we did in the past, it’d still take him a week or so to get anything back to us”. Stay in communication with your client.
great article!
Okay I’m sorry that I’m not going to fall in line with everyone else on this, but this post seems absolutely trite to me. Points 1-5 are completely obvious. Now I’m alright with stating the obvious as long as there’s some meat to be had somewhere. We all need a good reminder every so often. Unfortunately, the only thing that isn’t obvious is point number 6, Get a High Profile. And it’s said as if you can just go out there and BAM, oh I’ve got a high profile client, or high profile blog, or now I’m published on some high profile website. I know I won’t win any high profile awards for this comment, but it just doesn’t work that way unless A) you have extraordinary talent B) you have connections C) you’ve worked you butt off for years and years and now you’re finally seeing the fruit of it.
Great article, on a nicely designed site!
Keep up the good work
Excellent post, you give some great insights that can go a long way for freelancers. Great outside the box thinking.
Thanks for this great article! It’s very useful for a full time freelancer like me. I don’t do much design though but most of it applies
Great article. Some very nice tips in there.
Great Article.
I can definitely attest to #6 as well. My portfolio has only been live for about a week, and being featured on several CSS galleries has led to three project inquiries.
I also started out doing web page designs! It was the first time that I actually got PAID and then I knew that I was just hooked on it! I have since gone on to include other things in my “resume” but designing websites was where I got started.
I’m glad that you posted about this because there are so many people that want to be paid webdesigners but often get discouraged about being able to find paying clients.
Your post (and your story) is a good inspiration for aspiring professional web designers!
Hey Dustin, don’t worry that’s a fair argument, I know that we do sometimes write things like “write a book” or “get a high profile” as if they are somewhat innocuous statements. I guess what I was writing was more of a this-is-what-worked-for-me.
One thing I would say on the high profile is that it takes just as much work as point 1 – getting good. Neither comes easily, but both are worthwhile. I think I have a little high profile, certainly no-one is inviting me to speak at conferences or anything like that, but what I do have has been useful. The other day when telling a future client that I needed a lot of creative control they replied by saying “don’t worry I totally trust you”, despite never having worked with me before. I wanted to do a little dance of joy
And to everyone, thanks so much for the positive feedback!! It’s much appreciated!
you mention building the article you think the client wants to see….
Early in the game I dint know good css coding skills. What are your thoughts on having well designed sites but mediocore coded sites in your portfolio early on?
What a wonderful write-up. It certainly gives one a food for thought.
nice article collis…
any idea on when the freelancers survey will come out?
thanks…
The point about being enthusiastic is so very right, but it’s not just your clients who like working with you, it makes your job more enjoyable too.
I really liked this article. I’ve been looking for ways to build and expand my business beyond it’s current limits, and this helps. The high-profile website is a great idea and something I’m working on at the moment. Let’s hope it works!!
Gotta disagree with some of the sentiments in this article.
Bad clients? They DO exist. Believe me. And no amount of convincing can change the mind of a truly tasteless client. And, no matter how poor you are, or how slow work has been, you don’t need another ugly site in your portfolio. I’ve become rather good at smelling a stinky client before the contracts are signed–I would encourage other designers to flex your “bad client sixth sense” as much as possible. Have them send you samples of sites they like–if they’re horrible, so is the client.
However, I think the overall gist is great. Good, thoughtful, client-friendly design will generate more and more work.
Hey Collis, thanks for the brave follow up to my comment. It’s replies like yours that really help us to learn from each other.
nice to finally read it too
thanks collis, great points.
One of my favorite article here in FWs. I read it many times and I did a hard copy of it, so helpful Bless u all. Thanks
Hi Collis, I’m very new in web design and I wanna ask you if you can suggest me some books to get started, also I’am not to good in english so if you know some of then that are translated in spanish i would thank you a lot, if not, just tell me some titles and i will look for them in spanish if the exist.. Thanks
Thanks for putting this out. I just recently started designing freelance fulltime and found this article very informative and helpful.
Good article Collis.
Yes very good article Collis, one of the better ones I have read on hear!
Good words to adhere by. I’m fairly recent to the biz, less than a year. I’m amazed at how much I need to learn. It’s a good thing I like to Learn.
I will definitely be subscribing to your blog!!!!
Bravo! Great article! I am a young and unexperienced student, at the start of his carrier and those advises are real value to me. Thanks and keep doing this good job.
Hi there, I’ve been reading your articles with great interest..
