5 Lessons I Learned From Starting a Freelance Design Business
Key takeaways from my experience as a freelance designer with no prior business experience
As a design student, I worked part-time as a graphic designer for my school’s student union. The job paid just above minimum wage and was enough to cover my rent every month. But then I realized, I could literally do the same work for other people and set my own prices, so I started a freelance design business.
Starting any business comes with a learning curve and this was no different. I had never worked with clients before and had many unanswered questions. Where do I find clients? What would I charge them? Should I specialize in one are?
I failed fast and failed often, but I quickly learned from my mistakes. Here are some of the most important lessons that I learned from my experience.
1. Business first, design second
When I started my freelance practice, I didn’t realize how much work it would be to actually run the business. I thought that I would spend my time designing logos and posters in Illustrator. In reality, operational tasks like establishing my online presence and generating leads took up most of my time. Design work came second.
Establish an online presence
As a freelance designer, the most important thing to have is a portfolio catered towards potential clients. I built a website that showcased the type of work that I was looking for such as logos, posters and brand style guides.
I also created a Facebook page to further build my social media presence. On the page, I regularly posted snippets of my work to attract viewer’s attention. I would also comment in design groups with this page to get more people to follow it.
Lead generation
Now that I had some sort of internet presence, I spent a lot of time and energy into getting clients. A few different ways I used to generate leads included word-of-mouth marketing to friends, messaging startups through AngelList or Indeed, and even cold-emailing digital agencies.
I reached out to job postings and agencies by offering my services for any extra projects that they might have. Most of them would kindly reject my offer, but the few that worked out were able to provide me with a steady stream of work.
Repeat clients and referrals
An easy way to get more work is to simply reach out to your previous clients. Check in on them once in a while and ask them if there is anything that you can help them with. If they have no work, you can also offer to give them a small discount for referring your services to another client. This results in a win-win situation for both parties and has worked well for me on a few occasions.
Takeaway
Becoming a business owner is crucial to surviving as a freelancer. If I hadn’t created a convincing portfolio or taken the time to find new clients, I wouldn’t have been able to make any money. Once I started working with clients, repeat business and referrals made the process easier to continue.
2. Act professional
When I first started freelancing, I had no idea where to start, what questions to ask the client, how much to charge for my work or how to prepare my files. I was a complete newbie, but I didn’t want my inexperience to reflect in how I presented myself.
By pretending to be a professional, I kept my composure whenever I didn’t know how to answer a question. I defended my design decisions with authority, trying to sound like an expert while feeling like an imposter.
The interesting part was that the more I learned from each client interaction, the better I got at freelancing. Eventually, I wasn’t pretending as much anymore. I knew what questions were good to ask throughout the project and how to package my files before sending them over. Things got easier the more I worked.
Takeaway
Clients won’t know that you are a beginner as long as you don’t act like one. This can especially be helpful when charging for your work. If a client knows that you are new to freelancing, then they will likely either try to get a cheap project out of you or look for someone more experienced to work with.
Be professional and prepared. Do your research on the freelancing process. Perhaps, shadow another freelancer in their daily life. Learn from your mistakes quickly and iterate your process each time.
3. Get paid upfront
My very first project was a logo design for an independent record label. Without discussing budget or price, I jumped into the project and finished in a couple of weeks.
I delivered the final work to the client, who then asked how much the project would cost. I calculated a price based on a $20 hourly rate and around 30 hours of work. Realizing that it came out to $600, I was surprised and somewhat nervous at asking for so much money. After telling the client the price, he laughed and told me that he would pay me $100 as that was the “going rate for a logo anywhere”.
Takeaway
I was taken advantage of as a clueless beginner, not knowing to discuss price before starting the work. By talking to the client about their budget, you should get a sense of whether or not they are worth your time. Once you agree on a price, always get paid an upfront deposit.
After this incident, I typically asked for 50% of the total project price before starting work. If extra work is added on throughout the project, then I can adjust the final payment without worrying about not getting paid at all.
4. Sell value, not time
Another challenge that I faced was not knowing how to price my work. A popular topic among freelancers is whether to charge hourly or by the project. For the first year, I set my rates based off of what I would have liked to earn from a salaried job. So I started charging $25/hour and increased my rate by $5 as I gained more experience.
However, I was losing out on a lot of money. Clients were willing to pay more than I charged, but I just didn’t know it because of how I was pricing my services.
For example, the amount of time to complete a branding project varied depending on the number of revisions. I was paid less for the projects that took a short amount of time, but the value that I delivered to the client was generally the same.
Takeaway
By switching from hourly pricing to a value-based approach, I was able to adjust my prices according to the client’s budget and needs. This ensured that I was adequately compensated and didn’t lose out on earnings due to working efficiently.
5. Avoid lowball clients
When I was struggling to get my freelance business started, I was willing to take any client that came my way. It didn’t matter how much they were offering, as long as I could include the work in my portfolio.
Working with cheap clients is not worth the hassle, no matter how desperate you are for work. From my experience, they demand more work out of you for what they are paying, which eventually leads to scope creep. You will regret taking the project every single time.
Takeaway
If you have built up a sufficient runway, you shouldn’t need to worry about not making enough money to survive. As long as you have that emergency savings fund to sustain your business, you shouldn’t have to work for less than what you’re worth.
If a client can’t afford my services, I simply ask to refer them to someone else that I trust who could probably help them out. I’ve found that this is the best way to deal with lowball clients.
Lastly, make sure your contract outlines the scope of the project and how extra work will be charged. By having an airtight contract, your client won’t be able to squeeze more work out of you without additional compensation.
Thanks for reading!
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