The freelance job market has exponentially increased in recent years. By the year 2020, according to Quartz, 40 percent of the U.S. workforce will be freelancers. Succeeding as a freelance logo designer might seem nearly impossible, especially with the stiff competition in today’s market. However, following these steps closely will drastically improve those odds.
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Breathe Life into Your Online Portfolio
The first, and sometimes last, thing that clients will see from you is your portfolio. Developing a high-quality online portfolio, according to Design Shack, is a vital requirement in order to survive as a freelancing designer. However, simply creating an online portfolio is not even half of the battle. You need to breathe life into it effectively. Keep in mind that the average client scans through numerous online portfolios and samples throughout the year especially if they have a consistent workload.
Your online portfolio needs to be captivating and engaging enough to grab their attention and get them hooked. The average freelance logo designer, for example, strives to use his or her online portfolio to pull prospective clients as far away from their competitors as possible.
Keep your portfolio updated with high-quality samples that reflect your versatility as a designer not just your personal favorites. Clients do not want to read what you can do such as in an online profile or short biographical description. They want to be able to see proof of your work with their own eyes.
Create a Website for Your Brand
Having an online portfolio is simply not enough. If you want to prepare yourself for as many online project opportunities as possible, you need to develop your own website as well. As mentioned earlier, you should still take full advantage of the profiles and bio pages provided by freelancing websites with registered accounts.
However, those profiles are drastically limited when it comes to displaying your work and developing your overall brand. Having your own website will make it easier for potential clients and employers to directly contact you and explore your portfolio and samples, according to Entrepreneur. You can also maximize exposure to your work by linking your official website to your freelance website accounts and vice versa.
The best part is that there are websites with standard templates you can set up and get running free.
Take Advantage of Free Profiles
As you probably already know, there are numerous freelancing websites on the Internet today, including Elance, ODesk and Freelancer.com. Chances are that you will not receive many logo design offers from all of the websites for which you register accounts. However, this does not mean you should not take full advantage of the contractor profiles within them.
Keep in mind that each completed online profile provides potential clients with yet another way to find you. Free profiles might not seem to generate a lot of views and traffic, but you should view those pages as free advertising for your work. You never know who might find you and reach out to you with a job offer through a website that you have forgotten about completely. Even an experienced graphic design professional, appreciates the value of free advertising.
Never Become Complacent With Your Skillset
If you have the attitude that you are comfortable with your current skillset and do not need to learn anything else, you are already doomed to fail. As mentioned earlier, the competition in the world of freelancing is stiff and it is only going to get stiffer in the years to come. You need to continue growing your skillset in order to become more marketable as a freelance designer. Study new patterns and trends that are becoming more and more popular. Pay close attention to the expectations of new clients as well as the work of the designers that win the jobs you lose. Focus on adapting and modifying your style and design skillset accordingly in order to maintain (or even gain) an edge on your competition.
As you experiment with new styles, looks and even fonts for your work, do not forget to update your online portfolio accordingly.
Don’t Quit Your Day Job – Yet
One of the biggest reasons why many freelancers fail is they set their expectations way too high. As soon as they receive their first freelancing gig, they might decide to quit their day job shortly thereafter. This is not the course of action to take especially if you want to enjoy a long career as a successful freelance.
Start with closing small jobs and moneymaking design strategies, in order to build up your client base before making any major decisions about your current day job.
