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Freelancers - where would/do you go to find and source work?

Me and a couple of friends decided to take this time to create out own little studio, we've been working really hard on the foundations and everything for a year, now feeling ready to get commissions and find work! We are a design studio, mainly focusing on branding, animation, illustration and Web.

Please do let me know any good tips for us!
Jess Ford
Jess Ford
Graphic Designer, Illustrator

Replies17

  • Kerrie Donaghue
    Kerrie Donaghue
    Graphic Designer
    Was going to say what Ø Macioti said. Approaching businesses who maybe are lacking in their digital presence. Theres more of a focus on digital design now then there ever has been with good old lockdown
    in effect. Wishing you the best in your new ventures :)
  • Hajra Mubashar
    Hajra Mubashar
    Graphic Designer
    Recruitment agencies can be great, especially if you're starting out - it's nice have them do all the client talking whilst you can get on with the briefs. Email all the creative agencies in your local area to say you're interested in being on their freelance list. Some good ones include represent, Nikky Lyle, Orchard, Creative Resource, Beyond the Book, Become.

    Also advertise your services on linkedin. You'd be suprised what kind of interesting industry folk sees your post and end up direct messaging you.

    Approach people around you too, friends, family of course, local businesses - obviously we're in a lockdown but once places open up, go to them in person and give your business card. It's much harder for people to ignore you that way.

    There's of course cold emailing, email agencies that already align with the type of work you're interested in/the type of work that's in your portfolio - focus your wording on how you can help them. If you've already done some freelance work in the past, say that you'd worked for X company/agency, you've worked on Y with them, to show your experience - and link it back to how you can help them

    With sites like upwork, I'd say make your profile look as professional and polished as possible - apply for their portfolio review as it gives you an accreditation badge and only bid on jobs you know you can do, and ideally you can provide direct examples of similar work - and be human in your proposals, don't go on about yourself , and what uni you went to, blah blah, it feels like overselling. Clients don't care that much, they want to know if you can help them with THEIR specific job, that's it. https://freelancetowin.com/writing-upwork-proposals/
    https://careersidekick.com/upwork-proposals/
    https://freelancetowin.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Winning-Proposal-Examples-Freelance-To-Win__.pdf - examples of winning proposals. Notice how short they are :)




  • O. Macioti
    O. Macioti
    Graphic Designer & Social Media Manager
    You could try cold emailing and offering brands a solution for a problem they (don’t necessarily know they) have! Self initiate projects whenever you can and publish them online as well: it’ll help you build up your portfolio and get noticed.
    I personally found that Instagram has been the best resource for paid work for me, but I wouldn’t invest all my energies into it.
    I would strongly recommend staying away from bidding websites such as Fiverr and Upwork, given you earn pretty much nothing for a lot of solid work these days. You could try YunoJuno if you’re in the UK! At least I think I spelled that right, I live somewhere else so I’ve never had the chance to try the platform out for myself!

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