Tips For Getting Clients As A Graphic Designer In 2024
Summary
TLDRIn this video, Don from dap.com shares his insights on building a successful freelance design career. He outlines four phases: starting as a newcomer, the outreach phase, pushing your rock up the hill, and finally coasting when clients find you. Don emphasizes the importance of quality work, networking, genuine client relationships, and leveraging social media to showcase your portfolio. His tips guide freelancers on how to progress through these stages and achieve a steady flow of clients through word of mouth and referrals.
Takeaways
- 😀 Embrace freelancing as a journey with distinct phases, each requiring different strategies for growth and stability.
- 🔍 As a newcomer, focus on making good first impressions and doing quality work to build a foundation for your career.
- 💪 Invest in 'Sweat Equity' by taking on projects that may not pay well initially but provide exposure and experience.
- 🎨 Build a strong portfolio that showcases your strengths and the type of work you want to be known for, even if it includes conceptual work.
- 📱 Be active on social media to increase your visibility and build a following that can lead to more clients and opportunities.
- 📩 Engage in smart networking and cold outreach to find clients, but ensure to do your research and form genuine connections.
- 🛠️ Continuously improve your craft and stay consistent in delivering high-quality work to build a reputation in your field.
- 🤝 Cultivate strong relationships with clients by being personable and reliable, as word-of-mouth is crucial for referrals.
- 🏔️ Strive to reach a phase where clients come to you, indicating you've built a strong enough reputation and client base.
- 💰 Understand the importance of pricing strategies; start with competitive rates and adjust as you gain experience and recognition.
- 🌐 Utilize social media to your advantage, showing potential clients that you're capable and reliable through your online presence.
Q & A
What is the main challenge freelancers face when starting their career?
-The main challenge freelancers face when starting their career is finding clients and securing enough work to make a living, as the income from clients can be unstable and inconsistent.
What is the term 'Sweat Equity' in the context of freelancing?
-In the context of freelancing, 'Sweat Equity' refers to the hard work that one might have to put in without immediate financial gain, such as taking on free work to build a presence and reputation in the industry.
Why is building a portfolio important for a freelance designer in the early stages of their career?
-Building a portfolio is important for a freelance designer in the early stages of their career because it showcases their skills and abilities to potential clients, helping to secure work and establish credibility.
What is the significance of being personable with clients in the context of the freelance design industry?
-Being personable with clients is significant because it helps to build genuine connections and trust, which can lead to repeat business, referrals, and word-of-mouth recommendations, all of which are crucial for a successful freelance career.
How does social media play a role in a freelance designer's career progression?
-Social media plays a crucial role in a freelance designer's career progression by providing a platform to showcase their work, engage with potential clients, and build a following that can lead to increased visibility and job opportunities.
What is the purpose of doing design challenges for a freelance designer?
-Design challenges serve to improve a freelance designer's skills, generate additional work to showcase in their portfolio, and attract attention from potential clients by demonstrating their creativity and commitment to their craft.
Why is it important for a freelance designer to not just focus on the quantity of work but also the quality?
-Focusing on the quality of work is important because it helps to build a reputation for excellence, which can attract higher-quality clients and lead to more lucrative and fulfilling projects, as opposed to focusing solely on quantity which may not showcase the designer's best abilities.
What is the concept of 'pushing your rock up the hill' in the context of the freelance design career?
-The concept of 'pushing your rock up the hill' refers to the continuous effort and improvement a freelance designer must put into their work to advance their career, gaining more clients and recognition as they progress.
How can a freelance designer leverage word-of-mouth to grow their business?
-A freelance designer can leverage word-of-mouth by providing excellent service and building strong relationships with clients, which can lead to referrals and recommendations from satisfied clients to their network, expanding the designer's client base.
What is the final phase of a freelance designer's career as described in the script, and what does it signify?