With respect to this article in particular, I would suggest that a vital ingredient is self-belief. Believe you can do something, it’s the best way to start. Perhaps if you believed you could crack that last 20% you just might do it ! Thanks for all your guidance here on your site though.. you have helped me start to believe !
What a nice article post… very useful like us who are just new in freelancing web industry. know that its really hard to find clients out there. But i hope that sooner they will give a chance to those who are new ones but having the good capabilities.
Yeah, this is great advice, Collis. You’re spot on.
Great Article… Where I am from one finds oneself wearing many hats and using every guerrilla tactic just to stay afloat, so let me just throw in a few:
Teach a Beginners class in your field to small business(SBA). This puts you, and your expertise in front of many clients and gets all that basic explanation out of the way. This scales well too, if you have a name, speak at a forum for lots of small business about how (in this instance) Good Web Design with standards and navigational structure can change their business.
E-mail lists & Standard postal rolls. Don’t misunderstand me, DON’T SPAM. Send Christmas cards(well designed), announce shows, do a year in review. Don’t try to sell them, make them feel cool for receiving the post or e-mail.
Collaborate. In this case, with Illustrators, Photographers etc. They will cross-promote you.
Submit your designs for awards. I have seen some fantastic work go unnoticed because it didn’t get submitted. When I taught, I required my students to find at least 2 local contests or awards and submit their limit. We won a surprising amount. Collis mentioned not winning any, well I am impressed, I am sure other will be too.
Write. I have a hard time with this one because I don’t think like this… but I am trying. Articles in online magazines and blogs. Paper magazines, newsletters, fiction(billable hours) J/K. Get your lead out at least once a day, even for a ridiculously long comment on an excellent article.
My 2 Cents – Mike
I must say, this has been really informative. I have been at this for just over a year and I totally agree with all the points listed above.
Thanks for thinking about us and giving us a heads up.
Cheers
Good post. Very inspirational – especially to someone who like you – consider themselves not to be the best designer / artist but do appreciate good work. I have a keen eye for good art, and most of the time struggle to be like the best artist out there. Thanks to your post, I will aim for what works for me – not to beat the rest.
Great..great post man. I’m a freelancer myself and I can relate to everything you said. Thank you!
Thanx
Collis,
I thoroughly enjoyed your advise on building client retention and as a start up designer, marketing professional and Photographer myself, can certainly relate to your views. It is refreshing to see that in my search for good articles that not only make common sense but touch on real steps or best practice methodology, you have hit the nail right on the head so to speak. Good on ya and I will be watching for more to come….
Cheers and all the best,
Christopher James
great article
Thank you . Very Good.
Thanks so much.
I am grateful to you for this great content.
Great stuff! Thanks for the brilliant advice.
Excellent…..thanks for sharing.
i want some designing works through web sites,i want to register …what will do?
I think I fall into the mistake of designing my portfolio for my liking. I’m in the habit of working on my portfolio (sometimes redesigning a redesign) in between freelance projects.
When working with a client I conduct usability tests to make sure the focus is on the audience and the design floats around their likes.
But for some reason my portfolio is about me me me.
I think this article sheds light on the fact you NEED TO DESIGN FOR YOUR TARGET.
Great stuff! Thanks for the brilliant advice.
Collis, I totally agree with what you have recommended in this article. I pretty much get all my business this way. Thanks!
Getting steady work is def a combination of a lot of things. Most important would be providing a quality service and ending every project on a good note. You should also tell your clients to let their friends know and give them some business cards.
People love to refer good services and people to their friends.
Great post! I can’t agree enough with your points, in particular number 6.
The internet is such a huge portal through which we all connect. Yet still, marketing yourself on the internet is probably the most confusing and challenging task to date. Start by spreading yourself out! Utilise every free marketing channel available on the internet to get your name out there.
I have even written a post about it called Marketing Yourself Through The Internet For Free (http://diesellaws.com/marketing-yourself-through-the-internet-for-free/) – I hope some of you find it useful to get your name further out there!
Yes, liked your take on not getting too distracted with your own design tastes. Remember being a (web) designer is about communication first, asthetics second. Learn to be flexible – would be my number one tip for beginners.
Thank you very much for your tips are very useful to me at least to assert concepts. Frelance work can be better or worse but it is important to devote time to what you do to achieve ever more refined and always learning and practice work.
This is a fantastic article, really has helped me put a few things into perspective!
this website helps me a lot. i like such informations, to get my own website boosted and more professional!
