As you take the leap and venture into freelancing for the first time, there are some foundational things that you need to learn before you can get started. Your focus should be on finding your first clients, getting paid, and doing a great job on their projects.
Finding Your First Clients
Tip 1: Utilise your existing network
Finding your first client can be easier than you think. You likely have an existing network of friends, family members, colleagues, classmates, or online connections who you can reach out to about working together. Even if they don’t need work, they might know someone who does.
Reach out to them personally, or put out a request on social media for any referrals. You can also do some volunteer work for a charity or other organisation to get your first clients, gain some experience, have some testimonials to share to get your first paying clients, and do some good in the process.
Tip 2: Build your portfolio
Another great way to find your first clients is by building your portfolio. In the beginning, this could include volunteer work, school projects, and/or self-initiated work. You don’t need to have 50 projects to start getting clients - 3–5 high-quality projects is a great place to start and would be enough to get that first client.
Building a portfolio is valuable for two reasons:
- It gives you more work and testimonials to put on your website or show to prospective clients, and
- It grows your network, giving you access to more prospective clients.
Tip 3: Share your work
Once you’ve got some volunteer work, school projects, or self-initiated designs together, don’t forget to share them with your network! Send it to your personal connections and share it on social media to start getting your name out there, making more connections, and building a reputation for the kind of work you do.
Onboarding Your Clients
Send Proposals
Once you’ve found a client who is interested in working with you, it’s time to quote them for the project and send a proposal for the work. Your proposal should include an overview of the project, the price, payment terms, a detailed description of what’s included in the project, and a list of the deliverables. If you’re quoting a client for the first time, you could also include a section about you and why you’re a great fit for them, with some testimonials to back you up.
Sign Contracts
One of the most important things for a freelancer is to always have your client sign a contract. This protects both you and the client, and makes all aspects of the project clear to both parties. It is rare that you will need to enforce a clause from your contract, but on those rare occasions that you do, having a signed contract will protect everyone involved. Contracts can include things like:
- The project price
- Payment terms
- Late fees for unpaid invoices
- How expenses are treated
- The project timeline
- Who owns the work
- Confidentiality
- Whether you can include the work in your portfolio
- What happens if someone wants to cancel the project
Welcome Clients
When all of the practical aspects of your project are accepted and signed, you can welcome your client! Celebrate this moment and make it exciting for them. They’ve just invested their money in your work and it could be the start of an amazing partnership. You could email them a welcome document that outlines the process, record a welcome video to say how excited you are to work with them, send them a gift to welcome them as a client, or any number of other things to mark this occasion!
Getting paid
Price your services
One of the most difficult things about freelancing is knowing how to price your work. You need to decide what pricing strategy you will use and how much you will charge. 48% of freelancers get paid on a fixed fee, while 29% are paid hourly, and 23% experience a mix of both, but there are many options for pricing your work:
- Hourly (X amount of dollars per hours worked)
- Fixed (a fixed $ amount for the whole project)
- Retainer (an ongoing arrangement where you are paid the same amount per period of time)
Set up your payments
Deciding how much you charge is one thing, but getting paid is another! Setting up an easy invoicing system will make sure you can accept different types of payments from different clients and make it easy for them to pay you. Doing this now will have you invoicing like a pro from the beginning. Your invoices should include:
- Your name and contact details
- The client’s name and contact details
- Your tax information
- The price
- The payment deadline (Most freelancers give clients 2 to 4 weeks to pay an invoice once it’s sent)
- Any taxes that are included
- Available payment methods
- The words “Tax Invoice” if you’re GST registered
Manage your money
The ability to save moneyas a freelancer is the biggest worry for an astonishing 76% of freelancers, followed by saving for retirement and having an unpredictable income. Also concerning is 6 out of 10 freelancers feel like they live paycheck to paycheck. But being financially savvy isn’t something all freelancers think about when they get started. However, if you set up a system and learn to manage your money now with a budget, savings, and your taxes covered, you’ll be much more prepared to weather any financial challenges that freelancers can face.
Want to know the next step to starting your freelance graphic designer business? Read the full guide here.
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