-The final phase described in the script is 'completely coasting,' which signifies a point in the freelance designer's career where they have established such a strong reputation and network that clients actively seek them out for work, rather than the designer having to search for clients.
What are some strategies a freelance designer can use to increase their credibility and attract more clients?
-Strategies include consistently delivering high-quality work, being active on social media, participating in design challenges, networking effectively, and under-promising and over-delivering to ensure client satisfaction and positive word-of-mouth.
Outlines
🚀 Starting a Freelance Design Career
In the first paragraph, the speaker introduces the challenges of freelancing, emphasizing the importance of finding clients and the instability of income. They share their personal experience working with high-profile clients and outline a four-phase approach to building a freelance design career. The focus is on the initial phase where newcomers are advised to do good work, make good impressions, and invest in 'sweat equity' by taking on projects that may not pay well initially but help in gaining exposure and experience.
🔍 The Outreach Phase: Building a Portfolio and Networking
The second paragraph delves into the 'Outreach Phase,' where the speaker discusses the necessity of being proactive in reaching out to potential clients and building a solid portfolio. They suggest creating concept work to showcase one's abilities and engaging in design challenges to improve skills and gain attention. The importance of social media presence and the strategy of cold outreach through emails and direct messages are highlighted, with an emphasis on genuine engagement rather than spamming potential clients.
🏋️♂️ Pushing the Rock Up the Hill: Consistency and Growth
In the third paragraph, the speaker refers to the phase of 'pushing the rock up the hill,' which symbolizes the continuous effort required to grow as a freelance designer. They stress the importance of maintaining a good relationship with clients, being personable, and consistently delivering quality work. The speaker also touches on the significance of word-of-mouth referrals and the role of social media in showcasing work and attracting clients.
🏄♀️ Coasting at the Top: Reaping the Benefits of Hard Work
The final paragraph discusses the ultimate phase of 'coasting,' where the freelance designer has built a reputation and client base to the point where work comes to them through referrals and reputation. The speaker emphasizes the importance of maintaining the attributes of previous phases, such as being active on social media, having a strong portfolio, and challenging oneself to improve. They conclude with key takeaways, including the importance of understanding the distinct phases of a freelance career and the need for consistency, quality, and genuine client relationships.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Freelancer
💡Client Work
💡Sweat Equity
💡Portfolio
💡Networking
💡Cold Outreach
💡Word of Mouth
💡Social Media
💡Concept Work
💡Phases of Freelance Career
💡Referrals
Highlights
Designing smarter not harder is the core philosophy of the channel.
Freelancing involves finding your own work and dealing with the instability of client work and income.
The fear of finding clients is one of the biggest challenges in freelancing.
The speaker has worked with high-profile clients like Metallica and Olivia Rodrigo.
Freelancing is broken down into four phases: newcomer, outreach, pushing your rock up the hill, and coasting.
As a newcomer, focus on doing good work and making good first impressions.
Sweat equity involves putting in hard work that may not directly lead to financial growth initially.
Building a portfolio is crucial for showcasing your skills to potential clients.
Engaging in cold outreach through emails and direct messages is a key strategy for finding clients.
Being personable and forming genuine connections with clients is essential for repeat business and referrals.
Word of mouth is a powerful tool for attracting new clients.
As you progress, increase your prices to reflect the quality of your work and the value you provide.
Coasting phase is reached when clients start coming to you due to your reputation and connections.
Consistency in delivering value and maintaining a good portfolio are key to reaching the coasting phase.
Social media presence is vital for showcasing your work and building a following.
The importance of underpromising and overdelivering to build trust and authority as a designer.
The video concludes with key takeaways and final tips for aspiring freelance designers.
