First, good to hear that you're doing ok! Second, keep your chin up! This will all get easier with time. I would also like to put another vote in against under-pricing. In fact, I would urge you to always add 15% to any price you quote and grow your margins over time. Having a high price gives the impression of quality even before you show your real worth. Always good to actually deliver that quality, of course my point here is never to sell yourself short. You'd be surprised what people are willing to pay for honesty, directness, quality of work and quick turnover.
Try to stay away from online design forums if possible. I've gotten a lot of work from these places, but only by charging low prices when I was younger. People have really low budgets around these forums, and you see people selling designs for ridiculous prices, like $5, etc. Of course there are exceptions. The majority of people browsing these forums are interested in web design, so try and get a portfolio with some nice web layouts. I've found if you can code your designs as well, then you will be in much higher demand. Also, always ask for 50% payment up front or something similar - the amount of unreliable people around the forums is stupid.
Twadz there are many people in online forums looking for cheap service, yes. However there are a few who value great work and do not mind paying for it. If you stick to your price range you will eventually find the right clients. Of course all this is assuming the design work done is of great quality.
now i am considering to join paid freelance marketplace. Could you mention one of them ? i'm just thingking to join like guru.com
I agree. And to get great quality design works you have to pay. I don't really think that the people who look for cheap service get a good service
I agree with the Majority of you on Cheap = low quality 9 times out of 10..... Just like, Free is Free for a reason. Some of this topic was covered in this DP Thread http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=815136 which touches base on newer designers that acquire a software & automatically start a business based off of it, without Any real experience at all. Thought those that haven't seen that thread may like it.
gone throught all the 2 pages, i cannot agree more with you scorpionagency.. nothings Free around the world.. +Rep for you for the links, bookmarked them! cheers d3sign3r
Thanks for the rep d3sign3r, I'm glad people are still finding the "building a freelance portfolio" & "240 marketing ideas" useful.
I agree. to learn how to use these programs well takes thousands of hours of practice and training. Someone who has invested that kind of time and has that kind of experience isn’t going to do stuff for cheap. Graphics make an impression on people; it is usually the first impression they get of you and your company. If your graphics look like crap that is people first impression of you and your company, and people aren’t going to give you money if they have a low impression of you.
Related question - I've visted sites like getafreelancer.com and getacoder.com - I see freelance designers bidding for a project. How does that work? Designers have to put in money just to GET hired? And then they provide the design and they get paid?
sites like getafreelancer & getacoder are auction based freelance work sites. Meaning you pay nothing upfront & can bid on projects. The company holding the auction looks through all the bids & experience of each bidder & decides who to go with. (There is a paid membership option allowing you to bid on more projects & higher payouts) Once they choose the freelancer to work with they transfer funds into a secure escrow account & you begin working on the project. (An escrow account protects both the freelancer & the company, it takes BOTH parties to authorize the release of funds from escrow) The freelance site takes a % or flat fee (Defined in the Terms of use) when you win a bid. (It's deducted from your winnings) Once you complete the project the company reviews it & releases the money in escrow on their end, you then have to accept the money on your end & specify how you want to receive it (E.G. Paypal, Check, Etc.). Simple process really & those types of sites are used by several new designers / Developers in the industry to get their foot in the door building a portfolio / building a client list / branding / & hands on experience. This article might help you out a bit: Building a Freelance Portfolio . It has several resources & tips! Good Luck to you
That's a good one too. Just don't limit yourself to just one outlet for work. There are a lot of times that Freelancers go through dry spells because of that (Especially if they are just starting out). You might want to at least have 2-5 work resources that you frequent regularly to compensate for any downtime & to aid in keeping you working. Once you're established it's a totally different ball game all to together, at that point you won't have time for the most part to even look for clients because your current ones keep sending repeat / referral business to keep you busy.