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.

Thanks guys!! I’d been meaning to write this post for months, nice to finally have it up

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

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

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…

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!

Excellent article, I find myself in the same place. Studying engineering but wanting to learn more about web design, your advice is welcomed!!!

Great..great post man. I’m a freelancer myself and I can relate to everything you said. Thank you!

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.

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 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!

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!

#7. Shoot lots of meth

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.

Very good insight. I just built a website for the services that I offer, previously I relied solely on referrals from customers.

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.

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.

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.

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

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?

nice article collis…

any idea on when the freelancers survey will come out?

thanks…

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!!

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.

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

Thanks for putting this out. I just recently started designing freelance fulltime and found this article very informative and helpful.

Yes very good article Collis, one of the better ones I have read on hear!

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.

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.

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

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.

Thanx

great article