Transcripts
hey y'all welcome back to the channel
I'm Don with dap.com where I help you
design smarter not harder being a
freelancer means you have to find your
own work and finding your own work can
be very hard and scary it's completely
on you to make a living for yourself so
you can pay rent eat and do whatever you
need to do and that can be a pretty
daunting thing for a lot of people
considering that the amount of client
work you get and the money you get from
those clients is not always going to be
stable in fact one of the biggest fears
within freelancing in general is being
able to find any clients at all I've
been extremely lucky to work with
hundreds of clients over the past few
years including some big names like
Metallica and Olivia Rodrigo but of
course it did not start that way in this
video I'm going to give you my Approach
for getting clients as a freelance
designer and I'm going to break that
down into four phases you might go
through in your freelance career while
you're watching this video try to
identify what phase you're in and what
you need to do to progress on to the
next phase so with all that being said
let's learn how to make some
guav so phase number one you're a
newcomer you just got onto the scene
you're just starting to look for clients
or maybe getting yourself a little bit
out there on social media not many
people know about you yet you're
probably going to be getting a lot of
local work or work requested from
friends maybe your friend band needs a
t-shirt or your friend's company needs a
new logo quick sign out you're actually
always going to barely cross up having
your friends request some design work
from you some friend somewhere is going
to have a great business idea that they
want you to make a outstanding new logo
for which is great that you come to mind
but it does kind of get funny down the
road especially when they want that uh
that friend discount AKA free so at this
point if you're even getting work for
some local places or for your friends
it's a good place to start and get your
feet wet but it's not going to be
sustainable either way here's some tips
on that front as you begin your
freelance career this actually applies
all the way down the road but number one
do good work and make good first
impressions your work will get better
over time obviously no one starts as the
LeBron of design but focus on quality
over quantity and persist in trying to
learn something new with every design
that you do number two you got to put in
that Sweat Equity even though it sucks
this is a term that I hated to hear here
but it's real and it basically means
sometimes you're just going to have to
put in that hard work even though it may
not directly lead to instant Financial
growth so sometimes you do have to take
on free work just to get your name out
there and get your presence on the
Playfield or maybe even work with
clients with a really low budget again
just to get your name out there if I
never did all that I would not be where
I am right now so it does suck in the
moment but it will pay off down the road
it's obviously something you don't want
to stick to for long um as you progress
you don't want to do free work or start
consistently working with clients that
have a low budget you don't want to get
stuck in that phase at all you also want
to really start taking seriously
building out your foundations especially
if you didn't go to school for art or
design you want to start feeling
yourself out as a designer gaug what
kind of people are interested in your
work and also where your work fits best
in then hone in on what you're good at
that way you can start trying to build a
client base inside of that Niche that
you're interested in so phase one is all
about finding yourself as a designer
finding what Niche you want to pursue
and start putting in the work for anyone
who takes interest
okay now we're getting into phase number
two the Outreach phase so at this point
you've done some work around town maybe
for some friends or some clients you
found on social media but it's
definitely not enough to be stable so at
this point you want to start really
reaching out to clients and getting as
much work under your belt as you can
this is where you have to start being
really prolific not only with your work
but also in networking and reaching out
to clients and putting in the effort in
finding people who want your
work so here are some tips for phase
number two you want to build a portfolio
first so find what you're good at or
what you like to do and build a solid
portfolio off of that even if it's fake
if you're struggling to find clients
within your Niche start doing concept
work in the niche that you want to build
a client Basin use this to show people
that you can deliver them value as a
designer don't just expect them to trust
you they're hiring you to make some cool
stuff to look at so the first thing you
want to do is show them some cool stuff
to look at you can even start doing
design challenges to improve your design
game and get some more work out there I
know a lot of my friends who have gred a
lot of attention and clients by doing
challenges like the 365 poster where you
make a poster for every day of the year
or even 36 Days of type or whatever so
just find what suits you and crank out
work that your ideal client base would
be looking for you also don't need to
have a super polish portfolio I've
