Ask FreelanceSwitch #5

In this issue of Ask FreelanceSwitch, Travis King and Thursday Bram look at how to start your freelance career and what to do with an empty portfolio.

Ask FreelanceSwitch is a new 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.

It’s go time!

Question #1

I’m recently unemployed, since October of 2009. Maybe as a measure to make myself feel confident and better, I just immediately told people that I’m freelancing. Even though I didn’t entirely know what I’m doing. I’ve used your website for information and guidance however I’m having trouble with just the basics: where do I find clients? I’m not a part of a network of any major professionals, I’ve was in school for nearly 7 years and was only in the workforce for a little more than a year until they let me go. I’m just not sure where to turn to find clients effectively. From what I hear from other freelancers, so many of them developed relationships with clients from previous jobs or because they’ve been working in the field for so long.

What should someone fresh off the boat do? Just cold-calling? I should add that I’m currently focusing on web design and development but my schooling is in the fine arts, digital media and music. I just don’t feel confident I could make real money from my artwork and music.
Any advice for someone like me?

-Estevan

Thursday: Some freelancers luck out and don’t have to start finding clients from scratch. For everybody else, finding clients can be tough. Since clients don’t drop out of thin air, we have to go looking for them. There are several options beyond your own network:

• Bid sites like Elance: In general, I’m not the biggest fan of bid sites. It can be tough to find projects that pay a fair rate for work. But when you’re first starting out, especially if you don’t have the strongest portfolio, they can be a good option. Look for projects that pay you what you’re worth in order to start finding clients.
• Networking: While your network may not be the strongest when you’re starting out, it’s crucial to build it up, both online and off. Start networking groups for small business in your area — when you’re starting out, small business owners can make for great clients because they’ll often be willing to recommend you to their network if you do good work for them.
• Marketing: While bid sites can bring in money in the short-term, in the long-term, you’ve got to market yourself as a designer. Depending on the niche you want to work in, how you market yourself. If you want to design sites based on WordPress, release a free theme or two. If you want to put together sites for big non-profits, get testimonials from smaller non-profits. Look at your goals and start planning your marketing around them.

Unless you’ve got one heck of a portfolio, I’d actually suggest waiting on the cold-calling. Turning a cold call into one of your first clients is significantly harder than landing a client through cold calling when you already have a reputation as a great web designer — and even that is pretty tough.

Travis: I want to tell you a secret I picked up about freelancing, Estevan. It’s a lot of hard work. And while saying you’re a freelancer seems like a lot of fun on the surface, it doesn’t mean a whole lot if you don’t work at it as hard as you would any other job.

Let me illustrate. I like to tell people that I have the body of an underwear model, and while in my case it’s completely true, for most people that would be a lie. Because without a strict regimen of exercise and proper diet (which I don’t have) most people could only dream about being as mesmeric as I am. So as you can see, just saying you are something doesn’t magically make it true. Unless you’re me.

What I’m trying to say is this – get out there and pound the pavement. Look for chances to network and market yourself. It’s true, you’re starting at somewhat of a disadvantage without having at least a few clients before making the jump to freelancing, but if you’re willing to do your crunches and shape those buns, soon you’ll have a body of freelancing work almost as impressive as mine.

Also, one word if you’re thinking about doing any cold calling. Don’t.

Cold calling when you’re just starting out will the suck the life force out of you, leaving your body a shriveled pile of flesh on the office floor. Some people will tell you how successful they’ve become from doing cold calls. Those people are liars.

Question #2

I am getting started with web development freelancing but a problem that I am having is that all potential clients want to see a portfolio. I have years of experience but it has all been on internal sites. My question is how can I build a portfolio when I can’t land any freelance work?

- Brad

I want to freelance on the side and start to get established, but because we use External designers for our “look and feel” there is not a lot of creativity involved in what we produce. I’m having a hard time pulling together a portfolio to display even though I know I can handle most design aspects.
How do you think I can go about getting myself some examples of work done, so I can build up my portfolio?

Matt

Thursday: Having a solid portfolio is crucial as a freelancer, but luckily, there are plenty of options for building up samples of your work. The only downside is that it often requires working without payment. However, there are a few particularly good options.

A standard recommendation for beginning freelancers is to seek out non-profits that need help and offer to create a website for free in exchange for being able to use it in your portfolio. If you don’t have a lot of time on your hands, the payment issue may be a problem, but it can also be a fast way to get testimonials and pieces for your portfolio. Friends and family are also often willing to take advantage of an offer for a cheap or free website design.

Another option is to create samples sites — choose a website online and redesign it without even talking to the owner or create an imaginary client. However, since the site is not likely to be live, you can have a harder time of winning over clients. An alternative is building up a site or two of your own, like a blog about a favorite hobby or an informational website about a topic.

You can also create themes or templates and make them available online, either for free or through a marketplace like ThemeForest. While not quite the same as using client work in your portfolio, it will get your work out there and will often offer live sites that you can link to in your portfolio. Heck, you might even make a little money in the process.

Travis: You are both completely correct, without a portfolio, clients won’t give you the time of day.

Think of it this way, you know those signs in restaurants where it says “No Shoes. No Service”? Clients around the world have a similar saying – “No Portfolio. No Business.” (Also, as a word to restaurant owners – you should probably add “No Pants. No Service” to your signs as well. I was in a rush and I really needed my morning Americano. I thought the way I was treated was unfair and hurtful.)

At the beginning you’ll want to look for clients that you can volunteer your time and skills for in an effort to build up your portfolio. That will most likely mean working for free (I know, ick, right?). But always remember, just because you’re working for free doesn’t mean that you can skip putting together a contract or service agreement. Do everything like you would with a paying client. It will be good training and a protection against your largess being taken advantage of. And trust me; you never want someone to take advantage of your largess!

As Thursday mentioned, I think putting together work for sale on ThemeForest is also a great idea. Just remember to bring your A game and don’t feel bad if you get turned down a lot of times. You may not believe this, but even I have gotten my work rejected at ThemeForest. It’s a sad reality that even my superlative design skills can sometimes be overcome by my propensity for extreme laziness.