Dive into the archives.
- Before Going Down Under, I’m Buying a Laptop!
In a month David (my boyfriend) and I are hopping onto a plane bound for Dubai and from Dubai we’re heading to Melbourne, Australia, arriving ridiculously early on the 17th of September. It’s been a long time coming and I’ve missed Melbourne terribly though I’ve suddenly realised there’s going to be an issue of needing to be able to take my work with me.
After working as a freelance web designer for a while I’ve built up a nice client base and have half a dozen projects on the go as we speak. Because of this, I can’t exactly disappear for a month - nor would I want to as I love what I do. It is for this reason, and for convenience sake once I return to England, that I have decided to buy a laptop.
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- How to Get Your First Few Web Design Jobs When You’re a Student or Graduate
Web design is a very sought after skill - almost everyone wants to have some sort of online presence. Web design is also something you can learn fairly quickly and to the computer literate it isn’t overly hard. If you want to be really good however, that’s another story, but generally speaking if you have an interest in web design you can teach yourself the ropes pretty easil through books, tutorial websites and trial and error.
The bad news is that there’s a lot of competition when it comes to getting work. When I first started offering web design to people in exchange for money I got very little out of it in the monetary department. At one point I even found myself working for free just so I could get some experience.
With websites such as oDesk, Guru and RentaCoder that allow you to apply to web design jobs, I’d say that there are more opportunities to get web design work - but websites like this don’t make it any easier. I’ve often found that by quoting a reasonable price for a web design project I’ll be declined simply because I won’t work for $5 USD an hour or less. My minimum hourly rate is actually £10 which is more like $19 USD.
So - if it’s so hard to get work - what chance does a student or graduate have of getting their first few jobs? Well, for students and recent graduates in the UK, there is Student Gems, a website where businesses and individuals can find students to work on various jobs, including web design projects, by matching their needs with student skills. Though still in beta, the site has quite a following already so if you’re in the UK and looking for work, check it out!
Ashleigh
x x x
- 3 Ways a Freelance Web Designer Finds Work
Search for “Freelance Web Designer” and you’ll be handed roughly 1,250,000 search results to sort through. If you happen to be a freelance web designer looking for a job, you’re not going to find a position or work by searching for the term mentioned above. “Freelance Web Designer” will give you portfolios of freelance web designers and businesses offering freelance web design services - not anything that will benefit a freelance web designer looking for work. To find work, you need to be a little smarter.
1. Search for “Freelance Web Design Jobs” using Google. Whilst it mightn’t be obvious to some, searching for this term using Google brings up very useful results. There will most likely be some portfolios and business websites to sift through, but you’ll find quite a few hidden gems that may result in a web design job. I admit, I have found quite a few jobs by using this method and still use it from time to time.
2. Visit freelancing websites.www.oDesk.com
www.Guru.com
www.RentACoder.com
www.CraigsList.com
www.ProgrammerMeetDesigner.com
www.FreelanceUK.com3. Be referable, be friendly, be approachable and be enthusiastic. If you put a link to your portfolio on the sites you design for clients, you’re more likely to be contacted by friends or business partners of that said client with requests for further web work. It also helps if that link points to a great portfolio with examples of what you can do and if you come across as friendly, approachable and enthusiastic in the design and the way you present yourself.
Ashleigh
x x x
- 3 Steps to Freelancing Success
Be professional. Freelancers often assume that they have to be exceptional at what they do in order to get noticed. Whilst being an awesome web designer might make it easier to break into the freelancing world, regardless of your abilty, if you exude professionalism and take pride in your work, people will take notice of you.
It’s not what you can do, but how you do it.
Be confident. As a new freelancer you will have many questions left unanswered. The most prominent unanswered question, and the most important in my opinion, is the simple matter of how much to charge for your work. You can charge a little - or you can charge a lot. In short - charge whatever you want! Whilst charging little might get you a lot of work, it’s likely that you’re worth quite a bit more.
If you are confident in how you lay out the costs of your services to your clients, it’s likely that they’ll pay whatever you ask. Within reason, of course.
Have aspirations. If you’re going to get somewhere in the freelance industry, you’re going to need to have a plan. Whether it’s just some basic goals or a detailed plan of attack, you’re going to get somewhere faster if you have an idea of where you want to be. In my case, I’ve been keeping an eye on Ashley Morgan, a professional blogger and jazz trumpet player. I admit he’s no lord of freelance web design, but the effort he puts into Upstart Blogger and his other projects make me aspire to be better at what I do. Then of course there’s Kwaku, one of my earlier web design heroes.
Remember: Always aspire to be better than you are - even if you’ve already reached and passed your original goal.
Ashleigh
x x x