honestly always just used Instagram as
my portfolio but then again a lot of the
work I do was sort of informal uh in
comparison to like corporate design so
if you feel your work needs more context
and explanation you can create a pretty
cool portfolio using like a website
builder like Squarespace or Wix or
something like that but again focus more
on the quality of the work that you're
putting out there rather than the
portfolio itself and here's my biggest
tip on on here be everywhere on social
media this is just how it is in present
day you need to be on social media get
on Instagram and Tik Tok you can post
process videos even anything you can do
to start building a following is going
to give you Credence and eventually help
you find clients here's another big tip
you have to start engaging in cold
Outreach so cold emails cold DMS things
like that just make sure to do your
research I obviously didn't get to work
with Metallica by dming the metall
Instagram page if you want to get a
client like that you want to find what
company does their merch find someone in
that company that can link with the art
directors maybe go on LinkedIn for that
and start reaching out from that angle
you want to be smart about your
networking you don't always want to
reach out to the top boss or your dream
client immediately you want to start
small and work with people that know
those people and maybe they refer you
and you can work your way up that chain
the first couple clients I got were off
cold messages here's actually the exact
message that I DMD a ton of clothing
brands when I was starting out a lot of
them didn't respond but some of them did
and that got me some really good and
consistent client work that I can put on
my portfolio and eventually get more
clients from just do not however be a
bot you don't want to a thousand of the
same messages to everyone you know like
you're some sort of pyramid scheme talk
to people and potential clients like
people have genuine conversations form a
connection and that will lead you a lot
further than sending them a message like
I do designs please hire me that's
something I only learned later on but
it's going to help you a lot so the
concept of quality over quantity doesn't
just apply to your work but it also
applies to the way that you network with
people okay phase number three this is
what I like to call pushing your rock up
the hill getting a little existential
here at this point you've got some
decent clients on your belt just enough
to make you think maybe I can start
doing this for a living you know you've
got yourself some repeat clients and
you're starting to feel a little bit
more comfortable with the whole
freelance thing so at this point you
just got to keep pushing that rock up
the hill and by that I mean just keep
chipping away at your craft get really
comfortable with your work and you'll
keep going up as long as you stay
consistent it only gets easier from here
the more work you do the more work
you'll get if you've got some repeat
clients that's a great way to get your
foot in the door with a lot of other
clients sometimes those clients will
just automatically refer you to their
friends but you don't always want to
wait on that to happen so you can always
message your clients like hey I love
working with you if there's anyone else
you know that needs work they can hit me
up again this ties back to having
genuine conversations and genuinely
bonding with your clients I can't
underestimate how important word of
mouth is so you want to make sure that
your clients like you not only as a
designer but as a person too you're also
hopefully showing your social media
followers and anyone you know pretty
much that you're getting these clients
that you're doing this work for them and
that ultimately gives you more Credence
and brings more people to your spot
so here's some tips for phase three as
you push your rock up the hill like I
said be extremely personable with your
clients make wholehearted connections
and be good to everyone you work with
trust me it goes a long way this may
seem obvious but you don't want to make
any bad Impressions and you sort of have
to be a people pleaser at this point you
want to be the guy that someone thinks
about when they need a new design or
when their friend mentions that they're
looking for a designer you want to make
sure to stick in the back of people's
heads because Word of Mouth really
really counts and it only gets more
important the more time you spend as a
freelance designer most of the time when
people need a design they don't know
where to go so they're going to start
asking around and if you made some
genuine connections with people you're
going to be popping up in those
conversations also you will fall
naturally into where you're supposed to
be according to the proficiency of your
work what I mean is if you're doing good
work people will notice and people will
tell people and you'll end up on
somebody's mood board and you'll end up
getting hired that's also a cheeky
little tip for you you want to be on
people's mood boards so put your work
everywhere you can including Pinterest
and Instagram Twitter and whatnot anyway
like I said push the rock do good work
and as you get bigger and better so with
your clients I do want to mention that
pressing is a huge factor in all this
but I'm not going to dwell on it too
much because I have a whole video on
