[legolug]

Hello!

I've been experimenting with Photoshop, Fireworks and HTML/CSS in the last 5 months and now I feel confident enough to start providing work for others.

I'm 16 years old and english is not my native language, but I want to interact with clients over the internet.
And this is my first question: What's the best way of comunicating with the clients over the internet?
(considering my situation)

The second question is: How can I find clients before I have a protofolio?
I'm thinking of doing a couple of projects for free or at a very low price to have something to share to the future paying clients of mine. Is it a good idea?

And after I build my portofolio what's the best way of finding clients willing to pay?

This post has been edited by legolug: 11 December 2011 - 05:38 PM

[RobbieD90]

legolug, on 11 December 2011 - 05:36 PM, said:

The second question is: How can I find clients before I have a protofolio?
I'm thinking of doing a couple of projects for free or at a very low price to have something to share to the future paying clients of mine. Is it a good idea?

I am in the same position as you. I won't be offering my work for free, I will be designing for fake businesses and using them in my portfolio.

[WBC]

Getting well paying clients will never be easy over the internet, if they are going to be spending a decent amount of money they are more likely to want to speak in person throughout the design process. If English isn't your first language targeting clients who do speak your native tongue might be a better idea, but saying that your English seems OK to me.

I can't imagine many clients being willing to give work out to a 16 year old unless thay have one hell of a portfolio, I'd spend sometime working on portfolio sites like Robbie, the good thing about doing this is you have full creative control and if you are cleaver you can really use them to show you understand the concept of visual design.

[legolug]

Thanks for the advice guys!
I saw this website: http://themeforest.net/ and I was wondering if it's a good idea to start designing wordpress/css themes for websites like this one?

The price of a website seems to be around $30 of which only half are going in the developer's pocket.
This means an average $15 for a sale. I also saw that a successful website template can sell more than 100 times in a month. That's more than 1000 dollars. And for me this is great, as I can earn some money and build my portofolio at the same time, without worrying about my age and experience.

What do you think, is it a good idea?

This post has been edited by legolug: 20 December 2011 - 03:07 PM

[4colourprogress]

legolug, on 20 December 2011 - 03:07 PM, said:

Thanks for the advice guys!
I saw this website: http://themeforest.net/ and I was wondering if it's a good idea to start designing wordpress/css themes for websites like this one?

The price of a website seems to be around $30 of which only half are going in the developer's pocket.
This means an average $15 for a sale. I also saw that a successful website template can sell more than 100 times in a month. That's more than 1000 dollars. And for me this is great, as I can earn some money and build my portofolio at the same time, without worrying about my age and experience.

What do you think, is it a good idea?

While it's a good idea to sell things on theme forest they have a very strict policy about the quality of work they accept and your stuff might not make the grade just yet.

When it comes to Wordpress themes you need to not only deliver a beautiful theme but also provide lots of functionality (custom admin options, custom widgets and plugins and so on). Most Wordpress theme designers also provide support to their users on how to customize and change the theme so you need to be confident enough to be able to handle any problems the users may face and how to quickly fix it if a problem should arise.

HTML themes usually sell for about $10-$15 but again most people will want support on what you are selling although I have seen a few themes where they say they will not provide support.

Why not approach some local business or see if any of your friends need some sites designed? Once I've finished my second site I'm going to be approaching some charities to see if I can offer my services to them free of charge.

Working for free may not be ideal for everyone, but it's only a hobby for me at the moment not an occupation so I would gladly work for nothing..

This post has been edited by 4colourprogress: 20 December 2011 - 03:18 PM

[rallport]

RobbieD90, on 11 December 2011 - 06:56 PM, said:

I am in the same position as you. I won't be offering my work for free, I will be designing for fake businesses and using them in my portfolio.

What happens when people attempt to call those businesses for references?

[RobbieD90]

rallport, on 20 December 2011 - 03:24 PM, said:

What happens when people attempt to call those businesses for references?

Why will they need references?

[4colourprogress]

RobbieD90, on 20 December 2011 - 03:36 PM, said:

Why will they need references?

Probably to see what you are like to work with/how good you are at meeting deadlines, general attitude etc.

[RobbieD90]

4colourprogress, on 20 December 2011 - 03:48 PM, said:

Probably to see what you are like to work with/how good you are at meeting deadlines, general attitude etc.

Apologies Rallport thanks to 4colour I see what you mean now. I'll probably have to rethink that one then.

Thanks for highlighting my ignorance .