GETTING CLIENTS WHILE WORKING FREELANCE
Jacob Ham
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DATE
10th April 2017
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DEADLINE.
NA
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Introduction.
Getting clients as a freelance designer can often be daunting task, however with the growth of social media and design platforms in today's world it can be much easier to land clients. Funnily enough I have been contacted about commissions more on my Twitter account (https://twitter.com/JacobDanielHam) than my actual website. It seems stupid but most businesses these days have a bigger social media presence than ever before. Please note that this blog post, is all based around personal experience.
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Updating and uploading work.
Whats so great about social media and design platform's such as Behance and Dribbble is that you can connect with a wider audience and can engage and get feedback, building a following along the way. Whenever I finish a logo design and have permission, I will instantly upload it to Dribbble, Instagram and Twitter. This can take seconds to do, and in return get likes, retweets and new followers. Thus meaning new potential clients to work with.
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Having a portfolio, is still a good idea as not every business or person in the world has social media. Its also a lot more professional and compared to Behance and Dribbble, it is centred around only you, not having thousands of people connected on one platform. Having an updated portfolio is always crucial to attracting clients of any nature.
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The waiting game.
I started to publish my work, nearly two years ago but did not get connect for my first paid commission until March 2016. Although it may sound confusing but during this time, I developed a project in which I created 100 logos starting from 1st January to April 10th 2016. This allowed me to have a constantly updated portfolio throughout the time, that showed anyone interested in my work, that i was willing to develop my skills further.
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Prices.
Prices can often influence projects and something that I have learnt is when starting out its best to charge much lower and gradually build up over time. When I started I charged nothing more than £10 for my work, I started to notice that my time was worth much more than that. Over time, every single week I would raise my prices a small amount, until I felt that the prices reflected my current workflow or skill as a designer. This now leads me to charging £125 for a logo design, with landing around 4-6 on average per month. Luckily this results in me, not having to get a job during the time of studying.
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The luxurious Dribbble Invite.
Behance is great and allows you to build a strong design based portfolio, however anyone with an Adobe Subscription can use the platform. Although this is not bad in any means, the site pushes projects aside if they are not "Featured" in a gallery. This meaning project that maybe better in quality will be further down in the search results.
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Dribbble, is a more exclusive platform. One that designers will feel proud to have work produced on due to the rare invite's for the platform. You can still sign up to the site but can not publish any work until you have a invite from another designer or luckily invited by Dribbble themselves. The site is branded around Basketball terms, so a post is known as a "Shot" and inviting someone is knowing as a "Draft". I was luckily invited to the platform during the summer (https://dribbble.com/JacobDanielHam) and have used it for many purposes. One being getting hired. When going pro (£1 per month), you get many features that enhance your experience on the site, one being the "Hire button" on your profile. Since switching to "Pro" in August, I have been contacted by 25 different clients. The switch is definitely worth it for the small price.
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The Summary.
In conclusion, the there is not direct way to get clients other than keeping and having an updated portfolio and design networks throughout the progression of your skills as a designer. In today's world its best to have a wide range of places for your work to be discovered, regardless of the medium. The more people that see your work, the higher the chance of someone contacting you about purchasing work from you in the first place.
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