that but basically a low price will help
you get work in the beginning once you
start building up your bases you want to
start increasing your prices and that
way you can do more quality work for the
same or more amount of money and you'll
also probably be dealing with better
clients you also want to keep this in
mind though prices aren't everything
sometimes you'll have to go back to that
Sweat Equity concept to build your
Credence Maybe by working with a big
artist who has a low budget or just
accepting a lower budget for some work
you really want to do think about it
like this even though for that project
you might not be getting the amount of
money that you want to get say if it's
for a big name then that's going to be
put on your portfolio and that will lead
more clients to your spot like I said
that gives you Credence it gives you
Authority and it builds your respect as
a
designer okay in Phase number four this
is what I'm going to call completely
coasting it takes a lot of hard work to
get to this point I'll be honest not
everyone will get to this point for
different reasons maybe you lacked on
your consistency maybe you weren't Smart
in your networking or you just haven't
put any the time to really improve your
craft but if you've reached the stage in
your design career you've done enough
client Outreach and worked with enough
people to have made such the amount of
connections where instead of you go to
the clients to get work the clients
start coming to you because they know
about you or they heard about you or
they saw your work somewhere or a friend
refers
them this also all ties back to Word of
Mouth again you really don't want to
underestimate that concept you can only
expect someone to trust you so much as a
designer but if someone that person
trusts tells them to trust you then
you're in either way the goal is to have
clients coming to you instead of the
other way around and it is only
achievable by doing this relentlessly
putting yourself out there constantly
delivering value to your clients and
being extremely personable with your
clients and your prospects the other
three phases is where you build the
foundation and lay the groundwork to get
here there's really no cutting corners
but I trust that if you are digilant
with your work and you follow all the
tips I outlined in this video you will
eventually reach the point of completely
coasting I do want to make it clear that
that this phase is still sort of
cumulative as then you're going to want
to have all the attributes of all the
other phases in your back pocket when
you need them so that's still being
ubiquitous on social media creating
genuine connections with your clients
maintaining a good portfolio and
challenging yourself to get better every
day that's the four phases I've taken
notice of during my time as a freelancer
I hope this helped you realize not only
what phase you're in but what you need
to do to progress to the next phase
let's quickly go over some of the key
takeaways here and some final tips
number one you have to understand that
your your journey as a freelancer
progresses through these distinct phases
and it's obviously not going to be the
exact same for everyone but just having
an outline like this helps a lot follow
all the tips I give you earlier and I
promise you'll thank me to if you're
unsure of your work or your capability
or your prices I recommend you under
charge or under promise and overd
deliver and once you're comfortable
enough with yourself as a designer you
can start building your Authority and
charge more appropriately for your work
remember the last thing you want to do
is make bad Impressions so just never
underd deliver number three get all over
social media and create a good base and
portfolio to show these clients that you
can deliver them value I can't stress
this enough you can't just expect people
to trust you you have to show them if
that means doing concept work in the
niche that you want to be involved in do
that if that means doing a design
challenge to keep yourself working and
show clients what you can do do that do
whatever you could do to show potential
clients coming across your page that
you're able to get the job done for them
number four do good work and be
personable with all your clients if you
do this I promise your clients will
refer you I'm at a point now where I
don't go searching for clients and I've
put in enough work where they start
coming to me because number one they
know I'll get the job done based on the
work that I put out there and number two
I've always tried to craft a good
experience for the client and I always
try to be as genuine as I can that way
they know they can trust me and that way
they'll let other people know that and
that word will get around and eventually
you'll start getting more clients based
on referrals and word of mouth and
that's not concrete but that's one of
the most important things to take note
of as a freelance designer number five I
just said this but I'm going to say it
again because it's that important get
all over social media post your work
often you never know who's watching all
right and that's a wrap if you like this
video be sure to like the video if you
like me subscribe to the channel I post
videos like this every week to help you
become a better designer I'll see yall
in the next one peace out
[Music]
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