[robbydesigns]

Father Christmas won't be at my house long this year, I'm skint

So, I'm here to ask all you WDF millionaires how/where you get your work. I've tried forums, contacted a few design studios (standard 'your works are great we'll use you later) and freelancing sites but no good.

I've had a lot of people like my work so wtf am I doing wrong? Maybe I need to redesign my site?

Any advice received with thanks..

[roothost]

robbydesigns, on 22 November 2011 - 09:08 PM, said:

Father Christmas won't be at my house long this year, I'm skint

So, I'm here to ask all you WDF millionaires how/where you get your work. I've tried forums, contacted a few design studios (standard 'your works are great we'll use you later) and freelancing sites but no good.

I've had a lot of people like my work so wtf am I doing wrong? Maybe I need to redesign my site?

Any advice received with thanks..

Get out there and contact REAL people. Local businesses, clubs, churches, taxi firms, schools etc etc. Do leaflet drops, drop buisness cards and marketing packs in to all the local shops.

All the things you have tried are, in my opinion, a waste of time. The forums/freelancing sites are flooded with people looking for work that you either have to be exceptionally taleneted or dirt cheap - or both!!

Get some business cards made up, get them in the local shops, places where people go all the time. My partner goes to a few toddler groups and takes cards with her to leave on the tables at the entrance etc (got a childminder site booked in for after xmas from that). My dad is a taxi driver and has cards in his cab, even has one hanging up http://t.co/XeqtZoJU lol

Outside the local train station is a hairdressers, I have known the owner for almost 15 years so was easy to get cards in there. This hairdressers is literally right outiside the train station and gets a lot of business from commuters, especially those from London!!

Although a web designer works indoors, GET OUTSIDE!! Market yourself mate, there is plenty of work out there, just gotta look for it in the right places, not the places every other designer is looking!

[robbydesigns]

roothost, on 22 November 2011 - 10:48 PM, said:

...My dad is a taxi driver and has cards in his cab, even has one hanging up http://t.co/XeqtZoJU lol

Outside the local train station is a hairdressers, I have known the owner for almost 15 years so was easy to get cards in there. This hairdressers is literally right outiside the train station and gets a lot of business from commuters, especially those from London!!

Although a web designer works indoors, GET OUTSIDE!! Market yourself mate, there is plenty of work out there, just gotta look for it in the right places, not the places every other designer is looking!

Great advice thanks, love the photo of your card in your Dad's cab.

I do leave my business card in various places, the local fuel garage seems most popular and although it seems to get me hits to my site it never generates any business...so maybe there's something wrong with my site?

[RobbieD90]

roothost, on 22 November 2011 - 10:48 PM, said:

Get out there and contact REAL people. Local businesses, clubs, churches, taxi firms, schools etc etc. Do leaflet drops, drop buisness cards and marketing packs in to all the local shops.

All the things you have tried are, in my opinion, a waste of time. The forums/freelancing sites are flooded with people looking for work that you either have to be exceptionally taleneted or dirt cheap - or both!!

Get some business cards made up, get them in the local shops, places where people go all the time. My partner goes to a few toddler groups and takes cards with her to leave on the tables at the entrance etc (got a childminder site booked in for after xmas from that). My dad is a taxi driver and has cards in his cab, even has one hanging up http://t.co/XeqtZoJU lol

Outside the local train station is a hairdressers, I have known the owner for almost 15 years so was easy to get cards in there. This hairdressers is literally right outiside the train station and gets a lot of business from commuters, especially those from London!!

Although a web designer works indoors, GET OUTSIDE!! Market yourself mate, there is plenty of work out there, just gotta look for it in the right places, not the places every other designer is looking!

Good advice that Roothost. Love your business cards to.

[brightonmike]

How long have you been doing it for? It takes a while to build up rep.

[MikeChipshop]

Pretty much follow Roothosts post.
I've never done it myself but i was lucky that i already ran charities and organisations so i just sorted them out and over the years word of mouth took over.

[robbydesigns]

Thanks everyone and thanks RobbieD90.

I've been doing it for just over 2 years now, I was an Interior Designer before this.

[roothost]

MikeChipshop, on 23 November 2011 - 10:06 AM, said:

Pretty much follow Roothosts post.
I've never done it myself but i was lucky that i already ran charities and organisations so i just sorted them out and over the years word of mouth took over.

Yeah, word of mouth is the best kind of advertising imo. It shows people trust you enough to recommend you to their friends/family etc.

