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How to Become a Successful Freelance Designer
Jan 17, 2024
Can you make money doing design work you actually enjoy? In this video, we'll show you exactly how to become a successful freelance designer. We’ll talk about how to find your first clients, how to get paid, and how to make great money as a freelance designer. Here are just a few things we'll dive into in this video: (PS: You can follow along on this article: https://millo.co/10-steps-to-becoming-a-successful-freelance-designer ) 0:00 Introduction 1:00 How to find your first graphic design clients 2:25 What to name your freelance design business 3:02 What (and what not) to focus on in your portfolio 4:25 The power of over-delivering as a marketing tool 5:10 Invoicing tips for getting paid on time 5:55 Where to find referrals to grow your business Mentioned in this video: ================== 1:32 Getting your first design clients https://millo.co/struggling-to-find-clients-how-i-built-my-business-from-nothing 1:42 Freelance Job Sites UPWORK - https://millo.co/upwork
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Can you make money doing design work you actually enjoy
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In this video, I'll show you exactly how to become a successful freelance designer
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We'll talk about how to find your first client, how to get paid, and how to make great money as a freelance designer
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Stay tuned. Hey guys, Dorian here with Mill.co where freelancers come to level up their business
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And today, we're breaking down exactly how you can become a successful freelance designer
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You don't have to have years of schooling, and you don't need tons of expensive equipment
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All you need is some talent, some hustle, and this quick guide to becoming a successful freelance designer
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Before we dive in, remember to subscribe to our channel so we can help you
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grow your freelance business. Okay, to become a successful freelance designer fast, you're going to need a few simple things
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Your very first task is to find your first client. As a designer, it can be tempting to focus on lots of other elements of your freelance
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design career. Your business name, your company logo, or even which software you'll use to do
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design work. But literally, none of this matters as much as finding your first design client
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Because without clients, you don't make any money. And without money, your business is just a hobby
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Be sure to click the video we've linked in this video below in the description
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for more pro-level tips on getting your first clients. To get started, here are just a few simple ways to find your first design client
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Number one, search freelance job sites like Upwork, FlexJobs, or DribbbleJobs. You can also use a service like SolidGigs to automate your job hunting process
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Number two, tap into your personal network by notifying your colleagues, friends, and families and former clients that you're available for work
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There's no need to be pushy here, just making people aware often sends a few leads your way
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Number three, begin code emailing and code calling to establish a small base of new clients
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This method takes tons of time and energy, but it will pay off if you stick to it long enough
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After you've got a couple of clients willing to work with you, it's time to brand yourself and name your business
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Many freelancers debate whether to use your own name or a separate business name
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Here's our quick answer to that question. If you plan to work solo for most of your career, go with your own personal name as your brand
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If you want to hire and scale your freelance business, consider going with a broader name
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Most importantly, remember, you can always change this later. Don't let yourself get hung up on these kinds of decisions
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If you need more help naming your business, we've posted a link to our PDF naming workbook in the description of this video
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Next, it's time to focus on your portfolio. As a designer, you'll be tempted to spend a lot of time making your portfolio perfect
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Instead, take our advice and build a minimum viable portfolio. A minimum viable portfolio is exactly what it sounds like
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A simple, basic, but high converting portfolio that you can set up in a week or less
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Remember, you can always go back and update, upgrade, or completely change your portfolio
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The key here is to get something online fast so you can use it to bring in more business
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Here are just a few tips for building a powerful portfolio. Include just a few of your very best projects
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You don't need a never-ending thumbnail gallery of past projects. Pick three to five of your favorite previous projects and feature them well in your portfolio
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Make it easy for your potential clients to contact you. Your portfolio is not a place to show off your work
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It's a place to convert potential clients into paying clients. So make it really simple and easy to contact you from any page of your portfolio
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Focus on clients, not yourself. When building your portfolio, it can be easy to talk mostly about yourself
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Instead, focus on your past clients and the results you brought them
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Number four, you've got to over-deliver for your first client. As you work with your first few client projects
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take the time to over-deliver and really do a fantastic job. This will pay off in spades because freelance designers who over-deliver
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get more repeat design work and get more client referrals. If you want your freelance design business to stay in business for a long time
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you've got to over-deliver for your clients, especially early on. A few ideas include delivering projects ahead of schedule
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adding bonus deliverables at no extra cost, and over-communicating during the project
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Next, you'll need to learn how to invoice and collect payments. Getting paid as a freelancer sets you apart from hobbyists
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who do design work just for the fun of it. To learn how to best get paid for your freelance work
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we'll link an article from our blog below this video. Here are just a few things you'll want to learn early on
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How to write and send a contract. How to draft and send an invoice
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How to collect credit card payments online. What to do when a client doesn't pay
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You can also consider using tools such as Hectic, Bunzai, or FreshBooks
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which will allow you to manage many of these billing and invoicing tasks all in one place
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Links to each of these are in the description below. Finally, bring in referrals as often as possible
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Studies show that word-of-mouth marketing, also called referrals, account for five times more sales than paid media
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In fact, in an article from Harvard Business Review, freelancers making over $100,000 per year reported that
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84% of their work came from word-of-mouth marketing. But getting lots of referrals doesn't come easy or automatically
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You'll have to work for them. Start by asking for referrals from existing clients
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Every time you have a positive interaction with a client, remind them that you love to support their colleagues or friends
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by offering design services to them as well. Each time you over-deliver on a project, ask for a referral
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Every time you complete a project with a client, ask for a referral
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And if you need some extra help, have a look at our free referral getting email script, which we'll link below
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After you do enough quality work for enough people, the referrals will become a bit more organic
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But until then, it's up to you to make it happen. And that's it
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6 Simple Steps to Becoming a Freelance Graphic Designer As you follow these steps, you'll be well on your way to building a freelance design business
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and getting paid to do the kind of work you enjoy most
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I'd also love to hear from you in the comments. What's the biggest challenge you face while starting a freelance design business
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We'll read and respond to every comment. If you enjoyed today's video, please click that like button so we can keep
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making more videos to help you grow your freelance business. And if you want even more advice, visit Millo.co for the very best advice from
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successful freelancers making six figures and beyond. For now, I'm Dorian from Millo.co
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We'll see you soon
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