Freelance Tips | Freelance Advice | All About Freelance

There are so many ways to promote yourself as a freelance designer.

Advertising, both online and in analog, is great – but it can get expensive. A simple newspaper ad can run you $1200. That’s a lot of logo work.

Link exchanges, are – at best a crap shoot. You never really know how effective they are or how targeted they get.

Traditional media (TV, radio, billboards, direct mail) can be really, really effective – but again, you’ve got to lay out big bucks to make a splash.

But there are plenty of free things you can do to promote yourself and your business. They all take a little footwork, but they’re effective – and every little bit helps out. Check out some of these:

1. Free Work
When I started out as a freelancer, I would give work away. There are so many charities staging events who are looking for cheap or free design work – and you can often trade out some advertising or logo placement in return for your time. And the best part? These places remember you and could become a valued client a little down the line. If nothing else, they WILL recommend you. Do a good job, treat them as a paying client, and the promotional return can be huge.

2. Contact Everyone You Know
Tell your family, friends and colleagues. Let them know you’re out there and precisely what you’re up to. I can’t tell you how many jobs I’ve landed because a friend or family member was in a casual conversation with someone and that someone just happened to mention that they needed a design job or website done. You cannot over-estimate the value of networking – even if it’s amongst people you know. Every little bit helps!

3. Blog
I know I keep saying this – but you need a blog. Let people know what you’re up to. Rant and rave and talk about good (and bad) design. Search engines love blogs (WordPress is GREAT) and they’re free and easy. Don’t use it just as an engine for getting key words out there – make it real and fun and interesting, and people will come back. You can link it back to your portfolio (or use it as a portfolio) and you’ll build a great search engine rank before you know it.

4. Cold Calls
This one takes some chutzpah, but it can pay off big. Call ad agencies and screen printers, television stations, promotional product manufacturers, industrial establishments – nearly anyone in the business section of the phone book. Don’t call up and say “Hi, I’d like to talk to your manager and see if you have any design work for me to do, please.” Call in, ask to speak to someone in charge of marketing and promotion and simply introduce yourself, ask if it would be appropriate if you sent in a few business cards and a cover letter. Mention your site (I’m sure they’ll ask) and see if they’d like to meet in person to discuss the possibilities. There will be a bunch that shoot you down, but you might just wind up with a bunch of clients before you even get out of the “A’s.” So many businesses out there are afraid to approach a traditional agency for fear of cost – and they’ll be excited to hear that there is an alternative.

5. Partnerships
Partner up with local businesses, agencies and other freelancers. You don’t have to go it alone all the time. There are plenty of freelance copywriters out there who will know of people who are looking for design work – and plenty of I.T. professionals that can build the perfect website, but it won’t look good. Get in touch with those people who are in the ancillary businesses to yours, and beautiful (and profitable) music can be made.

There are a lot more, and I’ll be rambling on about those, too. The big key to promoting yourself as a freelance designer is persistence. Keep going, keep putting yourself out there, and the ball will be rolling before you know it.

I’ve had plenty of folks ask me what it takes to start a freelance design business – and I’ve seen all sorts of tips and pages and responses about that question.

“Get 2 years of salary in the bank before you start.” Yeah. That’s easy to do, right?

“Build your client base before you leave your full time job.” A little more realistic – but also difficult if you’re working full time.

“Build a name for yourself in the industry before you start out on your own.” Again, do-able, but hardly probable. If you build a name for yourself before you go out on your own, you’re really only building a name for yourself as a proxy for the company you’re leaving.

So – my advice? Easy.

Step 1: JUST DO IT.

If you’re passionate about great design and you really want to have control over your career and your opportunities as an artist* just step out on faith.

When I started (oh, so many moons ago) I had 2 consistent clients within the first 2 weeks of my decision to be a freelancer. 1 was production work (with very little creativity) and the other was for a client that strung me along for way, way less than my market value. Neither one was terribly fun, and in the long run, I wound up distancing myself from both.

But, I didn’t have a boatload of work, and I didn’t have a clue as to what I was doing – I just knew there was something better than the 9 to 5 I was pulling as a creative director in Corporate America (cue Darth Vader music.)

If you do good work, and you’re willing to put in the hours and start on some projects that are not neccessarily the best stuff in the world, you’ll make it over that initial hump. It might take some peanut butter sandwiches and ramen-noodle filled weeks, but you can make it. The sacrifice is well worth the reward.

Step 2: HAVE FUN
You’ve been given a gift. You see the design in the mundane and everyday objects. You see the world through different eyes. Not a lot of people approach life like that, and you’re pursuing that as a career. It has to be fun if you’re going to last. How bad is life if you can sit around, not shaving, wearing bad shoes and listening to whatever music you want – as loud as you want it? That’s a sweet gig – and a lot of people would kill to have a job like that. Fun and easy, however, are two different things. Don’t expect the latter – but bank on the former.

Step 3: NETWORK
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Seek out the local agencies, the local freelance designers, and the local people in the creative arts. Introduce yourself (this would be a good time to shave and wear nice shoes) and keep in contact. It might not lead to anything work-wise, but more often that not, it will. Plus, keeping yourself immersed and surrounded by creativity will keep you inspired. That’s key.

Step 4: DO IT FOR THE RIGHT REASONS
Do it for the art. Do it for passion. Do it for adventure. Do it for being able to wake up to a new job every day. Don’t do it for the money. Don’t do it to thumb your nose at the corporate world. Don’t do it for the ability to sleep late. Those are nice, but they’re a by-product of the karma you generate by doing the job the right way.

Step 5: FOCUS
Don’t let things distract you from your ultimate goal of success as a freelance designer. Not TV. Not your spose. Nothing. Focus and drive for what you want. Your goal is only as reachable as your focus is sharp. For someone like me with acute attention defecit disorder, it can be rough. But – define what you want out of your venture and then grab on like a starving dog latches on to a soup bone. Tenacity and focus pays off every time.

Step 6: DON’T PANIC
I keep saying this with this blog, but the most important thing you can do as a freelancer is to stay calm. It will work, and you’ll be better for it…

I’ll be adding some more concrete things you can do later (and as sub-pages on this site,) so keep checking back. Yeah, it’s a shameless way of begging for repeat traffic. Sue me.

(*Which, by the way – you are. You are first and foremost an artist. Don’t be fooled by your tools, and don’t let anyone tell you differently)