[Bruce Harper]

You could try looking at ads in various online job sites that asks you to contact the employer immediately through his/her email address.

I've found and done a number of projects there already. The downside is you have to compete with other designers who are not only good but are willing to do some projects at a lower cost. I believe you do great work though so that won't really be that big of a problem for you.

Depending on the employer you get, they could either pay you by the hour through tracking your time or paying you per project or task done.

Hope you find your luck there! I'm sure you will.

This post has been edited by Bruce Harper: 28 November 2011 - 02:51 PM

[Sogo7]

There is no susbstitute for actually putting your foot in the door, getting any business owner to part with cash is difficult at best so trust is important and they will want to get a look at you.

Hunt down locally those with old sites that have never been updated since creation, slow loaders, showing cross browser compatability issues, SEO unfriendly or better still are completely broken as they may be more receptive to getting a service under the hood rather than a full re-spray.

Here's a classic example http://www.creamhair...typlymouth.com/

[robbydesigns]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I will get off my butt and go visit some local businesses and maybe put an advert in the local rag.
One last thing though, if I am to approach businesses then surely that effects what I put on my site? I mean, most Freelancers usually have 'About' 'Portfolio'..and that's about it..a business owner is going to want to know more than that surely.

[terydinho]

Robby, what you need to do in my opinion is make a choice about what you want to do. Do you want to be a freelancer? or do you want to be a small business offering web design? There are strong merits for both.

If you want to be a freelancer, forget local businesses, approach agencies within 20 miles of you and try to pitch yourself and your skills to them for outsourcing work - many agencies now need good people on their books to outsource work too.

If you want local businesses, then you are better off setting your stall out as a small agency, so yes, that means tweaking your site from the traditional About page to a site that conveys that you are the best choice for a small business and how you can help them to improve.

You don't have to sell yourself differently per-se, as in, you don't have to pretend to be some 5 man design studio, but small businesses respond well to an established business, not just a guy in a bedroom, it is a fact of life. So if that is where you want to go with things, you have to get your professionalism on and really act like an agency.

I find private clients very hard work, so I pitch 90% of my work at agencies, and I have been lucky to have worked on some really high profile stuff, so I generally get about 6/7 calls a week from agencies asking about my services, most of which I have to turn away as I am just too busy at the moment - it is a nice problem to have.

But the key is to find WHO you want to be and then market yourself accordingly

Good luck

[MikeChipshop]

terydinho, on 29 November 2011 - 07:24 AM, said:

Nail.On.Head

Brilliant reply and a plus one to you sir.

Much of my work comes through established London based design and digital media agencies.
I do still get private clients but as mentioned above they can be a right PITA.

My portfolio site reflects this, it's terrible. ha. I never have the time or drive to make it any good because i really don't have to. Also most of my work is via an agency or NDA'd to the eyeballs so there is nothing to show in my portfolio anyway.

As stated, decide what direction you want to go in and concentrate on it. I'm sure, like myself, that many people here have tried their hand at all types of work so we'll always be able to help you out as you go along.


Failing that, pimp yourself on street corners and tube stations.

[brightonmike]

I'd quite like to have a sort of agency. Not so much in the traditional sense of the word, but just sort of like an agreement between me and say, 5-10 other people.

Call it a collective.

[Deb Harrison]

brightonmike, on 29 November 2011 - 02:01 PM, said:

I'd quite like to have a sort of agency. Not so much in the traditional sense of the word, but just sort of like an agreement between me and say, 5-10 other people.

Call it a collective.

Another thing Mike, is go to local network meetings, for example, chambers of commerce for local towns and Business Link (while its still in exitence). There you can meet other business owners in the same boat and as some are based around seminars you learn something in the process too.

There are also breakfast meetings but obviously you have to pay for these (only about £15 or something).

Hope this helps.

[brightonmike]

Deb Harrison, on 29 November 2011 - 10:33 PM, said:

Another thing Mike, is go to local network meetings, for example, chambers of commerce for local towns and Business Link (while its still in exitence). There you can meet other business owners in the same boat and as some are based around seminars you learn something in the process too.

There are also breakfast meetings but obviously you have to pay for these (only about £15 or something).

Hope this helps.

Um, I'm not the OP, and I don't freelance haha

[robbydesigns]

@terydinho: Great advice thanks, I kind of knew that but I guess I have been skirting around making a firm decision so thanks for the kick up the butt; I am going to market myself as a freelancer as I have a couple NDA's already I can build on and have had great feedback from Agencies I've approached - I just need to turn their kind words into money.
Love your website btw.