Collis Ta’eed, Thanks for such a great work.
You and your posting are awesome.
Great sections….. Honestly, I like it very much.
Yeah, i think its true about designing a high profile site, gives you so much exposure.
Its all good and well designing sites which only get a little traffic, but its much harder to get additional work with these sites.
Absolute awesome site with lots of good information always enjoy coming here.
Awesome article. Really enjoyed reading about things that I’d like to accomplished in my life, and so nice of you to set us on the right track.
Thanks a lot, greetz from Brazil!
Great stuff! Thanks for the brilliant advice.
First of all your site looks like you bought it off of template monster for $60.00
Secondly you don’t get 2-3 design jobs per week.
Web design is an all but dead industry.
Dan said (“First of all your site looks like you bought it off of template monster for $60.00
Secondly you don’t get 2-3 design jobs per week.
Web design is an all but dead industry.”)
Jealous much!!??!?!!?
Great article by the way
great article. I am a up and coming web designer so any little nuggets of info I can find always helps out. (http://www.catwebdesign.co.uk)
Hey Collis, you nailed it at point 5; the difference between “Artist” and “Designer”. Nice one, you should write a book. I will buy.
great post & we’re all happy to hear about your success.
I was browsing for this the other day. I don’t usually publish in blogbut i needed to say thanks!
This is a really good article. Some very good tips here that people should definitely take note of.
I want to get more and more web designing/developing projects
Thanks a lot! Your article is similar on some another but it has opened my brain wider =)
there’s no money in freelance web design. anyone who tells you otherwise is just trying to sell you something.
Good post. Very inspirational – especially to someone who like you – consider themselves not to be the best designer / artist but do appreciate good work. I have a keen eye for good art, and most of the time struggle to be like the best artist out there. Thanks to your post, I will aim for what works for me – not to beat the rest.
very very useful post…i have used the method that you mentioned..we got 2 web design projects now..
Thank you for your useful post..
very very useful post…i have used the method that you mentioned..we got 2 web design projects now..
Thank you for your useful post.
Great post. I love the 80/20 rule. I started to work by it and improved my efficiency so greatly, I can’t believe it! I also started to delegate less important work, so I can focus on the things that really matter.
Good article and help other freelance move up.
Thanks for the help, just to clarify though…
“my client has bad taste” or “my client demands changes that ‘ruin’ a design”
These are still valid points and something to you should moan about, never just let your client walk all over you or you will end up with something that looks like ebay (but without the traffic, very depressing).
However, you should learn to manage these disagreements by becoming fluent in the kind of persuasive language that clients get hypnotised by e.g “having a completely pink site will diminish the effectiveness of your visual language and reduce conversions” or “your customers will think you are a nutter and won’t trust the financial advice your site offers”.
As long as it’s true and you are persuasive, jobs a good un.
Web Design is the worst career you can choose. There is simply no cash in web design. No one pays real money for web design anymore. They simply do it themselves, or have a friend do it for them, or hire some kid to do it for them for 80 bucks, or buy a template from a shop.
Everyone who is not already on the web is looking to get on for as cheap as possible. And that’s very easy to do.
I completely agree about the 80/20 rule. It takes time and effort to build up that first 80% of competancy, but raw talent and skill to finish off the rest of the 100%.
Most people just aren’t capable of doing it, which is why most design companies are larger teams, each person has a smaller responsibility which they specialize in.
these are good ideas i am going to use the submit to galleries one. i’m glad i’m not the only one who wants to redesign their web weekly.
i didn’t use to mention my new clients the worked i did for my past clients. just asked them their requirements and provide them a mockup…
really worth reading this article.. whatever work we have done, we should have showcase to show them to our new clients…
secondly i found it very interesting and helping line for emotional and sentimental designers… “If you want to make things to please yourself, go be an artist.”
The Pareto principle is great. Just use it – and it works!
thanks for every thing……………..i love u
It is definitely very time consuming to line up gigs and fill a consistent pipeline as a freelancer, and it’s very important to leverage as many tools as possible to get your work seen by people who might be potential clients.
One thing I’m trying to work on is a way to incorporate very personalized video that can be embedded onto freelancers’ personal websites, shared on Facebook / Twitter, e-mailed to friends and potential clients, etc — a way to promote a freelancer’s portfolio and personal brand through documentary-style video.
If that is something that anyone here might find useful, why don’t you check it out at: http://seemehearme.motionthink.com and let us know what you think?