@MikeChipShop Cheers buddy, I have spent a couple years offering my services to small businesses so I am going to move to a 'me the Freelancer' approach. No doubt I will be back asking for advice from you kind peeps.
As for pimping myself on street corners, I haven't got the legs for it mate ;-)

@DebHarrison Thanks Deb I do show my face at local meetings and am thinking of approaching our Plymouth College of Art and Design to see what they tell their graduates to do once their course is complete (ie, how to get their names out there).


Plenty for me to work on there everybody thank you very much.

[a1digitalmedia]

Find people starting small businesses or starting out entrepreneurs. These people are always looking for a website. My office is established at a Business Start-Up Centre and we are inundated with work all the time.

[robbydesigns]

a1digitalmedia, on 01 December 2011 - 12:41 PM, said:

Find people starting small businesses or starting out entrepreneurs. These people are always looking for a website. My office is established at a Business Start-Up Centre and we are inundated with work all the time.

Cheers buddy but I've tried pitching to small businesses in the past and very few want to get their purse out. Either it's because my work is crap or they are skint or because I'm a rubbish salesman! Fortunately I make most of my money teaching martial arts so the dream of giving up and just designing will forever be a dream by the look of it.
Never mind.

[Deb Harrison]

@brightonmike Sorry Mate I dropped a blooper there, guess its been a long week.

@robbydesigns I am sure its the latter option rather than anything to do with your work! I am in the same boat. I originally started up doing work for startups and small businesses but nowadays with ready made templates and sites like Moonfruit, Google Sites (et al) that just isn't an option. Now I'm finding established businesses or freelancing is definitely the way forward.

This post has been edited by Deb Harrison: 03 December 2011 - 10:37 AM

[robbydesigns]

Deb Harrison, on 03 December 2011 - 10:36 AM, said:

@brightonmike Sorry Mate I dropped a blooper there, guess its been a long week.

@robbydesigns I am sure its the latter option rather than anything to do with your work! I am in the same boat. I originally started up doing work for startups and small businesses but nowadays with ready made templates and sites like Moonfruit, Google Sites (et al) that just isn't an option. Now I'm finding established businesses or freelancing is definitely the way forward.

Thanks Deb

[frasermcgregordotcom]

I would just like to pick up on a point mentioned, I haven't even started paid work yet, but an idea was to go along to places that offer business courses for people that want to start their first business and speak to people running the course. If you could get some kind of referral from them you might end up golden with a steady stream of clients. And since a lot of these courses are goverment funded you might actually end up on the payroll with your web design start up solutions becoming part of the course, as online presence for business is more and more vital.

[robbydesigns]

frasermcgregordotcom, on 09 December 2011 - 02:10 AM, said:

I would just like to pick up on a point mentioned, I haven't even started paid work yet, but an idea was to go along to places that offer business courses for people that want to start their first business and speak to people running the course. If you could get some kind of referral from them you might end up golden with a steady stream of clients...

Nice idea!

[Maeshelle]

roothost, on 22 November 2011 - 10:48 PM, said:

Get out there and contact REAL people. Local businesses, clubs, churches, taxi firms, schools etc etc. Do leaflet drops, drop buisness cards and marketing packs in to all the local shops.

All the things you have tried are, in my opinion, a waste of time. The forums/freelancing sites are flooded with people looking for work that you either have to be exceptionally taleneted or dirt cheap - or both!!

Get some business cards made up, get them in the local shops, places where people go all the time. My partner goes to a few toddler groups and takes cards with her to leave on the tables at the entrance etc (got a childminder site booked in for after xmas from that). My dad is a taxi driver and has cards in his cab, even has one hanging up http://t.co/XeqtZoJU lol

Outside the local train station is a hairdressers, I have known the owner for almost 15 years so was easy to get cards in there. This hairdressers is literally right outiside the train station and gets a lot of business from commuters, especially those from London!!

Although a web designer works indoors, GET OUTSIDE!! Market yourself mate, there is plenty of work out there, just gotta look for it in the right places, not the places every other designer is looking!

I agree with him. It is important for you to market yourself, do your thing and get people impressed. And once you get the job, getting paid right is the next thing you should worry about. Once you get your name out there, there are people that could take advantage of you. It is also important to be informed on how to raise a red flag on a prospective client. We do want to be paid for a job don't we ?